No. 8 Central Missouri Jennies (23-3, 17-2 MIAA) vs. Northeastern St. RiverHawks (11-16, 7-12 MIAA)
MIAA Tournament  | Quarterfinals
Next up for the Jennies
The eighth-ranked Jennies (23-3, 17-2 MIAA) clinched its first outright MIAA title since the 1990-91 season with a convincing 77-56 win against Northwest Missouri on March 1. With the victory, the Jennies clinched the No. 1 seed and earned a bye to the conference quarterfinals. UCM will face ninth-seeded Northeastern State in the second round of the MIAA Tournament. The RiverHawks won the conference tournament play-in game, defeating Northwest Missouri State, 47-42 in Tahlequah on Monday night. Â
MIAA Player of the Year
Keuna Flax stands 21 points shy of becoming the newest member of the Jennies 1,000-point club, and needs 42 points to pass Lashonda Albert for 24th on UCM's all-time scoring list. Northeastern State's Fontana Tate leads the RiverHawks in scoring with 11.2 points per game. She dropped a team-high 18 points on Northwest Missouri in Monday night's game.Â
Last Time Out
Five Jennies (23-3, 17-2 MIAA) scored in double figures, headlined by senior
Keuna Flax, who closed out her home career with 15 points and nine rebounds. Junior
Revonnia Howard collected her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.Â
Ariel Easton spotted Northwest Missouri a 3-0 lead in the first 41 seconds, hitting a triple. The Jennies took a 5-3 lead on the next two possessions after
Shelby Winkelmann dropped in a layup and
BreAnna Lewis knocked down a three-pointer of her own.Â
After three lead changes, the Jennies jumped back in front for good, 13-12, on a layup by Flax, with 12:03 left in the opening half. UCM's lead reached double-digits at 32-22 courtesy of six unanswered points by Lewis,
Quinnecia Twine and Flax with under four minutes until halftime. The Jennies maintained a double-digit edge for the remainder of the half, taking a 42-31 lead after 20 minutes of play.
UCM outscored the Bearcats, 12-4 in the paint and received 11 points from the second unit. Lewis and Twine each scored 11 first half points.Â
In the first 2:12 of the game's second half, UCM bumped its lead to 21, going on a 10-0 spurt. The Bearcats were unable to cut the deficit to single digits in the second half, and mustered only 25 points.
The Jennies lead grew to as many as 25 at 77-52, sealing their season best eighth-consecutive win to close out the regular season.Â
Regional Rankings
In the second week of regional rankings this year, the Jennies remain third in the Central Region rankings. The Jennies trail Emporia State and Harding in the rankings. UCM lost to both teams on the road during the regular season.Â
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's the first time the Jennies have won 23 regular season games in the
Dave Slifer era.
National Leaders
Flax finished the 2013-14 regular season ranked 18th in points per game with 20.5. She shot 56.5% from the field, which was good for 19th in Division II. The Jennies finished 39th in offensive scoring, averaging 76.4 points per game. UCM finished the regular season ranked 31st with a +10.2 scoring margin. Â
Slifer By The Numbers
Slifer is 34th on the all-time wins list for all division coaches with 576.Â
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 576 wins and is eighth among all Division II coaches with a .743 winning percentage.
Slifer earned his 570th career win in UCM's 67-64 win against Southwest Baptist on Feb. 6.
