Central Missouri enters this season looking to win back-to-back MIAA titles for the first time since the 1990-91 season. The Jennies return three starters, including a 2013-14 All-MIAA Honorable Mention selection in senior forward
Revonnia Howard. The team welcomes senior transfer
Jasmine Thompson, who brings her talents from Texas Pan American University.
The Jennies are 1-2 all-time against Minnesota State, and have never played the Mavericks in Mankato.
Last Time Out The Jennies saw their 2013-14 season end in an 85-60 loss to Concordia-St. Paul in the Central Regional semifinals in Searcy, Arkansas back on March 15. The Jennies pulled out in front, 13-12 in the early stages of the game, but the Golden Bears went on to score nine unanswered points to take a 21-13 advantage that they would not relinquish. The Jens were only able to close the gap to 13 points in the game's second half. UCM shot 31% from the floor on 22-of-71 shooting and made just 5-of-22 three-pointers (22.7%).
Seniors
Keuna Flax and
BreAnna Lewis both entered their names in the UCM record books in the game. Flax carved her spot into 22nd place on the Jennies' all-time scoring list with 1,074 points. Lewis drained a pair of triples to move her into sixth place on the program's all-time three-point field goals list with 146.
The loss ended the Jennies' season at 26-5, their best record in 23 years.
Slifer By The Numbers Slifer is 32nd on the all-time wins list for all division coaches with 579.
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 579 wins and is ninth among all Division II coaches with a .742 winning percentage. Slifer needs just seven wins to reach 200 victories as Jennies head coach and 21 wins to reach 600 in his 25-year coaching career.
A Look Back In the Jennies' 96-88 season-opening win against Minnesota State last season in Warrensburg, four Jennies scored in double-figures, led by
Keuna Flax, who finished with 30 points. The other three who scored in double-figures were
BreAnna Lewis (20),
Shelby Winkelmann (15) and
Quinnecia Twine (10). UCM shot 47% from the floor (31-66) and outrebounded the Mavericks, 40-35. The Jennies also attempted 34 free throws in comparison to Minnesota State's 22.
Jennies In Season Openers Under Slifer, the Jennies are 9-1 in season-openers and have not lost since the 2007-08 season (70-59 to SIU-Edwardsville).
2013-14 Regular Season Milestone With 23 wins in the 2013-14 regular season, the Jennies program passed its total from a season ago when the team finished with 22 wins prior to the conference tournament. It was the first time the Jennies won 23 regular season games in the
Dave Slifer era.
Replacing Flax The Jennies will have the challenging task of replacing the defending MIAA Player fo the Year and two-time All-American,
Keuna Flax. Senior
Justina Prairie Chief will carry a larger role with the Jennies offense this season. The El Rino, Oklahoma native pulled down 110 rebounds last season, first among reserves and tallied 23 steals, second among bench players. She registered one game of double-digit points, scoring 14 in the first round of the Central Regional quarterfinals against Northern State.
Deja Vu The Jennies will open the regular season with Minnesota State for the second-consecutive season. The last time Central Missouri tipped off back-to-back seasons against the same opponent was 1985-86 and 1986-87 against Emporia State. UCM won both season openers, 86-67 and 91-66.
Key Returners Central Missouri will count heavily upon three of its top returners from a season ago in seniors
Justina Prairie Chief and
Revonnia Howard and junior
Shelby Winkelmann. The trio combined for 23.7 points and 15.6 rebounds per game in 2013-14.
Jennies By The Numbers In 2013-14 The Jennies were 23-0 when leading at halftime and posted a record of 24-0 when leading with five minutes remaining. They were 5-1 in games decided by five points or less.
UCM also finished 2-1 in games decided by two points or less last season (defeated Pittsburg State and Lincoln, lost to Lindenwood).
Three-Headed Monster One position on the team that brings much needed experience back this season is at point guard. With seniors
Breonna Embray and
Brielle Wattley, and sophomore
Andee Wahlert, the team's floor general should be reliable. Last season, the Jennies went 11-2 when Embray started at point guard. Wattley finished first among bench players with 48 assists, while Wahlert led all reserves with 14 steals and was second in assists with 45.
Point of Emphasis Dating back to last season, Central Missouri has allowed under 80 points to opponents in 16 of its past 17 games. The Jennies are 14-3 during that span and are 24-3 since the beginning of last season.
