#7 Central Missouri Jennies (21-2, 13-2 MIAA) at Southwest Baptist Bearcats (10-14, 5-11 MIAA)
Saturday, February 23, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
  Bolivar, Mo. | Meyer Sports Center (2,925)

TV: None
Radio: Central Missouri Sports Network
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Next up for the Jennies
In their next-to-last road game of the regular season, the No. 7 Central Missouri Jennies travel to Bolivar to face a Southwest Baptist squad that is fighting for a spot in the upcoming MIAA Tournament. The Jennies enter the game riding an eight-game winning streak, and will likely need a win to hold on to their No. 2 rank in the Central Region rankings, used to determine the seeding of the NCAA Tournament.

Last Time Out
Fueled by Keuna Flax's double-double and BreAnna Lewis' outside shooting, the Jennies earned an important home victory over the Lincoln Blue Tigers, 77-62, last Saturday in the Multipurpose Building. The Jennies extend their current winning streak to eight games, and keep their perfect home-court record intact.

The Blue Tigers made it a one-point game only twice, at 3-2 and 5-4 in the opening minutes of the game. It was the fourth game this season in which Central Missouri never trailed, and the third in the past five games.

Regional Rankings
In the first set of regional rankings of the year, the Jennies are ranked No. 2 in the Central Region. UCM holds an overall record of 21-2 on the season, and trail only Washburn, who holds the top spot in the rankings.

Central Missouri has three games remaining in the regular season before the start of the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City. Two of those final three games are against teams ranked among the top five in the region, Truman and Washburn.

National Leaders
The Jennies rank among the top teams in Division II in a number of statistical categories. As of Sunday, the Jens are 15th in total offense, averaging 74.7 points per game. They're also one of the deadliest deep-shooting teams in the country; the Jens 38.0% three-point shooting percentage is the sixth-highest in Division II, as the team hits an average of 7.5 treys per game, 16th-most in the nation. Overall Central Missouri shoots 42.7% from the field, ranking them 40th in the nation. With 14.9 turnovers committed per game, the Jens are one of the better ball handling teams in the country, with the 22nd lowest turnover average. Finally, the Jennies have one of the best winning percentages in the nation, at .913 which ranks 8th.

Chasing History
The Jennies have a chance this season to record the best regular season record in program history. This season's record of 21-2 gives the Jens a .913 winning percentage. The school record currently sits at .906, which was set during the 1982-83 and 1989-90 seasons, when the Jennies posted identical 29-3 records. Both of those teams won MIAA regular season and tournament titles, NCAA regional championships, and reached the national semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively.

Winning Time
The Jennies have developed a knack for pulling out close games this season; the team is 6-0 in games decided by five points or less, most recently in their come-from-behind win over Missouri Western. On the season, the Jens shoot 42.7% from the field. In the final five minutes of games, however, that percentage rises to 46.7%. The Jens also average 10.7 points per game in the last five minutes compared to 75.4 on the year. UCM has claimed three wins after trailing with five minutes left in regulation (Southwest Baptist, Northeastern State, Missouri Western), and are a perfect 16-0 when leading at the five-minute mark.

Instant Impact
Junior forward Keuna Flax has performed as become one of the top players in the MIAA. Flax is averaging a team-high 20.9 points per game, and is shooting 54.4% from the field. Because she missed the first seven games of the year Flax doesn't qualify for any MIAA or NCAA leaderboards, but if she did, she would lead the conference in scoring with 2.4 points per game more than the second-highest average, and would rank third nationally in Division II. The Haltom City, Tex. native has scored 20 or more points in ten games for UCM this season, and has scored in double figures in every appearance; she set a new career high with 30 points in the win over Central Oklahoma on Thursday.

Scoring Threat
Junior BreAnna Lewis has been one of the nation's best three-point shooters this season. Lewis ranks third in the MIAA in scoring and 73rd in Division II, with 16.2 points per game, and is shooting at a 39.5% clip from beyond the arc, ranking 29th nationally. She has the MIAA's highest average of three-pointers hit per game, with 3.17, which places her fifth on the national leaderboard. In the win over Academy of Art, Lewis knocked down seven three-pointers, tying her for the third-most in a single game in Jennies program history; she has hit five or more treys in seven games, and has hit six in two of her last three games, against Missouri Southern and Lindenwood.

Lewis, along with Keuna Flax, were former teammates at Trinity Valley CC, where they won the NJCAA national championship a year ago. With the Jennies, the pair account for 37.1 points per game, just under half of the team's scoring average.

Senior Leader
Senior forward Nicole Caddell has been dominant in the post this season, averaging a double-double with 13.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. She is just one of two players in the MIAA to be averaging a double-double on the season. Caddell has matched her career high of 16 rebounds three times this season (St. Mary's, Lewis, Arkansas Tech), and leads the MIAA in total rebounding and in offensive boards (3.7 per game). The Tuscaloosa, Ala. native ranks 25th in the nation in rebounds, and 35th in the country with nine double-doubles this season.

