Central Region Website
Washburn Game Notes (pdf)
Lady Blues in the
NCAA Central Region Tournament
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Schendel Court at Lee Arena (3,904)
Quarterfinal Round
No. 1 Washburn Lady Blues (23-5)
vs No. 8 Emporia State Lady Hornets (21-8)
Date: Friday, March 15, 2013
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Radio: Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: ESU leads 46-44
Record in NCAA Tournament: WU leads 3-2
Last Overall Meeting: ESU 61-54 on 03/09/13 (N-MIAA tournament)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 342-70 (.830) in his 13th year at WU and overall
ESU Coach Jory Collins: 64-26 (.711) in 3rd year at ESU and overall
Semifinal Round
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Radio: Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Championship Game
Date: Monday, March 18, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Radio: AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
The Lady Blues are playing in their 12th straight NCAA tournament. Coach McHenry is in his 13th year at Washburn and he's 20-10 in the NCAA tournament.
Washburn won a national title in 2005 and has won regional titles in 1992, 1993, 2003, 2005 and 2008.
The Lady Blues are 13-3 all-time in opening round games and 3-2 against Emporia State in the tournament.
This is the first time WU and ESU have met in the first round or as No. 1 and No. 8 seeds.
Washburn and ESU have now met four times in a year two straight seasons and three times overall. Washburn is 6-2 in the previous two seasons when meeting four times.
Dana Elliott is Washburn's leading returner with 9.0 points a game in three NCAA tournament games. She set a career high with 18 points last year against West Texas A&M in the opening round. She had a career-high seven field goals.
Washburn is 8th in this week's USA Today Sports national poll. Five of the eight teams in the regional are ranked.
Washburn won its second straight MIAA regular season championship this year and ninth in school history. McHenry has won eight of those titles in his 13 years.
The Lady Blues have clinched their 12th straight 20 win season. All 12 have come under McHenry.
The Lady Blues are undefeated this year at 13-0 when making more 3-pointers than their opponents. They are 10-5 when they don't.
Washburn is first in the MIAA and fourth in the nation allowing 51.1 points a game. They are sixth in the nation and first in the MIAA allowing opponents to shoot .331 from the field.
Washburn allowed just 54 points or less in 14 of the final 15 regular season games and has allowed 60 or more just seven times this year. Emporia State topped 60 in all three meetings this year.
Washburn ranks seventh in the nation and first in the MIAA in rebound margin at +8.9. Only five teams have out-rebounded Washburn (UWP, FHSU, NWMSU, ESU and UCM).
MIAA MVP
Laura Kinderknecht is third in career 3-pointers at WU, now with 197. She's 6th with 309 assists & she's 20th with 1,013 points. She would be the 1st Lady Blue with 200 3s, 300 assists & 1,000 points.
Kinderknecht is eighth in the MIAA averaging 14.4 points a game and third with 2.9 3-pointers made per game. Her 3-point total is 11th in the nation.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 342-70 in his 13th year at Washburn.
McHenry now has 8 MIAA regular season titles and 7 MIAA tournament championships to go along with NCAA tournament appearances in all but his 1st season, including a 2004-05 national title.
Lady Blues open NCAA tourney with familiar foe then could face unknowns in following rounds
The Lady Blues will host the NCAA Central Region tournament this weekend with just two familiar foes among the other seven teams in the field.
Top-seeded Washburn, the eighth ranked team in the nation, will host eighth-seeded Emporia State Friday at 6 p.m. at Schendel Court at Lee Arena in the second straight meeting between these two schools. If the Lady Blues advance, they will face a pair of unknowns as they will play the winner of the No. 4 Minnesota State/No. 5 Arkansas Tech game on Saturday at 7 p.m.
ATU and MSU play Friday at 8 p.m. and other first round games include No. 2 Central Missouri against No. 7 Southwestern Oklahoma and No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul against No. 6 Augustana. Those four teams will play in the afternoon session Friday in Lee Arena and then the winners will play a 5 p.m. semifinal on Saturday.
Washburn is hosting its second straight regional and making its 12th straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, all under 13-year coach
Ron McHenry.
