Scouting the Panthers
The Lady Panthers won their season opener, 84-69, over Southwest Baptist in the "Bank of Bolivar Highway 13 Cat Fight" earlier this week ... Drury won both of its exhibitions, defeating Columbia College, 95-88, and Lyon, 87-59 ... Drury won their second straight GLVC title last season and made a trip to the NCAA Tournament ... the lady Panthers were picked to win the GLVC West Division in the preseason poll and received 15 first-place votes ... All-GLVC standout Annie Armstrong returns to lead the Lady Panthers ... last season, Washburn defeated Drury, 87-79, in overtime at Lee Arena ... more information on series and opponent stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn Women's Basketball moved to 16-1 in home openers under head coach Ron McHenry with a 58-46 victory over Newman on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Lee Arena ... WU remained undefeated and shot 39.2 percent from the field and 35 percent (7-of-20) from long range ... The Ichabods outscored NU, 20-8, in the paint and held the Jets to just 21.8 percent shooting on field goals ... Washburn led at the half, 28-22 ... A 16-1 run to end the third and open the fourth quarter allowed the Ichabods to pull away late ... Dohnalek led the Ichabods with 14 points and three three-pointers, adding a team-high four assists ... Felisha Gibbs (12 poitns) and Lane (11 points) were also in double-digits, as Lane and Haley Pfau (nine points) each hit two three-pointer for Washburn and Gibbs pulled down five rebounds ... On the boards, Jayna Smith paced the team with 10 rebounds (all defensive) to go with three assists and Alyxis Bowens grabbed nine boards while shooting 6-of-6 from the free throw line and finishing with eight points, three blocks and two steals (leading the team in blocks and steals).
 
Road Warriors
Washburn plays just one home game in the month of November, and only two home games in the 2015 portion of the 2015-16 season ... Wednesday, Nov. 18's matchup with Newman was Washburn's home opener (a 58-46 win) and the Ichabods are now in the midst of a five-game road trip ... The final home game of 2015 for WU is Dec. 12 against Southwest Baptist in a conference matchup.

Washburn Versus Ranked Opponents
Saturday's game at No. 11 Drury is the first of the season for Washburn against a ranked opponent ... WU went 1-6 against ranked opponents last season and is 48-35 against ranked opponents all-time under head coach Ron McHenry dating back to 2000-01.

Washburn in Home Openers
The Ichabods are 34-10 all-time in home openers, winning their last 18 (dating back to the 1998-99) season ... WU has never lost a home opener under Ron McHenry.

McHenry's Home Court Edge
The Ichabods have been domninant in years past inside Lee Arena under the direction of Ron McHenry, going 192-30 (.864) since 2000-01 ... WU had perfect home records in 1991-92 and 2004-05, the year the Lady Blues won the national title ... McHenry and the Ichabods have had one-loss home records nine different times in McHenry's 15 years leading up to the 2015-16 season.
 
Point Leader
Entering the season, only three players on the 2015-16 roster had scored over 100 points in their careers at Washburn - Erika Lane, Haley Pfau and Jayna Smith ... Lane has established herself as the go-to scorer early in the year, leading the team in points in two of the three games this year and reaching double-digits in all three games ... Lane surpassed the 200-point mark in the third game of the season and is averaging a team-high 16.0 points per game so far this year.

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.

Ichabods Add Four in Early Signing Period
Four incoming student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent to join Washburn in 2016-17 ... Cara Donley (Salina, Kan. / Abilene HS), Alexandra McDowell (Hill City, Kan. / Hill City HS), Raegan Phelan (Holyrood, Kan. / Central Plains HS) and Brandi Roepke (Waterville, Kan. / Valley Heights HS) make up the class.

Where Are They From?
Washburn's 2015-16 roster has a wide mix of hometowns geographically, with its 15 players hailing from three different countries (United States, France and Denmark) and four different states within the US ... There are 10 players from Kansas (Alyxis Bowens, Jayna Smith, Haley Pfau, KayLee Farmer, Madison and Makayla Vargo, Erika Lane, Jada Lynch, Ashlee Ivy and Jharian Bowen) ... Arkansas (Felisha Gibbs), Missouri (Erin Dohnalek) and South Carolina (Kierra Campbell) are the other US states represented on WU's roster ... traveling abroad, Cindy Demosthene (France) and Julie Ravn (Denmark) are international players on the Ichabods' squad.

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.

No. 400
Head Coach Ron McHenry is just 23 victories away from No. 400 in his career  and at Washburn ... he entered the season 26 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 18-6 record in the six series, holding winning records in five of those after wins over U-Mary and Minot State in the opening weekend... 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.

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.

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 and a 3-0 mark so far in 2015-16 ... 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.