New Faces Central Missouri welcomes seven new players to this season's group - one senior, four juniors and two freshman. Senior guard
Jasmine Thompson is the lone newcomer projected to start. The juniors include
Stacey Mgbike, a transfer from Missouri Western,
Danielle Randle, a Neosho CC transfer,
Makaila Jordan, formerly of Arkansas Baptist,
Tayler Weiks from Blinn College. The two freshman are a pair of Iowa natives, Ana Schmidt from Wahlert High School and
Olivia Godfrey, a Panarama High School graduate.
Potent Offensive Numbers Last season, UCM led all MIAA teams in points scored against conference opponents with 1,419 points (74.6 per game). The offense averaged 75.8 points per contest throughout the entire season, second-most among MIAA teams (Emporia State - 76.3).
2014-15 Non-Conference Opponents The non-conference schedule features three teams that posted winning records a season ago and one that qualified for the NCAA Tournament (Drury University). The combined records of all seven non-conference foes the Jennies will face are 98-81.
Frontcourt Presence Senior forward
Revonnia Howard will be relied on to take a bigger offensive role with the departures of Flax and
BreAnna Lewis. Howard pulled down 9.4 rebounds per game last season, second best in the MIAA. She recorded six double-doubles and scored a career-high 23 points against Missouri Western on January 15, 2014. Her six double-doubles were tied for the team-high, and she recorded 13 games with at least 10 rebounds, also first among Jennies.
Excelling In The Classroom The Jennies experienced plenty of success both on and off the court last season with eight MIAA Academic Honor Roll selections, for earning at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
MIAA Preseason Polls After a first-place regular season finish a year ago and the program's first outright MIAA title since the 1990-91 season, the Jennies debuted at No. 5 in the Preseason Coaches Poll. The Jennies enter the season behind Emporia State, Pittsburg State, Washburn and Fort Hays State in the Coaches Poll. UCM garnered 127 total points, 11 fewer than Fort Hays State, whom the Jennies eliminated in the MIAA Tournament semifinals last season. The Jennies also earned 15 fewer points than Washburn, whom the Jennies defeated in the regular season last year and 26 fewer points than Pittsburg State, whom the Jennies topped on the road back in January.
UCM in the Polls The Jennies opened the preseason ranked No. 20 in this week's WBCA/USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. UCM garnered 182 points in this week's rankings. The basketball program has appeared in the Top 25 for 31-consecutive weeks dating back to January 8, 2013. The Jennies are one of three MIAA schools in the Top 25 (Emporia State at No. 7, Pittsburg State at No. 24). Emporia State maintained the No. 7 ranking from the end of last season, while Pittsburg State climbed out of the rankings to No. 22 to begin the 2014-15 campaign. Together, UCM and Emporia State appear in the Top-25 for the 16th-straight week. The Jennies went 4-2 against teams that open the season in this year's Top 25 rankings (wins against Minnesota State, Pittsburg State, Rollins College and Northern State; losses against Harding and Emporia State). This season, the Jennies face three opponents (Emporia State, Pittsburg State and Drury University) that currently sit in the Top 25.
UCM Program History The UCM Jennies are 875-360 (.708) after 44 seasons, and 674-271 (.713) in the 32 seasons since joining NCAA Division II ... the Jennies have won 10 MIAA regular season championships with this year's title, 7 MIAA Tournament titles, 6 NCAA regional titles, and the 1984 NCAA Division II Championship.
Series History With Minnesota State The Jennies are 1-2 all-time against Minnesota State. This will mark the first meeting between the two schools in Mankato, Minnesota.
A Win for the Jennies Would...... start the Jennies with a perfect 1-0 record ... be the seventh-straight season opening victory ... give the Jennies their 22nd win in the last 24 games against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
A Loss for the Jennies Would...... be the first season-opening loss for the program since 2007 ... be just the second season-opening loss in the
Dave Slifer era ... drop the Jennies' overall record to Minnesota State to 1-3.
Jennies on the Air Central Missouri women's basketball can be caught throughout the season on 98.5 "The BAR," 1450 KOKO, and warrensburgradio.com as Greg Hassler provides play-by-play.
Fans can catch highlights each week on Central Missouri Sportspage, Thursday nights at 7 p.m., and Saturdays at 5 p.m. on KMOS-TV. Jennies fans can also tune in to 98.5 "The Bar" and 1450 KOKO each Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. for Central Missouri Sports Talk, with Greg Hassler and Bill Turnage. The pair will talk UCM athletics, as well as other hot topics in the sports world. Jennies coaches and players will drop in throughout the season as well.