The Lady Blues moved to 23-5 after going 1-1 in the MIAA tournament last weekend in Kansas City, Mo. They beat Northwest Missouri in the quarterfinal Friday and then fell to Emporia State in the semifinal Saturday. The Lady Hornets are 21-8 and they earned the automatic bid from the MIAA by winning the championship on Sunday over Central Missouri.
The game Friday will be broadcast on Country Legends 106.9 FM with Mark Elliott and Jake Lebahn calling the action.
Washburn won the MIAA regular season title for the second straight year and ninth in school history by going 16-2 in league games. Emporia State was fourth with a 13-5 record.
Lady Blues head to 12th straight NCAA tournament, 17th in school history, with limited experience against non-MIAA tourney field
The Lady Blues are making their 12 straight NCAA tournament under coach
Ron McHenry and the 17th in school history. They're 26-15 all-time in the tournament, 23-11 in regional rounds and 13-3 in opening rounds.
This is the sixth year that Washburn has hosted opening round games and the Lady Blues are 9-3 at home. Last year they hosted the South Central Region tournament and advanced to the semifinal.
Among the seven other schools in the regional, Washburn has only played MIAA opponents Emporia State and Central Missouri in postseason games. Washburn is 3-2 against ESU and 3-0 against UCM. Washburn has played four of the five other schools in regular season games with a 2006-07 win over Southwestern Oklahoma being the most recent meeting.
Washburn won the 2005 national championship and has advanced out of the regional in 1992, 1993, 2003, 2005 and 2009. The Lady Blues are 3-4 all-time in the NCAA Elite Eight.
Lady Blues win second straight MIAA title, ninth in school history
The Lady Blues clinched their second straight MIAA title and ninth in school history with their win last February 23 against FHSU. The win in the regular season finale against UCM gave them the title outright.
The Lady Blues have won MIAA championships in eight of head coach
Ron McHenry's 13 years. This is their third title in the last four years.
Lady Blues secure 12th straight 20-win season
The Lady Blues' win February 21 against Nebraska-Kearney clinched their 12th straight 20-win season. All 12 20-win seasons have come under 13-year head coach
Ron McHenry.
Overall, Washburn has 22 20-win seasons with Patty Dick presiding over the first 11 from 1982-83 through 1994-95.
Washburn is averaging 27 wins a season in the last 11 years and has five 30-win seasons.
Four-year seniors looking for 102nd win
Four-year seniors
Dana Elliott,
Laura Kinderknecht and
Laura McMullin earned their 100th win on Senior Day against Central Missouri and they are now 101-21 (.828) in the last four years.
McHenry just coached 400th career game
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry coached his 400th career game, all with the Lady Blues, January 24 at Lindenwood.
He's gone 342-70 in his 13 years and with his .830 winning percentage, McHenry entered the year with the highest winning percentage in NCAA II among active coaches with at least five years of experience. He's second all-time (active or not) among coaches with at least 10 years.
His teams have gone to 12 straight NCAA tournaments with eight MIAA titles.
Lady Blues jump to 8th in the nation; four other teams will also enter Central Regional in top 25
The Lady Blues fell in the MIAA tournament semifinal last week but jumped one spot to eighth in the USA Today Sports national poll released Tuesday. Washburn will be the highest ranked team in the NCAA Central Region tournament this weekend in Topeka.
Five of the eight teams in this weekend's Central Region tournament are ranked and the other three received votes.
The Lady Blues are 23-5 and are the No. 1 seed in the regional. They'll play eighth-seeded Emporia State Friday at 6 p.m. at Schendel Court at Lee Arena. The Lady Hornets received votes in this week's poll.
Central Missouri remained 13th in the nation, Minnesota State remained 17th, Concordia-St. Paul dropped to 21st and Augustana entered the ranking at No. 24. Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma received votes.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 172 of the last 173 polls, dating back to week three of the 2002-03 season. The final poll of the 2010-11 season was the last time Washburn was not ranked. This is Washburn's 125th time in the national top 10.
The top four teams in the nation remained unchanged with undefeated Clayton State remaining No. 1 and getting all 29 first place votes.
Lady Blues keeping most opponents to under 55 points, lead MIAA and are fifth in nation in scoring defense
The Lady Blues have only given up 55 or more points eight times this year and are 5-3 when doing so. They're 18-2 when opponents score less than 55.
