Complete Game Notes (pdf)
MIAA Tournament Website
Monday 1st Round Game Ticket Info
Live Audio | Statistics
Micro-Blogging the Bods
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
SBU is tied with ESU as Washburn's most-played MIAA tourney opponent. The two met 7 times in the tournament and WU is 6-1.
The Ichabods are playing in their 24th consecutive MIAA tournament. They have made the field every year since becoming eligible in 1991. Washburn is 37-14 all-time with 9 tournament titles.
Washburn is playing its first opening round game since the format changed last year. This is also WU's first home game since 2002, the year before the event moved to Kansas City for the final three rounds.
WU would have to win four games in the MIAA tourney for the first time in school history to take home the trophy.
The WU/SBU winner will play Thursday at 8:15 p.m. against No. 3 Pittsburg State. Washburn is 3-1 all-time vs PSU in the tournament.
Washburn's seven juniors have 81 percent of Washburn's points this year and 71 percent of the rebounds. A junior has led the team in scoring and assists in every game and in rebounding in all but one game.
Kara Lee is Washburn's lone senior and she was honored Feb. 19 after WU's win over FHSU. She's averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game.
Brittney Lynch enters the tournament ninth in single-season history at Washburn with 9.2 rebounds a game. A 9.4 average could move her to the top five.
Washburn's streak of 13 straight years finishing either 1st or 2nd in the MIAA came to an end. Washburn had finished first or second every year since 2001-02 but finished sixth this year.
The Ichabods are 7-1 on Thursdays this year, their winningest day. Washburn has six of its 10 loses on a Saturday this year. No other day of the week has more than one loss. The Ichabods are 6-6 on Saturdays.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 350th career win and his 200th MIAA win in January.
Buchman was 4th in the MIAA shooting .793 from the free throw line. She has gone perfect seven times and she made 32 straight at one point.
Brittney Lynch was third in the MIAA with 9.2 rebounds a game and she was 28th averaging 10.5 points a game.
Ron McHenry is 358-81 (.815) in his 14th year at Washburn. He is the winningest DII coach among those with at least 10 years of experience and he's led Washburn to 12 straight NCAA tournaments.
Ichabods start their 24th straight MIAA tournament with home game Monday against Southwest Baptist
The Ichabods earned the No. 6 seed to the MIAA tournament and will host 11th-seeded Southwest Baptist Monday at 7 p.m. at Schendel Court in Lee Arena.
The game will be carried live on 106.9 FM KTPK. Links to live stats and audio are available at wusports.com/live.
Washburn opened its MIAA season with a 78-71 win over the Bearcats on December 5 in their only meeting this year. Overall, Washburn is 36-11 against the Bearcats and 6-1 against them in the MIAA tournament. They last met in the 2010 quarterfinal in a Washburn win.
The Ichabods fell to 16-10 overall and 11-8 in the MIAA as they wrapped up the regular season with a 62-49 loss at 23rd-ranked Pittsburg State Saturday. The Washburn/SBU winner will play third-seeded PSU Thursday at 8:15 p.m. in the quarterfinal.
Southwest Baptist ended its regular season at 11-15 and 6-13 in the league with a 62-57 win against Missouri Western to secure a spot and finish in a three-way tie for 10th in the league.
Two double-doubles on the road earn Lynch MIAA athlete of the week
Brittney Lynch won the MIAA athlete of the week three weeks ago after she recorded a pair of double-doubles on the road.
Lynch averaged 19.0 points and 11.5 rebounds a game and shot 68 percent (17 of 25) from the field in the wins at Central Oklahoma February 13 and at Northeastern State February 15.
Lynch finished that week recording double figures in six straight games. She averaged 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds a game during that six-game stretch that went from January 30 to February 15. She shot 66 percent from the field (35 of 53) and 80 percent from the free throw line (16 of 20).
This was Washburn's second MIAA Athlete of the Week award this year and the first of Lynch's career.
Lee finishes strong as lone senior on Senior Day
Senior center
Kara Lee transferred to Washburn this year after playing her junior year at Missouri-Kansas City and she was honored between games February 19 against Fort Hays State during Washburn's Senior Day ceremony.
Lee scored nine points in the game against Fort Hays State off 4-of-6 shooting and she added three rebounds. Lee is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game this year and shooting 52 percent from the field, second best on the team. She's scored in double figures 11 times and reached 10 or more rebounds twice with one double-double. Lee has played in all 26 games with 19 starts including in each of the last 18 games.
Strong class of juniors
Washburn has six players averaging 9.0 points or better and five of them are juniors. Guard
Casyn Buchman leads the team with 14.6 points a game and
Taylor Ignoto is scoring 11.8. Forward
Brittney Lynch scores 10.4 a game and center
Honor Duvall is scoring 9.8 a game.
