Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Tournament Website
Lady Blues in the
MIAA Postseason Tournament
Location: Kansas City, Mo.
Arena: Municipal Auditorium (8,500)
Quarterfinal Round
No. 1 Washburn Lady Blues (22-4, 16-2 MIAA)
vs No. 9 Northwest Missouri Bearcats (15-12, 8-10 MIAA)
Date: Friday, March 8, 2013
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Radio: 580 AM WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 37-14
Record in MIAA Tournament: WU leads 3-2
Last Meeting: WU 64-62 on 03/03/12 (N-MIAA tournament)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 341-69 (.832) in his 13th year at WU and overall
NWMSU Coach Mark Kellog: 15-12 (.555) in 1st year at NWMSU and 188-58 (.764) in 8th year overall
Semifinal Round
Date: Saturday, March 9, 2013
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Radio: Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Championship Game
Date: Sunday, March 10, 2013
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: MIAA TV Network (Cox 22 in Kansas)
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 will be going for their second straight MIAA title and 10th in school history. They also won in 1992, 1993, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012. Coach
Ron McHenry won seven of those titles.
Washburn dropped from 5th to 9th in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll.
Washburn won its second straight MIAA regular season championship and ninth in school history. McHenry has won eight of those titles in his 13 years.
Washburn sits at No. 1 in the NCAA Central Region ranking released last week. Central Missouri is No. 2.
The Lady Blues have clinched their 12th straight 20 win season. All 12 have come under McHenry.
Washburn is first in the MIAA and fourth in the nation allowing 51.2 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 six times this year.
Washburn ranks seventh in the nation and first in the MIAA in rebound margin at +9.0. 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 191. She's 7th with 302 assists & she needs 17 points to get to 1,000. She would be the 1st Lady Blue with 200 3s, 300 assists & 1,000 points.
Kinderknecht is seventh in the MIAA averaging 14.3 points a game and third with 2.8 3-pointers made per game. Her 3-point total is 12th in the nation.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 341-69 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 head to Kansas City looking for second straight MIAA postseason tournament championship
The ninth-ranked Lady Blues will be looking to repeat as MIAA postseason champions and win the 10th title in school history as they tip off in the MIAA tournament quarterfinal Friday at noon against Northwest Missouri State.
The game will be played in Kansas City, Mo., at Municipal Auditorium and will be broadcast on 580 AM WIBW with Mark Elliott and Jake Lebahn calling the action.
Washburn is 22-4 overall and won the MIAA regular season for the second straight year with a 16-2 record. The Bearcats (15-12, 8-10 MIAA) are the No. 9 seed in the tournament and got to the quarterfinal after a 77-72 win at No. 8 Missouri Southern in the first round Tuesday.
The winner will play the winner of the No. 4 Emporia State/No. 5 Truman winner in a semifinal on Saturday at 6 p.m. The championship game is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised by the MIAA Television Network on Cox 22 in Kansas.
Washburn swept the Bearcats in two games this year and is 3-2 all-time against them in the MIAA tournament. They last met in the 2009-10 semifinals in a Washburn win.
Lady Blues bring strong postseason history to Kansas City
The Lady Blues are 36-13 all-time in the MIAA tournament and 24-3 since the event moved to Kansas City in 2003-04. They have won seven of the 10 tournaments played in Municipal Auditorium. Washburn has won nine total MIAA postseason tournaments since joining the conference in 1990-91.
Washburn has won 11 straight quarterfinal games to advance at least to the semifinals in those years.
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 Saturday's 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.
Lady Blues stay put at No. 1 in NCAA regional ranking
The Lady Blues won twice last week and remained the No. 1 team in the NCAA Central Region ranking released last Wednesday. A new ranking is scheduled for release this Wednesday and Washburn is 1-1 since the last ranking came out with a win over No. 2 Central Missouri.
Concordia-St. Paul stayed third and Minnesota State stayed fourth. Truman, the only other MIAA team in the top eight, remained fifth. Northeastern State is ninth and Pittsburg State is 10th.
The Central Region is made up of the MIAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Great American Conference. The winners of those three conference tournaments will earn automatic berths to the NCAA Central Region tournament with the five remaining spots filled in by the top teams in the final NCAA ranking. The eight-team Central Region tournament will take place March 15-18 at the site of the top seed in the region. The winner will advance to the Elite 8, March 26-29 in San Antonio, Texas.
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 341-69 in his 13 years and with his .832 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 11 straight NCAA tournaments with eight MIAA titles.
Lady Blues stay in top 10 as No. 9 team in the nation
The Lady Blues' loss last week at Emporia State dropped them from fifth in the nation to ninth in the USA Today Sports national poll released Tuesday. Washburn remained the top-ranked team in the MIAA heading into the conference postseason tournament this week.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 171 of the last 172 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 124th time in the national top 10.
Clayton State remained No. 1 in the nation at 26-0 and got all 29 first place votes. Central Missouri is the only other MIAA team in the ranking at No. 13. Among Central Region teams, Minnesota State is 17th and Concordia-St. Paul is 20th. Augustana (S.D.), Arkansas Tech, Fort Hays State, Southwestern Oklahoma State, Truman and Northeastern State earned votes.
Lady Blues keeping recent opponents to under 55 points, lead MIAA and are fifth in nation in scoring defense
The Lady Blues had kept 13 straight opponents to 54 or less points before giving up 61 to Emporia State last Wednesday. They gave up 53 to Central Missouri in the regular season finale and finished the year keeping 14 of their last 15 opponents to 54 points or less. Washburn entered the week of the MIAA tournament first in the MIAA and fourth in the nation allowing just 51.2 points a game. Washburn's field goal percentage defense of .333 is eighth lowest in the nation and first in the MIAA.
Washburn has only allowed 60 or more six times this year with the 68 in a win against Emporia State on January 2 being the highest allowed this year.
Only four 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. Washburn won three of those four 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 is in the top 10 in six different MIAA categories. She's 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 is scoring 8.5 points a game and shooting 57 percent from the field, second best in the MIAA. She's third in the MIAA with 2.1 steals a game. Everett is second in the conference in steals and the two are helping Washburn produce one of the strongest defenses in the nation. The Lady Blues lead the conference and are fourth in the nation allowing just 51.2 points a game. They're first in the MIAA and sixth in the nation keeping opponents to a .331 field goal percentage.
Elliott is scoring 4.2 points a game with 4.2 rebounds and she's 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 moving up in record books
Laura Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers earlier this year and currently has 191, 26 away from second at Washburn. She's seventh with 302 assists and February 27 at Emporia State she became the seventh Lady Blue to reach 300 assists. She needs six more assists to catch Jennifer Harris for sixth all-time at Washburn.
Kinderknecht is 17 points away from becoming the 22nd Lady Blue to score 1,000 career points. With 983 points entering the tournament, Kinderknecht can move into the top 20 with 1,007 and to 18th with 1,030.
With nine 3-pointers and 17 points, 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 64-team NCAA tournament bracket will be announced Sunday evening after all conference tournaments have been played. The Lady Blues will be looking for their 12th straight trip to the tournament and 17th in school history. As the No. 1 team in the latest Central Region ranking, Washburn will be looking to host a regional for the second straight year and fifth time overall.
The Central Region is made up of the MIAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Great American Conference. The winners of those three conference tournaments will earn automatic berths to the NCAA Central Region tournament with the five remaining spots filled in by the top teams in the final NCAA ranking. The eight-team Central Region tournament will take place March 15-18 at the site of the top seed in the region. The winner will advance to the Elite 8, March 26-29 in San Antonio, Texas.
