TOPEKA, Kan. --- The Washburn Ichabod women's basketball team will travel to to western Kansas to take on cross-state rival Fort Hays State on Wednesday when it opens its MIAA schedule. Washburn is on four-game win streak with head coach Ron McHenry five wins shy of 400. Tip-off from Gross Memorial Coliseum is slated for 5:30 p.m.

The Game // Washburn opens the 2016-17 MIAA slate wins in four of its last five outings ... this will be the 77th meeting between the cross-state rivals with Washburn holding a 46-30 (.605) all-time series lead ... the Ichabods will try to snap a three-game slide against the Tigers ... over the history of the series Washburn has a favorable 19-15 (.559) mark while facing the Tigers in the town of Fort Hays ... under head coach Ron McHenry, Washburn is 16-5 (.762) against FHSU and 12-4 when opening its MIAA schedule ... in the last two trips to Gross Memorial Coliseum Washburn has lost by combined margin of 15 (7 on 2/18/15, 8 on 12/2/15) ... freshman Reagan Phelan is third on the team in scoring (9.9 pts/game) with a caree-high 20 point outburst against Saint Mary on Nov. 12 ... Phelan has reached double-figure scoring in four of the Ichabods first six games this season ... she is shooitng .387 from three-point distance ... Alyxis Bowens is eighth in the MIAA in steals (14) and has a team-best 1.8 steals/game ... she  also leds WU in rebounds (47 total, 5.9/gm) ... Bowens is tied for ninth in the MIAA in offensive rebounds/game (3) ... Erika Lane is the team leader is scoring with 10.9 points/game ... Lane also leads the Ichabods in minutes (237) and minutes/game (29.6) and assists (21) while placing second in rebounds (38 total, 4.8/gm) ... Felisha Gibbs is tied for third-most boards with 34 (4.3 per game) and is the team leader in FG% (.707) for all players with 60+ minutes ... Gibbs also shares the team lead in blocks with Bowens (7) ... Jharian Bowen is second in points (10.0/gm) and Erin Dohnalek (17 assists, 7.9 ppg, .400 FG%) have also made noticable contributions for the Ichabods ... as a team WU is shooting .456 from the floor with a 3PT% of .321 (compared to a an .306 by opponents) ... from the line WU is  edged out .720-.653 ... the Ichabods average about 69 ppg (68.5) to opponents' 57 ... Washburn has outscored opponents by a combined 426-323 during the first three quarters though have lost the final period by a combined 130-122 ... head coach Ron McHenry entered the season 11 wins shy of 400 .. McHenry enters the matchup with five to go.

Probable Starters //  Washburn
#3   | F | Erin Dohnalek 
#4   | G | Erika Lane
#10 | G | Reagan Phelan
#15 | G | Jharian Bowen
#23 | C | Felisha Gibbs

Last Season // Washburn's 2015-16 campaign with a three consecutive wins and a 4-2 mark through the first six games ... it closed the season 15-14 overall and finished tied for sixth in the MIAA at 11-11 ... The Ichabods entered the MIAA Tournament as the No. 7-seed and lost in the first round to No. 10-seed Central Missouri, 74-70 ... Erika Lane was named All-MIAA Third Team while Felisha Gibbs and Alyxis Bowens garned Honorable Mention nods.

MIAA Preseason Poll // Emporia State topped the preseason poll with 12 first-place votes and 168 total points ...  Pittsburg State followed with 156 points and two first-place votes ... Ichabods were third (132) ...  Fort Hays State was forth (127) and Missouri Western fifth (124) -- attached is in the game notes.

Washburn on the Radio // Washburn games will be broadcast on KTPK 106.9 FM radio with Jake Lebahn and Dan Lucero calling the action. Games will also be streamed live on wusports.com by following the listen live links on the women's schedule page.

New Faces // Washburn has five new players on its 2016 roster, including one NCAA Division I transfer, one junior college transfer and three true freshmen ... Charisma Alexander joins the Ichabods after one season at Division I Stephen F. Austin. Alexander averaged 4.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 25.4 minutes while appearing in all 31 games for the LadyJacks and helping them win the Southland Conference championship ... Macy Myers joins Washburn following two seasons with Otero Junior College where she finished her career averaging 19 points/game for the Trojans ... the crop of true freshmen are made up of Cara Donley, Reagan Phelan and Jo Roepke ... Donley was multi-sport letterwinner at both Abilene and Scared Heart HS where she earned various individual accolades ... Phelan was also a multi-sport athlete during her time at Central Plains where she was named the 2015-16 KBCA Miss Kansas Basketball ... Roepke played for Valley Hieghts where she lettered in basketball, volleyball and track and was the 2016 Kansas 2A long jump champion.

