Next up for the Jennies The 20th-ranked Jennies (2-1) picked up a pair of wins away from Warrensburg this past weekend in Rolla, Missouri against Newman University and Missouri S&T. The Jennies make their 2014-15 home debut on Monday night against Quincy University (2-1). Three players for UCM enter tonight's matchup with a scoring average in double-figures (
Jasmine Thompson - 17.3,
Justina Prairie Chief - 16.7,
Revonnia Howard - 12.3). Central Missouri went 11-1 at home last season.
Last Time Out Prairie Chief led the Jennies offense for the second straight game, helping UCM to a 67-54 win against Missouri S&T at Billy Key Court on Saturday night.
Prairie Chief dropped 19 points on the Miners on 6-of-12 shooting while tallying five steals for the second night in a row. Three other Jennies (2-1) deposited double-figure points in the win (Howard - 14, Thompson - 13,
Danielle Barry - 11). The 11 points for Barry off the bench were a career high.
The Jennies never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 13-2 lead in the first 7:06, led by six points from Howard.
Missouri S&T was unable to cut the deficit under eight points for the remainder of the half and trailed by as many as 14 (32-18) with 1:50 left in the first half.
The Jennies ruled the paint through the first 20 minutes, outscoring the Miners, 22-10. They also scored 16 points off Missouri S&T miscues.
UCM came out of the locker room after halftime and opened on a 7-2 run. The lead grew to as many as 19 at 43-24 with 14:27 remaining, following a jumper by Howard. UCM maintained the double-digit edge for the rest of the game, opening the season with at least two victories in its first three games for the sixth straight season.
The Jennies shot 20-of-26 from the charity stripe (77%). Slifer By The Numbers Slifer is 32nd on the all-time wins list for all division coaches with 581.
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 581 wins and is ninth among all Division II coaches with a .742 winning percentage. Slifer needs just three wins to reach 200 victories as Jennies head coach and 19 wins to reach 600 in his 25-year coaching career.
Jennies Basketball In The Multi The Jens are 429-93 all-time in the Multipurpose Building, and 101-30 during the Slifer era ... Central Missouri finished the 2013-14 season with an 11-1 record in the Multi ...
UCM has won at least nine home games every year since 2004-05 ... the Jennies have gone undefeated at home four times: 1982-83 (15-0, finished 3rd in the nation), 1985-86 (14-0, regional champions), 1988-89 (15-0, finished 4th in the nation), and 2012-13 ... from 1988 to 1990, the Jennies won a school-record 34 consecutive games at the Multi ... Currently, UCM is riding a five-game winning streak at the Multi.
First Impressions Jennies senior guard
Jasmine Thompson has made her presence felt, leading UCM in scoring (17.3) and rebounding (8.3). She pulled down 15 rebounds in the season-opener at Minnesota State. She scored 27 points and pulled down 15 boards in her first game as a Jennie in that game.
The 15 rebounds were the most for a Jennie in a season opener since 2011-12 (Nicole Caddell vs. Evangel).
Her 27 points matched the most for a Jennie in their debut in the last 10 seasons. (Tiffany Vincent in 2004-05 against Cameron).
Battle On The Boards The Jennies have been outrebounded in two of their three games this season, finishing 1-1 in this scenario. A year ago, the Jennies were an astounding 20-1 in games where they pulled down more rebounds than their opponents.
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.
This season, Prairie Chief has recorded double-digit points in all three games, including career-high of 20 in a 60-47 win against Newman on Friday, November 21.
Short Memory Last season, the Jennies went 4-0 in games following a loss. Over the last two seasons, the Jennies are 9-0 in games following a loss and have not lost two consecutive games since March 3 and 9, 2012 (vs. Washburn, vs. Pittsburg State). They are 1-0 in games following a loss in 2014-15.
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. Winkelmann has yet to play in a game for the Jennies this season, while Prairie Chief and Howard have
combined for 29.0 points and 12.7 rebounds through three games. Prairie Chief currently ranks seventh in the MIAA in scoring at a 16.7 clip and is first in steals per game with 4.7.
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).
The Jennies are 0-1 in games decided by two points or less this season.
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.
This season, the trio has tallied seven assists, five steals and 18 points.
Point of Emphasis Dating back to last season, Central Missouri has allowed under 80 points to opponents in 19 of its past 20 games. The Jennies are 16-4 during that span and are 26-4 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. Thompson, a senior, 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 freshmen are a pair of Iowa natives, Ana Schmidt from Wahlert High School and
Olivia Godfrey, a Panarama High School graduate.
Thompson is sixth in the MIAA in scoring with 17.3 points per game, while Weiks has buried four triples and is tied for second among UCM reserves with 5.3 points per game.
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 went 98-81 last season. Through the first three games, the combined records of the opponents they've faced is 8-3.
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.
Howard is pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game, second-best on the team and owns a team-high three blocks.
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 877-361 (.708) after 44 seasons, and 676-272 (.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 Quincy University The Jennies lead the all-time series, 8-2. The last time these two teams met was November 26, 2011. The Jennies prevailed in that game, 66-65 in Warrensburg.
A Win for the Jennies Would...... improve the Jennies record to 3-1 this season ... give the Jennies their 26th win in the last 29 games against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
A Loss for the Jennies Would...... drop the Jennies record to 2-2for the first time since the 2007-08 season ... mark the first home opening loss for the Jennies program since 2007-08 ... drop the Jennies' overall record to Quincy University to 8-3.
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.