Caddell also reached a major milestone in her UCM career in the win over Lincoln earlier this month, surpassing the 1,000 point mark. Caddell became the 24th player in Jennies basketball history to reach that total, and was the third-fastest Jennie to do so, reaching the milestone in just 74 games played. She now sits 22nd on the UCM scoring list, surpassing Ashley Millham (2003-07) with her 15 points at Central Oklahoma.

Caddell also pulled down her 600th career rebound against the Blue Lions. With her one block at Lindenwood, Caddell, became just the third player in Jennies history to have at least 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, and 100 blocks, joining Rosie Jones (1981-85) and Barb Sorensen (1986-90).

Disappointing Departure
After leading the Jennies offense during the first eight games of the season, freshman Shelby Winkelmann suffered a season-ending injury during the win over Dixie State. Winkelmann was averaging 17.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, leading the team in scoring at the time. The current team leader, Keuna Flax, played together with Winkelmann for one game (Dixie State) before the freshman's injury.

Starting Roles
A pair of Jennies worked their way into the starting lineups beginning with the trip to Las Vegas, in junior Quinnecia Twine and sophomore Brielle Wattley.

Twine is averaging 9.1 points as a starter, up from her season average of 8.2 points per game. She has scored in double figures in seven starts, and set a new career high with 24 points in the win over Central Oklahoma. Twine also hit a career-high five three-pointers against the Bronchos.

Wattley has started the last 15 games at point guard, and is averaging 2.0 assists as a starter. She leads the team with a 1.80 assist-to-turnover ratio this season, and has committed just six turnovers in her last six games.

Bench Notes
Junior Symone Murray leads the bench with 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game this season ... She scored a career-high 13 points at Fort Hays State, and has reached double-figures five times this season ... Erin Redmond is fourth on the team with 33 assists on the year, to go along with 3.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game ... Against Missouri Southern, Redmond tallied three assists, her highest total since the win over Northeastern State on Jan. 9 ... Junior Kiersten Orton has been one of the best rebounders off the bench for the Jens, averaging 2.6 boards per game ...  Freshman Danielle Barry scored a career-high seven points in the first half of the win over Pittsburg State, and is averaging 1.4 points and 2.0 boards this season ... Breonna Embray has appeared in all 23 games this year, averaging 1.4 points per game.

Milestone Victory
After defeating Pittsburg State on Jan. 12, head coach Dave Slifer moved into third place on the Jennies all-time wins list, surpassing Mildred Barnes (1971-80). Slifer has a 166-93 record on the UCM sideline, and a 549-192 record during his 24-year coaching career. Slifer is just one win away from tying Scott Ballard (1995-03) for second on UCM's wins list, with 167. At the start of the season Slifer ranked seventh among active coaches at the Division II level in total wins, and is one of just seven active coaches to reach the 500 wins mark.

In the Classroom
As much success as the Jennies saw on the court in 2011-12, they achieved just as much in the classroom. Nine players on last year's roster earned the MIAA Academic Honor Roll award, for earning at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Two players from a year ago, Alyssa Rhodes and Taylor Hanson, were honored with the MIAA Scholar-Athlete award, as the two seniors were recognized for earning All-MIAA Team honors while maintaining a 3.5 GPA or higher.

Junior forward Kiersten Orton was one of just 18 athletes across all sports at Central Missouri to earn the MIAA Academic Excellence Award. Orton has recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA during her time at UCM, while studying Middle School Math Education.

MIAA Preseason Polls
After a fourth place regular season finish a year ago, the Jennies debuted at No. 6 in the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media Polls. Washburn, who won the regular season and tournament titles last year, were picked to repeat by both the coaches and the media. Pittsburg State, who reached the first round of the NCAA Elite Eight, were picked second in both polls.

UCM in the Polls
The Jennies held steady this week in the WBCA USA TODAY Sports Division II Coaches' Poll, retaining their No. 7 rank from a week ago. The Jens collected 614 points in the poll, an increase of 71 points from last week.

The Jennies are the second-highest MIAA team ranked in the poll, just behind No. 5 Washburn, who improved one spot from last week. The current No. 1 team, Bentley (Mass.), moved up to the top spot this week, surpassing No. 3 Ashland, who suffered their first loss of the season.

Four MIAA teams are earning votes in the poll but are not ranked, including Truman (34 pts.), Pittsburg State (10), Fort Hays State (9), and Emporia State (6).

UCM Program History
The UCM Jennies are 846-351 (.707) after 41 seasons, and 643-262 (.710) in the 30 seasons since joining NCAA Division II ... The Jennies have won 9 MIAA regular season championships, 7 MIAA Tournament titles, 6 NCAA regional titles, and the 1984 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Series History with Southwest Baptist