Scouting the Beavers
The Minot State University women's basketball team was voted as the 13th best team in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in the preseason coaches' poll ... The Beavers were ranked seventh in the North Division ... Minot State's Player to Watch is junior Alex Haley (G, Libertyville, Ill.) who led her team last season in points scored with 326 (11.2 per game) ... Haley played in every game for the Beavers in the 2014-15 season, making 20 starts as a sophomore ... MSU dropped their season opener, 60-78, to MIAA school Pittsburg State on Friday, Nov. 13 ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
BISMARCK, N.D. – Washburn Women's Basketball opened its 2015-16 campaign with a 63-50 victory over the University of Mary on Friday night, Nov. 13 ... Washburn opened the game with four straight and never looked back, leading the entire way to push its record in season openers to 15-1 under Ron McHenry ... Ahead 4-2 in the opening two minutes, Erika Lane and Haley Pfau hit back-to-back three-pointers that opened up a 10-2 lead for the Ichabods midway through the fourth minute of play ... With 2:48 to go, ahead by four (14-10), Washburn opened up an 11-point lead (21-10) that ended the first and opened the second off Julie Ravn's three-pointer ... Leading 23-12 just 16 seconds into the Washburn saw U-Mary cut the lead to four, 25-21, thanks to a 9-2 run that lasted over six minutes ... Bowens hit another layup at 2:39 to stop the run and Erin Dohnalek followed with her first three-pointer of the night just 20 seconds later to make it a nine-point game, 30-21 ... Another Bowens layup with 22 seconds to go in the half closed a 7-0 run for the Ichabods and sent Washburn to the locker room, up 32-21 ... The teams played evenly through the first half of the third before Washburn went on a 10-0 run that lasted over four minutes, pushing the lead over 20 (48-27) ... Bowens opened the run with four straight free throws and Dohnalek and Pfau hit three-pointers to end the burst ... U-Mary put together runs of nine and 11 unanswered in the fourth quarter to bring the lead back to single digits (53-47) with 3:28 to play, but that was as close as the Marauders came as a late 8-1 Ichabod rally brought the game inside the one-minute mark and sealed the win ... Bowens led the team with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Lane finished with 12 points and Pfau and Felisha Gibbs each had eight ... Bowens, Lane and Pfau all shot 50 percent from the field and had three assists, tying Dohnalek for the team lead ... Dohnalek hit 2-of-3 from beyond the arc for her only field goals of the game.  Jayna Smith paced the squad with nine rebounds ... For U-Mary, Brittney Dietz had 22 points and six rebounds, matching Hannah Larson on the boards, who finished with 10 points to go with five assists.

Exhibition History
Washburn is 10-18 all-time in exhibitions under Ron McHenry since 2000-01 ... The Ichabods dropped a 48-75 contest at Kansas State on Monday, Nov. 2 in the first exhibition of the season before defeating NCAA Division I opponent Omaha, 61-56, in the final exhibition on Wednesday, Nov. 4. ... WU is 4-15 against NCAA Division I opponents, 7-3 at home and 3-24 on the road in exhibitions.

Washburn in Season Openers
Washburn is 15-1 in season openers under head coach Ron McHenry, with the only loss coming in 2013-14 at Nova Southeastern (a non-conference opponent on this year's schedule) ... all-time, the Ichabods are 27-2 in season openers as members of the MIAA (and NCAA), and in the 38-9 since the program's inception in 1969-70.

McHenry Winningest Active Coach in NCAA Division II
Ron McHenry's .799 winning percentage entering the 2015-16 ranks first among active coaches at the NCAA Division II level ... the 16th-year head coach for Washburn is No. 4 all-time in winning percentage among coaches at the NCAA Division II level ... for all NCAA Divisions (I, II and III), McHenry ranks 13th among active coaches and is No. 18 all-time. 