Janelle Travis is right behind them with 9.5 points a game. Lynch leads the team in rebounding with 9.2 a game, Buchman is second with 6.3 and Duvall is third with 4.5 a game.
Washburn has seven juniors on the team and they combine to make up 81 percent of Washburn's scoring and 71 percent of the rebounding. A junior has led the team in scoring and assists in every game and in rebounding in all but one game.
McHenry gets 350th career win and 200th MIAA win in same week
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry is 358-81 (.815) overall and 207-54 (.793) in MIAA games. He earned his 350th career win January 9 against Oklahoma Christian and he got his 200th MIAA win January 11 against Northwest Missouri.
McHenry started this year, his 14th season at Washburn, with the highest winning percentage among active NCAA II coaches with at least 10 years at four-year schools.
McHenry is a four-time MIAA coach of the year and he has eight MIAA regular season titles. He's been to 12 straight NCAA tournaments and he coached Washburn to an NCAA II national title in 2004-05. He started the year second all-time in NCAA II history among coaches with at least 10 years with an .828 winning percentage. Lloyd Clark holds the record with an .834 winning percentage at Delta State from 1984-2002.
Win or lose, Ichabods usually toughest on the boards
Washburn has traditionally rebounded well under McHenry. They haven't been out-rebounded in more than seven games in a year since his opening season in 2000-01 when teams out-rebounded Washburn nine times and they have never been out-rebounded in more than three straight games. McHenry's teams have posted positive rebounding margins every year and usually average +7.0 or more.
Washburn currently has a +6.7 rebounding margin, third best in the MIAA. The Ichabods' best rebounding performance was a +27 against Southwestern (Kan.)
The Ichabods had been out-rebounded in three straight games before getting more against ESU on February 5, a feat they had suffered only three other times in head coach
Ron McHenry's 14 years. Fort Hays State's +18 margin over Washburn on February 1 was the highest difference the Ichabods had suffered since also having an 18-rebound difference at FHSU in 2010-11.
Ichabods finish out of top two for first time since 2001-02
The Ichabods have finished first or second in the MIAA 12 straight seasons, every year since
Ron McHenry's second season in 2001-02. They finished sixth at 11-8 in the league this year.
Washburn has finished first or tied for first eight times under McHenry and has finished second four times. The Ichabods finished seventh in 2000-01, McHenry's first year and the only time they didn't finish first or second in his career.
Buchman seventh in scoring and near the top in several MIAA categories
Junior guard
Casyn Buchman entered last weekend near the top in several MIAA statistic categories. She was eighth in scoring with 14.6 points a game and third with 4.1 assists a game. She was fourth shooting .793 from the free throw line and 16th with 6.4 rebounds a game. Overall, her name appears in eight of the 13 categories. A new report will be released prior to the tournament that includes all regular season games.
Buchman has led Washburn in scoring 11 times and has reached double figures 18 times. She's scored at least 20 six different times. She's been Washburn's leader in assists in 16 games and in rebounds six times.
Tough Schedule
Washburn has three opponents this year ranked in the top 10 in last week's poll. Emporia State, a school Washburn fell to twice in February, is fifth. Nova Southeastern is eighth and Drury is seventh. Those two schools beat Washburn earlier this year on their home courts in non-conference games. Central Missouri is 11th and PIttsburg State is 23rd.
NCAA Central Region poll has five MIAA schools
The second NCAA Central Region ranking came out last week and the MIAA had five of the top 10 schools in the poll. Emporia State was No. 1 and Central Missouri was No. 3. Pittsburg State is fifth and Fort Hays State is 10th. The MIAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Great American Conference all get one automatic qualifier to the eight-team NCAA Central Region tournament and then the final five spots are determined by the ranking. The top team in the ranking will host the three rounds of the tournament March 14-17 and then the winner will advance to the Elite 8 Mach 25-28.
The Ichabods have been to 11 straight NCAA tournaments and 16 straight since joined Division II in 1990-91.
Quick history review
In Washburn's 44 years of basketball since 1969-70, the Ichabods are 839-366-1 (.696) in 1206 games. They have 13 MIAA regular season titles and nine tournament titles since joining the league in 1989-90. Thirty all-America awards have been won between 16 different players and Washburn has seven MIAA MVPs and 22 MIAA first-teamers.
The Ichabods won the 2004-05 NCAA II national title and set an NCAA II record with a 51-game winning streak stretching from 2004-05 into the 2005-06 season. Guard Jennifer Harris was the NCAA II player of the year in 2005-06 and was the No. 20 pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft.
Coming up next
Monday's winner will advance to Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., to face third-seeded Pittsburg State at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday. Washburn is 3-1 against the Gorillas in the tournament and last faced them in the 2009 semifinal on the way to a championship.
The winner of that game will play in the quarterfinal on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. and then the championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Washburn would need to win the MIAA tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament, March 14-17.