Jennies In MIAA Tourney Play
The Jennies have won seven MIAA Tournament titles, the last coming in 1990.Â
The Jennies have not reached the conference tournament championship game since the 2009-10 season and have finished tied for third or lower in six of the past seven seasons. The Jens are 34-23 all-time in MIAA Tournament play. UCM is 3-3 in its last six conference tournament games.Â
An Encore For Flax
For the second-straight season, senior forward
Keuna Flax finished regular season play as the top scorer in the MIAA. This season, she averaged 20.3 points per game, a slight improvement from her 19.7 points per contest in 2012-13.Â
Bench Boost
In six of the team's final seven regular season games, the Jennies' bench scored at least 20 points for a total of 134 (an average of  19.1 points).Â
Entering Postseason Play Hot
UCM closed out the regular season on an eight-game winning streak, its longest of the season. The Jennies won four games on the road and the other four at home.Â
Strong Defense
Over the final 10 games of the regular season, the Jennies forced the opposition into at least 12 turnovers. In only three games have the Jennies not forced double-digit turnovers (vs. Rollins, at Harding, at NWMSU). UCM also recorded four games of double-digit steals, including a season-high of 14 against William Jewell on Nov. 13.Â
High-Octane Offense
During the 2013-14 regular season, the Jennies averaged 76.5 points per game, the most the team has averaged since the 2007-08 season when they averaged 70.0 points per outing.Â
New Starting Point Guard
Junior
Breonna Embray started the final eight games for the Jennies, logging 183 minutes and recording 14 assists and nine rebounds. Against Lindenwood on Feb. 15, she set new career-highs in points (15), three-point field goals (5) and three-point field goal attempts (7). The Jennies were 8-0 when Embray started at point guard during the regular 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).Â
During the regular season, Lewis sank 47 three-pointers, reaching five twice this season. She has recorded at least one three-pointer in 20 of 26 games (none against FHSU, WU, LU, SBU and MWSU twice). The 47 three-pointers puts her three-point career total to 135 – seventh on the Jennies' all-time three-point field goals made list. She is 10 three-pointers from tying Maegan Fromm for sixth on UCM's all-time leaderboard.Â
Defensive Spark Off The Bench
Junior transfer
Justina Prairie Chief made her presence felt on the team's second unit, leading all bench players in rebounds with 99 (31 offensive). She pulled down 19 rebounds in her last five games, logging a total of 73 minutes.Â
Holding Down The Frontcourt
Junior transfer
Revonnia Howard closed out the regular season averaging 9.9 points and 9.1 rebounds and 36 blocked shots in 26 games. Her 9.1 rebounds per game was third-most among MIAA players. 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 finished with 11 games of at least 10 rebounds this season, which was first among Jennies. She is four blocked shots away from tying Christie Brown for 10th-most in a single season. She needs just six blocks to move into eighth-place on the Jennies' single-season list to pass Barb Sorensen and Shelly Metzger.Â
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. During her first season with UCM, Wahlert finished regular season play averaging 1.7 points and 0.7 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game this season. She also has 14 steals and 45 assists (season-high of 6 against Lincoln on Feb. 12) while shooting 30.0% from three-point range (9-of-30).Â
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 played in 18.1 minutes per game this season, making 15-of-40 field goals. Embray was 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).Â
Twine Continues To Shine
This season, senior
Quinnecia Twine played in 24 regular season games, starting two, and averaged 7.7 points, shooting 55-of-141 from the floor (39%). She added 24 steals and 28 assists. Her 7.7 points leads all bench players this season. Twine finished the regular season tied for third in the MIAA in 3-point field goal percentage at .385 with Emporia State's Laura Patrick. She scored in double-figure points in five of the Jennies' final seven regular season games.Â
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.Â
UCM in the Polls
The Jennies moved up three spots to No. 8 in this week's WBCA/USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. UCM garnered 544 points in this week's rankings, a 67-point improvement from last week's poll. UCM defeated Missouri Western on the road and closed out the regular season with a convincing victory at home against Northwest Missouri to clinch the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Tournament. The basketball program has appeared in the Top 25 for 30-consecutive weeks dating back to January 8 of last season. The Jennies are one of three MIAA schools in the Top 25 Â (Emporia State at No. 7, Pittsburg State at No. 22). Emporia State fell two spots to No. 7, while Pittsburg State climbed one spot to 22nd in the poll. UCM and Emporia State appear in the Top-25 for the 15th-straight week. The Jennies are 3-2 against teams currently in the Top 25 (wins against Minnesota State, Pittsburg State and Rollins College; losses against Harding and Emporia State).Â
UCM Program History
The UCM Jennies are 872-358 (.708) after 43 seasons, and 671-269 (.713) in the 31 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.Â
Series History With Northeastern State
Central Missouri leads the all-time series, 2-0. The Jennies won the lone meeting with the RiverHawks this season, an 84-73 win in Tahlequah on Dec. 21, 2013. This will be the first postseason matchup with Northeastern State.
 A Win for the Jennies Would...
... be the third win in the last four MIAA tournament games for UCM ... extend the Jennies' win streak to nine games, the longest since the 2005-06 season ... improve the Jennies' record to 24-3 overall ... be the team's 18th conference win ... match the team's win total from a season ago.Â
A Loss for the Jennies Would...
... be the fourth loss of the 2013-14 season ... drop the Jennies conference record to 17-3 ... mark the first loss in the series history against Northeastern State ... be the second-consecutive MIAA tournament loss for the program ... 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.
  Â