Experience Up For Grabs With New Look Ichabods
Washburn returns eight letterwinners in 2015-16, though several new faces dot the program after graduating six seniors (and eight total players) from the 2014-15 squad, including four of the top five scorers ... Haley Pfau and Jayna Smith return as seniors, and Pfau is the only four-year player on WU's roster this season ... Smith led the team in rebounding (6.4 per game) and added 5.3 points per game ... junior Erika Lane is the top returning scorer, as she averaged 5.8 points per game with a 40.4 field goal percentage last season ... Lane is one of eight juniors on this year's team, a group that WU will rely heavily on ... Felisha Gibbs (6-2) is a junior who will break into the starting lineup this season after a year behind former All-MIAA selection Honor Duvall (who graduated last year) ... all told, just four Ichabods returners started at least one game last year.

New Faces
Washburn has five new players on its 2015-16 roster, including one NCAA Division I transfer and four junior college transfers ... Erin Dohnalek  joins the Ichabods after two years at Division I Northern Iowa.  Dohnalek averaged 3.7 points per game as a freshman and 2.6 per game as a sophomore, playing in 51 total games with the Panthers ... Kierra Campbell was a two-time all-conference selection (at Denmark Tech and Panola ... Ashlee Ivy played two years at Butler Community College in 2012-13 and 2013-14, earning First Team All-NJCAA honors in 2013-14 and a Second Team All-NJCAA selection in 2012-13 ... Ravn is a shooting specialist who played in 29 games with 28 starts last year at Cowley Community College, hitting 39.3 percent from beyond the three-point arc last year with 14.1 points per game ... KayLee Farmer (a sophomore) joins the program after a year at Independence Community College ... prior to ICC, Farmer ran track at the University of Kansas.

Last Season - Quick Hits
Washburn's 2014-15 campaign opened with seven straight wins and a 9-1 record through the first 10 games ... WU closed the season at 16-12 overall and finished eighth in the MIAA at 8-11 ... The Ichabods earned the No. 8 seed in the MIAA Tournament and lost a 59-46 contest with Northeastern State in the first round ... WU's signature win of the season was a 87-79 overtime victory at Lee Arena over then-No. 3 Drury on Nov. 22 ... Casyn Buchman was named All-MIAA Second Team while Taylor Ignoto and Honor Duvall garned Honorable Mention nods.

No. 400
Head Coach Ron McHenry entered the 2015-16 campaign 26 victories away from career (and Washburn) win No. 400 ... after the season opener he is now 25 wins away.

A First For McHenry
This year's 2015-16 Washburn Women's Basketball roster features no true freshman, a first for the Ichabods since McHenry's arrival in 2000-01.

Non-Conference Outlook
Washburn has six non-conference games scheduled for its 2015-16 regular season ... The Ichabods have never faced off with three of the teams on the non-conference portion - University of Mary, Minot State and Palm Beach Atlantic ... WU holds a combined 17-6 record in the other three series, holding winning records in three of those after a win over U-Mary in the season opener ... WU is 5-1 all-time against Newman, 10-4 all-time against Drury and 1-1 historically against Nova Southeastern.

Eyeing a Return to the Top
The Ichabods have made 17 NCAA Tournaments under Ron McHerny, won eight MIAA regular season titles and seven MIAA tournament titles, but have not make the national tournament since the 2012-13 season ... A relatively inexperienced group will be tested with one of the toughest schedules in NCAA Division II as they eye a return to the NCAA Tournament.

MIAA Preseason Poll
Emporia State topped the preseason poll with 13 first-place votes and 169 total points after an Elite Eight berth last season ... Fort Hays State, which hosted the NCAA Central Regional last year, had one first-place vote and 147 points while Central Missouri (135 points), Pittsburg State (128 points) and Missouri Western (124 points) rounded out the top five ... Washburn (103 points) was in sixth, just ahead of Central Oklahoma's 102 points ... the complete MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll can be found on page six of the game notes.

Early Success / Monthly Breakdown
Under Ron McHenry, Washburn has put together 12 perfect Novembers, including a 6-0 mark in 2014-15 ... Washburn has no more than two losses in November under McHenry ... a month-by-month breakdown of the Ichabods under Coach McHenry is available on page five.