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 in the attached game notes.

Where Are They From? // Washburn's 2016-17 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 nine players from Kansas (Jharian Bowen, Alyxis Bowens, KayLee Farmer, Erika Lane, Reagan Phelan, Jo Roepke, Cara Donley and Madison and Makayla Vargo) ... Arkansas (Felisha Gibbs), Colorado (Macy Myers), Missouri (Erin Dohnalek), Texas (Charisma Alexander) 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.

The Coach // Washburn's Ron McHenry is in his 17th season with the Ichabods ... during his first 16 season McHenry has amassed a 389-108 record ... was named the fifth coach in program-history in 2000 ... his .783 winning percentage to start the 2016-17 season is the best by any coach to lead the Ichabods/Lady Blues and listed him as the NCAA's 23rd winningest coach all-time in women's basketball across all divisions (based on percentage) ... he is also listed fifth in the all-time wins for Division II ... McHenry has 12 seasons with 20 or more wins and three seasons topping 30 ... in his first 16 years, McHenry has  coached 21 All-American selections, 42 All-MIAA nominees and one WNBA draft pick ... during the 2004-05 campaign McHenry steered the program to an NCAA Division II title ... McHenry also has a combined 15 MIAA regular-season and tournament championships ... McHenry is seven wins from No. 400 ... McHenry graduated from Washburn in 1984.

Last Time Out // Washburn 73, Benedictine 52 -- Dec. 5, 2016
TOPEKA, Kan. --- Fronted by four players with double-figure points the Washburn women's basketball team handled Benedictine Monday evening as it rolled to a 73-52 victory to extend its win streak to four games and give Ron McHenry win No. 395 ... The Ichabods (6-2) dictated the tempo shooting over 50 percent for the second consecutive night as they finished at 51.7 percent from the field and 56 of their 73 points coming from the paint ... Washburn was led by Alyxis Bowens who netted 18 points for the second straight outing. In addition to her game-high total, Bowens also tallied three steals and pulled down five rebounds while completing 9 of 13 from the floor. Erika Lane registered 15 points, while Erin Dohnalek and Jharian Bowen followed with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Lane also finished with a game-high six boards and was credited with three steals. Dohnalek collected four rebounds and dished out three assists while Bowen scooped up a trio of missed attempts ... The Ichabods escaped a back-and-forth first quarter that featured four ties and two lead changes as they scored six of the last eight points to take a slim 17-14 advantage into the second period ... During the second, Washburn extended it lead as it sustained lengthy runs thanks in part to a 57.1 field goal percentage while limiting the Ravens to 28.6 percent. Midway through the stanza Washburn took an 11-3 run to push the score to 32-22 for its first double-digit lead of the night. The run was sparked by a three-point play from Felisha Gibbs as was sent to the line after being fouled with a drive to the basket. Gibbs finished with nine points ... Benedictine managed to get back to a single-digit margin before the half but it did not last long as three straight buckets during the last two minutes allowed Washburn to claim a 40-28 advantage into the break ... Behind an 8-0 spurt WU took a 48-28 lead as it quickly pushed the difference to 20 during the opening five minutes of the second half. For the remainder of the period, the Ichabods see-sawed in and out of a 20-point cushion ... After trailing by as much as 24 during the third, Benedictine narrowed the Ichabod spread to 14 behind a 10-0 run as it brought the score to 59-45 midway through the fourth. A late rally by the Ravens would not be in the cards however as Washburn again built a 20-plus point margin which it held onto till the final buzzer.

A Look at Fort Hays State // The Tigers are 6-2 overall and 0-2 in the MIAA ... FHSU opened its league schedule with loses to Missouri Southern (64-75) and No. 4 Pittsburg State (58-70) ... Fort Hays State kicks off an eight-game home stand with the 'Bods ... the Tigers at 15-19 all-time when hosting Washburn ... the team is offensively led by Jill Faxon (12 pts/gm), Nikola Kacperska (9.8) and Kacey Kennett (8.9) ... Tatyana Legette has a team-best 57 rebounds (7.1/gm) while Emma Stroyan is second with 6.4 rebounds/game while shooting a team-high .725 from the floor.

'Bods History // The 2016-17 marks the 48th season of Washburn women's basketball ... the Ichabods are 869-393-1 all-time ... the program has seen 23 seasons with at least 20 wins and had made 17 trips to the NCAA Division II Championship ... in 2004-05 Washburn won the NCAA Division II Championship and finished the season 35-2.