No. 12 Central Missouri Jennies (19-3, 13-2 MIAA) at Lindenwood Lady Lions (12-10, 7-8 MIAA)
Next up for the Jennies
The 12th-ranked Jennies look to clinch a top-four seed in the MIAA tournament and a bye to the conference quarterfinals in Kansas City when they travel to Lindenwood on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tipoff. The Jennies' home win against Lincoln on Wednesday was their 10th home win of 2013-14, the third-straight season of double-digit victories in Warrensburg. Senior forward
Keuna Flax collected her 14th game of at least 20 points this season, passing her total of 13 from last season. Lindenwood has won its last two games against Missouri Western and Southwest Baptist. Freshman guard Kassidy Gengenbacher is leading the Lady Lions in scoring with 14.6 points per game and is first in steals with 41. She scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting against UCM on Jan. 25 in Lindenwood's 65-64 win in Warrensburg.
Last Time Out
The 12th-ranked Jennies continue to close in on a bye to the conference tournament quarterfinals, cruising to an 86-53 victory over visiting Lincoln on Wednesday night at the Multipurpose Building.
The Jennies (19-3, 13-2 MIAA) used a 46-point first half to give themselves a 19-point cushion going into intermission. UCM never trailed, building a 9-2 lead in the first 2:56, led by four points from junior
Revonnia Howard.
Lincoln scored five unanswered points to come within a basket at 9-7, but were unable to tie the game, as the Jennies would go on to outscore the Blue Tigers, 19-10 over the next 6:44.
UCM outscored Lincoln, 20-10 in the paint in the opening half and scored eight points off of turnovers. Howard and
BreAnna Lewis each accumulated 11 points in the first half, with
Keuna Flax tallying 10.
A 14-4 run to start the second half pushed the Jennies' lead to 29 at 60-31. UCM kept its foot on the gas, running the score to 82-40 with 4:13 left in the game. The 42-point advantage was the second-largest in a game this season by UCM, second to a 46-point lead against Evangel on Nov. 26.
Central Missouri had 10 players score in the game. Flax led the Jennies in scoring with 20, the 14th time this season she has scored at least 20 points in a game, passing her total of 13 last season. Freshman point guard
Andee Wahlert dished out a season-best six assists.
Slifer By The Numbers
Slifer is 34th on the all-time wins list for all division coaches with 572.
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 572 wins and is eighth among all Division II coaches with a .741 winning percentage.
Slifer earned his 570th career win in UCM's 67-64 win against Southwest Baptist on Feb. 6 in Warrensburg.
Road Milestone Within Reach
The Jennies will try and earn their ninth road win of the season against the Lady Lions. UCM has not won nine road games since the 1990-91 season when they finished 9-3 under head coach Jon Pye.
A First In Two Years
UCM shot 82.1% from the free throw line in the win against Lincoln on Wednesday, the second-consecutive game shooting at least 80% from the line. The last time the Jennies accomplished this feat was Feb. 22 and 25 of the 2011-12 season.
Watch For Lewis
Senior
BreAnna Lewis has scored at least 20 points in seven of the Jennies' games this season. Last season, she recorded 11 games of 20-plus points. UCM has four regular season games remaining on the schedule.
Flax Finding Her Free Throw Stroke
Over her past two games, senior forward
Keuna Flax has knocked down 18 of 20 free throws, her best two-game stretch of the season. Prior to those two games, she missed seven of 20 free throws.
Winkelmann Enters Double Digits
Sophomore guard
Shelby Winkelmann came back with a 12-point game against Lincoln after scoring a total of 16 from Feb. 1-8. She made 3-of-8 shots (37.5%) which is her best percentage since Jan. 25 (57.1% against Lindenwood.
Second-Unit Boost
The Jennies have had their best three-game stretch from the bench over the last three games. The second unit has scored 67 points in three wins, the most production since Nov. 16-29 against Rollins, Evangel and Harding.
40 Is The Magic Number
The Jennies are 8-0 when scoring at least 40 points in the first half this season.
New Starting Point Guard
Junior
Breonna Embray has started the past four games for the Jennies, logging 86 minutes and recording eight assists and four rebounds. Against MSSU, she played a season high of 33 minutes, scoring seven points, dishing out three assists and hitting a pair of three-pointers. The Jennies are 4-0 when Embray starts at point guard this season.
Senior guard
BreAnna Lewis registered 88 three-pointers during the 2012-13 season. The 88 shots made from beyond the three-point arc placed her second on the Jennies' single-season list (four behind Jessica Burkholder in 1996-97 season).
Through 22 games this season, Lewis has sank 43 three-pointers, reaching five twice this season. She has recorded at least one three-pointer in 18 of 22 games (none against FHSU, WU, MWSU and LU). The 43 three-pointers puts her three-point career total to 131 – seventh on the Jennies' all-time three-point field goals made list. She now stands 14 three-pointers from tying Maegan Fromm for sixth on UCM's all-time leaderboard.