Washburn is fourth in the nation allowing just 51.1 points a game and is sixth in field goal percentage defense as opponents shoot .331 from the field.
The Lady Blues lead the MIAA in both those categories, as well as rebounding margin at +8.9, seventh best in the nation.
Emporia State has scored at least 61 points in its three meetings with Washburn this year.
Only five of Washburn's opponents have shot better than 40 percent. Northwest Missouri shot 50 percent on February 9 and 43 percent on February 16, Arkansas Tech shot .439 on November 24 and Northeastern State shot .435 on January 13. ESU was 43 percent in the MIAA semifinal. Washburn won three of those five games.
Kinderknecht's MVP selection highlights seven all-MIAA honors for Washburn
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Senior guard
Laura Kinderknecht earned Washburn's second straight MIAA player of the year award as the all-conference teams were announced Tuesday by the MIAA office. Overall, Washburn won seven different MIAA honors.
Kinderknecht was named co-MVP as she shared the honor with Northeastern State's Taylor Lewis. Kinderknecht was also named to the all-MIAA first team.
Head coach
Ron McHenry was named coach of the year for the fourth time in his career. Junior guard
Lavonda McCall was named to the all-MIAA third team and senior forward
Dana Elliott earned honorable mention. McCall and senior guard
Stormye Everett were named to the all-defensive team.
These are the first all-MIAA awards for all four of the Lady Blues.
This is also the first year since 2004-05 that Washburn swept the men's and women's MIAA most valuable player award as Will McNeill earned the honor on the men's side for Washburn. Carla Sintra won the award for the women in 2004-05 and Travis Robbins won it for the men.
Volleyball player
Jessica Fey also earned MIAA MVP this year to give Washburn three awards.
Kinderknecht was in the top 10 in six different MIAA categories when the awards were given out. She was seventh in scoring with 14.3 points a game and third making 2.8 3-pointers a game. She's the second straight Lady Blue to earn MIAA MVP honor and seventh in school history.
Ebonie Williams won the award last year for Washburn.
McHenry led Washburn to its second straight MIAA title and his Lady Blues are ranked fifth in the nation with a 22-4 record and 16-2 mark in the MIAA.
McCall was scoring 8.5 points a game and shooting 57 percent from the field, second best in the MIAA. She was third in the MIAA with 2.1 steals a game. Everett was second in the conference in steals and the two are helping Washburn produce one of the strongest defenses in the nation. The Lady Blues led the conference and are fourth in the nation allowing just 51.2 points a game. They were first in the MIAA and sixth in the nation keeping opponents to a .331 field goal percentage when the awards were given out.
Elliott was scoring 4.2 points a game with 4.2 rebounds and she was first on the team and fifth in the MIAA with 3.2 assists a game.
Kinderknecht named to Capital One Academic All-America second team
Senior guard
Laura Kinderknecht was named to the Capital One Academic All-America second team as the teams were announced Wednesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Members of CoSIDA select the all-district teams and a national panel selects the All-America team.
Kinderknecht has a 3.84 GPA in mathematics. She's the fifth academic All-American in Washburn history and the first since Nikki Olberding won a second team honor in 1997-98. She's the first to win the honor under head coach
Ron McHenry.
Kinderknecht becomes 22nd Lady Blues with 1,000 points as she moves up in record books
Laura Kinderknecht became the 22nd Lady Blue to score 1,000 points as she had 20 Saturday against Emporia State in the MIAA semifinal. She is now 20th at Washburn with 1,013 points and could move to a tie for 17th if she gets to 1,047.
Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers earlier this year and currently has 197, 20 away from second at Washburn. She's sixth with 309 assists and February 27 at Emporia State she became the seventh Lady Blue to reach 300 assists.
With three more 3-pointers, she will become the only Lady Blue to reach 1,000 points, 200 3-pointers and 300 assists in school history.
Coming Up Next
The winner of the Central Region will face the winner of the Southeast Region in the NCAA Elite Eight quarterfinal round in San Antonio, Texas. That game will be played March 26 at 12 p.m. Central Time in Bill Greehey Arena.
The national semifinal will be March 27 at 6 p.m. and the national championship will be March 29 at 7 p.m. Those two rounds will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
The Southeast Region tournament is hosted by No. 1 seed Clayton State.
