Scouting the Bearcats
With a matching 5-3 overall record as the Ichabods, Southwest Baptist enters Saturday's game at 1-2 record in the MIAA after a Thursday night loss at home against Nebraska-Kearney (89-75) ... SBU picked up a 62-38 win over Northwest Missouri in its MIAA opener but has since lost two straight entering Saturday ... SBU was picked to finish last in the MIAA but holds a winning overall record through the first eight games ... the Bearcats and Ichabods will play just once this season, and Washburn holds a 37-12 lead in the series history overall ... Southwest Baptist last defeated the Ichabods in 2013-15 in an MIAA Tournament game at Lee Arena ... at home, Washburn is 21-4 against the Bearcats all-time and 14-2 under the direction of Ron McHenry ... All-MIAA honorable mention pick Dilonna Johnson was the top returner in 2015-16 for SBU ... more information on series and opponent stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
KEARNEY, Neb. – The Washburn Ichabod Women's Basketball team picked up its first conference win of the season in a 63-57 victory at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday, Dec. 5 ... The Ichabods built a six-point lead (18-12) early in the second, but saw UNK  cut the lead to two (28-26) with less than four minutes to go in the half and took the lead behind a 7-0 run (that began at the 3:37 mark) to take a 30-28 advantage into the locker room at half ... The teams traded spurts of four unanswered to open the third quarter, and with 4:44 to go in the period a layup from Dohnalek brought the Ichabod deficit back to two (36-34) ... That layup sprung Washburn on a 9-0 run that lasted nearly three minutes and put the Ichabods ahead, 41-36 ... Dohnalek had seven of those nine Ichabod points during that burst which forced a UNK timeout ... The Lopers eventually stopped the run with 1:45 to go, but Washburn continued to push and close the quarter with six straight to take a 47-39 lead into the fourth ... WU built its lead to 11 (52-41) with 7:42 left in the game off a jumper from Gibbs, but the Lopers soon cut it to four (52-58) behind a 7-0 run.  Washburn, though, held strong and outscored UNK, 5-1, over the final minute to close out the win ... Gibbs and Dohnalek each scored 14 points to lead the Ichabods, as Gibbs hit seven and Dohnalek hit six of nine total field goals (for both) in the game. Gibbs' 14 was a career-high ... Erika Lane had a career-high six assists with eight points while Cindy Demosthene finished 4-for-5 on field goals and scored nine total points ... On the boards, Jayna Smith grabbed 12 rebounds for her third double-digit rebounding effort of the season ... As a team, Washburn finished with a 45 percent field goal percentage despite sinking just one three-pointer (a season-low) on the night.
  
Road Warriors
Washburn played just one home home game in the month of November (a win over Newman) and after opening December with two road MIAA matchups, returns home on Dec. 12 for its last home game of 2015 against Southwest Baptist before two more road games before the New Year.

Top Five Takedown
Washburn's 70-60 win over Nova Southeastern (ranked No. 3) was the program's first ranked win of the season ... Washburn's last top five win came on Nov. 21, 2014 against then-No. 4 Drury at home ... Washburn is 12-15 all-time under Ron McHenry against Top 5 teams.

From Long Range
Washburn has proved its ability to hit the three-point shot in games is a key factor in the outcome ... WU is 4-1 in games that it makes more three-pointers than its opponent and 0-2 in games that the opponent has a better mark in that category.

Zero to 60
A trend has begun for the Ichabods in 2015-16, as Washburn is 4-0 in games that it scores over 60 points and all three of its losses have come when an opponent reaches that mark (2-3 overall) ... when holding opponents under 60, Washburn is 3-0, and when the Ichabods score less than 60, they've won just one game (losing two).

Earning Her Spot
Jayna Smith earned her first start of the season on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Fort Hays State and made the most of it, leading the team in points (13), rebounds (eight) and assists (five) ... She followed that effort by tying her career-high in rebounds (12) at Nebraska-Kearney ... Smith is first on the team with 63 total rebounds and 28 assists through eight games and is sixth on the team with 6.0 points per game ... Smith had her first double-digit scoring effort of the year at FHSU and has two five-plus assist games for the year ... the senior from Holton, Kan., averaged 6.4 rebounds per game with 16 starts last season, adding 5.3 points per game ... already this season, Smith has made more three-pointers (five) than last year (two) and has raised her rebounding average to 7.7 boards per game ... She leads the team as well in steals (10) and steals per game (1.3).

Balanced Scoring
Though Erika Lane leads the team with 11.9 points per game on the season as the only player to average double-digits, Washburn has established a balanced scoring attack through seven games this season as Erin Dohnalek (9.8) and Felisha Gibbs (9.5) are just short of the double-digit average mark after scoring 14 apiece at UNK on Dec. 5 ... game-by-game, WU has had five players at least share the team lead for points, with WU's highest individual scoring total for the season coming in the opener at U-Mary as Alyxis Bowens scored 20) ... Dohnalek has led (or tied) for the team-lead in three games this year while Lane and Jayna Smith have each led (or tied for the team-lead) in scoring twice this season.

Washburn Versus Ranked Opponents
The Ichabods have set themselves up with one of the toughest schedules in the nation, thanks in part to two non-conference matches with ranked opponents and a stacked conference that features the current No. 1 and No. 5 team in the nation ... Wednesday's MIAA opener at No. 5 Fort Hays State was the third game versus in ranked opponent this season (and third of the previous four games) ... WU is 1-2 against ranked opponents this season, falling 66-46 at No. 11 Drury on Saturday, Nov. 21 before taking down No. 3 Nova Southeastern on the road, 70-60, on Friday, Nov. 27 ... WU lost at FHSU, 62-54, after leading for a majority of the game ... WU went 1-6 against ranked opponents last season and is 49-38 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.

Crashing The Boards
Washburn has outrebounded its opponent in all seven games this season, holding a +7.7 rebounding margin per game on the year ... Jayna Smith (7.7) leads the team in rebounds per game while Felisha Gibbs (5.8) is also above the 5.0 mark on average ... Alyxis Bowens (4.6), Erika Lane (4.0) and Haley Pfau (3.6) close the top five list of team leaders for rebounds per game.

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.

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.

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 21 victories away from No. 400 in his career  and at Washburn with 379 wins thus far in his career ... 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 Recap
Washburn finished its non-conference portion of the 2015-16 regular season schedule last week with a 4-2 record in those games ... against regional opponents, Washburn went 3-1 in non-conference action ... WU now holds a combined 19-7 record in those six series, picking up wins over University of Mary, Minot State, Newman and Nova Southeastern with losses to Drury and Palm Beach Atlantic.


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 ... Washburn has no more than two losses in November under McHenry ... that hot trend has continued into December, where McHenry has lost no more than four games (once) and has put together six perfect performances ... WU has five conference games in the month of December this season ... a month-by-month breakdown of the Ichabods under Coach McHenry is on page five of the game notes.