Defensive Spark Off The Bench
Junior
Justina Prairie Chief has made her presence felt on the team's second unit, leading all bench players in rebounds with 83 (27 offensive). She pulled down multiple rebounds in her last game against Lincoln (3) for the first time since Jan. 15 vs. MSSU (5).
Holding Down The Frontcourt
Junior
Revonnia Howard has started this season at forward, taking the place of the graduated
Nicole Caddell, the program's eighth all-time leading rebounder (704).
Howard is averaging 10.1 points and 8.8 rebounds through 22 games this season. She set a new career-high in rebounds on Jan. 18 at Northwest Missouri with 17 (four offensive) to go along with 12 points. She has eight 10-plus rebound games this season, which is first among Jennies. Her 34 blocks are also a team high.
The Lone Freshman
Freshman guard
Andee Wahlert is the only freshman on the Jennies' roster. The St. Joseph, Mo. native and Benton High School product was a four-year varsity letterwinner on the girls varsity team at Benton and served as a three-time captain. Wahlert is averaging 2.0 points and 0.7 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game this season. She also has 12 steals and 42 assists (season-high of 6 against Lincoln on Feb. 12) while shooting 31.0% from three-point range (9-of-29).
Embray's Defense
Junior guard
Breonna Embray was a defensive staple for the Jennies in tight games last season. In games decided by four points or less, the Jennies finished 9-1 with Embray on the floor. Embray is averaging 17.0 minutes this season, making 9-of-26 field goals. Embray has been on the floor in the final seconds in three of the Jennies games decided by four points or less this season (88-86 overtime win at Pittsburg State, 71-70 win at Lincoln, 67-64 win vs. Southwest Baptist).
Twine Continues To Shine
This season, Twine has played in 20 games, starting two, averaging 7.1 points, shooting 43-of-116 from the floor (37.1%) and has 20 steals and 23 assists. Her 7.1 points leads all bench players this season.
Excelling In The Classroom
The Jennies experienced plenty of success both on and off the court last season with seven MIAA Academic Honor Roll selections, for earning at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
Junior
Kiersten Orton and freshman
Shelby Winkelmann both won the MIAA Academic Excellence Award, which recognizes student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA. The award was the third for Orton.
MIAA Preseason Polls
After a second-place regular season finish a year ago, the Jennies debuted at No. 1 in the 2013-14 MIAA Preseason Media Poll, and No. 2 in the Coaches Poll. The Jennies enter the season ahead of Fort Hays State in both polls, after finishing ahead of the Tigers in the final 2012-13 MIAA Standings and eliminating FHSU in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. UCM tallied fewer votes than Emporia State in the preseason coaches poll, but garnered more points than the Lady Hornets in the preseason media poll. Washburn, who finished in first place in last year's regular season standings, but were eliminated in the MIAA Tournament semifinals by Emporia State, were picked to finish third in both the preseason coaches and media poll. Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State placed fourth and fifth to round out the top five teams in both polls.
UCM in the Polls
The Jennies rose one spot to No. 12 in this week's WBCA/USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. UCM garnered 608 points - a 19-point improvement from last week's rankings. UCM defeated both of its opponents last week, dropping Southwest Baptist at home and defeating Missouri Southern for the second time in a week in Joplin. The basketball program has appeared in the Top 25 for 27-consecutive weeks dating back to January 8 of last season. The Jennies are one of three MIAA schools in the Top 25 (Emporia State at No. 7, Fort Hays State at No. 24). Emporia State remains in the 7th spot, while Fort Hays State moves up one slot to 24th. UCM and Emporia State appear in the Top-25 for the 12th-straight week. The Jennies are 3-2 against teams currently in the Top 25 (wins against Minnesota State, Rollins College and Fort Hays State; losses against Harding and Emporia State).
UCM Program History
The UCM Jennies are 868-358 (.707) after 43 seasons, and 667-269 (.712) in the 31 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 Championship.
Series History with Lindenwood
Central Missouri leads the all-time series, 6-1 and is 3-0 against the Lions in St. Charles ... The Jennies won in St. Charles last season on Feb. 2, 2013 by a score of 83-75.
A Win for the Jennies Would...
... clinch them a bye to the conference quarterfinals and at least a top-four tournament seed ... give UCM its fifth consecutive win ... match the team's conference win total from last season with 14 ... be the 15th win in the last 16 games against unranked opponents ... give the Jennies nine road wins for the first time since the 1990-91 season.
A Loss for the Jennies Would...
... be the fourth loss of the 2013-14 season ... drop the Jennies conference record to 13-3 ... be the first road loss to Lindenwood in the series history ... mark the 200th loss for
Dave Slifer in his head coaching career.
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.
