The Game 
• Washburn opened the 2016-17 MIAA slate Wednesday with a 67-64 overtime loss to Fort Hays State.
• WU has wins in four of its last five outing.
• This will be the fourth game in eights days for the 'Bods.
• This will be the 37th meeting ... Washburn leads the all-time series 24-12 (.667) ... the Ichabods have garnered wins over UNK in each of its last three match-ups.
• Washburn has a favorable 13-6 (.684) mark while facing the Lopers in the town of Kearney. 
• Under head coach Ron McHenry, WU is 7-1 against the Lopers. 
• In the last two trips to the Buckle Court at Sports & Heath Center, the Ichabods have won with margins of 17 (2/7/16) and six (12/5/15).
• Reagan Phelan is third on the team in scoring (9.3 pts/game) ... record a career-high of 20 points against Saint Mary on Nov. 12 ... Phelan has reached double-figure scoring in four of the Ichabods first six games this season ... she is shooting .361 from three-point distance ... Phelan has 20 assists.
• Alyxis Bowens is eighth in the MIAA with 14 steals ... she also leds WU in rebounds (50 total, 5.6/gm) ... Bowens ranks fifth in MIAA in blocks  (11) and sixth in blocks/game (1.22).
• Erika Lane is the team leader is scoring (10.9/pts/game), minutes (281), minutes/game (29.6) and assists (28) while placing second in rebounds (45 total, 5.8/gm) and 3FG% (.333) ... As a result of her numbers Lane is among the conference leaders in minutes played (3rd), assists (11th), 3-pointers made (17th).
• Felisha Gibbs is third on the team in boards (41 total, 4.6/game) and is the team leader in FG% (.708) for all players with 60+ minutes ... she is fourth on the team with 8.0 pts/game and has seven blocks on the season to rank 12th in MIAA.
• Jharian Bowen is second in points (10.0/gm) while averaging 3.3 rebounds and has converted 16 of 18 (.889) chances from the line.
• Erin Dohnalek's per game averages shake out to 7.8 points, 2.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds ... Dohnalek is shooting .700 (14-20) from the line.
• As a team WU is shooting .450 from the floor with a 3PT% of .317 (compared to .303 by opponents) ... from the free throw stripe WU is being edged out .695-.650
• The Ichabods average 68 pts/game to opponents' 58 ... Washburn has outscored opponents by a combined 467-357 during the first three quarters though have lost the final period by a combined 154-139
• McHenry entered the season 11 wins shy of 400 ... he enters the match-up with five to go.

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) -- full poll on page 6.

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 attached in the Washburn 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 five wins from No. 400 ... McHenry graduated from Washburn in 1984.

Last Time Out // Washburn 63, Nebraska-Kearney 57 -- Dec. 5, 2015
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 ... Washburn (5-3, 1-1 MIAA) started the game with four unanswered, and after UNK responded to take a 5-4 lead, the Ichabods ran off a 5-0 run of its own to lead, 9-5, after a three-point play from Jayna Smith and a jumper from Erin Dohnalek.  The Lopers cut the lead to one (11-10) inside three minutes to go in the quarter, but Washburn closed the first ahead, 15-12 ... 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.  The Lopers tied it at 28 with a pair of free throws at the 1:37 mark in the second, and took the lead behind a 7-0 run (that began at the 3:37 mark) to take a 30-28 advantage.  That score held until halftime, as WU was held without a basket for nearly four minutes to close the quarter ... As a team, Washburn shot 43.3 percent for the field with a 13-for-30 effort, led by Felisha Gibbs' 10 points and Cindy Demosthene's seven points ... 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 ... Erika Lane had a team-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 ... For UNK, Laramey Becker (16 points), Bri Starks (14 points) and McKenzie Brown (11 points) were in double-digits.

A Look at Nebraska-Kearney
• Nebraska-Kearney is 3-7 overall and 0-3 in MIAA play.
• The Lopers look to snap a three-game losing streak.
• UNK opened league play on Dec. 1 with a 84-80 overtime loss to No. 4 Pittsburg State.
• UNK is 6-13 all-time when facing the Ichabods at home.
• Category leaders for the Lopers: 
    Points - Michaela Barry (13.2/game)
    Assists - Alexa Hogberg (4.1/game)
    Rebounds - Courtney Aitken (6.2/game)
    Blocks - Michaela Barry (6)
    Steals - Courtney Aitken (14)

'Bods History

• The 2016-17 marks the 48th season of Washburn women's basketball ... the Ichabods are 875-396-1 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.

Before game day, this happened
• 1884 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is first published in the UK and Canada (made US release in Feb 1885, due to printing error).
• 1903 - Physicist Marie Currie and her husband Pierre are awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics
• 1906 - 26th US President Theodore Roosevelt becomes first American to receive Nobel Peace for Prize
• 1919 - National League (NL) votes to ban use of the spitball by all new pitchers
• 1964 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded Nobel Prize for Peace
• 1994 - 60th Heisman Trophy Award: Rashaan Salaam, Colorado (RB)
• 2001 - The movie Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings makes international debut in London