Next up for the Jennies The Jennies (17-8, 11-6 MIAA) enter the week ranked No. 9 in the Central Regional Rankings and are winners of their last five games.
After defeating SBU last week and with Missouri Southern upsetting No. 7 Pittsburg State in Pittsburg, Kansas, the Jennies remain a game behind the Lady Lions for the fourth and final spot for a first round conference bye.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Play 4Kay Initiative, the Jennies will wear pink jerseys for Wednesday night's matchup against the Missouri Western Griffons.
UCM will try to avenge a 77-69 loss to Missouri Western back on January 14 in St. Joseph. The Griffons' offense is paced by LaQuinta Jefferson, who is the MIAA's leading scorer with 20.8 points per contest.
Last Time Out The Jennies received five double-digit scoring performances, including two double-doubles from seniors
Justina Prairie Chief and
Revonnia Howard, propelling Central Missouri to a 72-55 win over visiting Southwest Baptist on Saturday afternoon.
The Jennies never trailed in the game, getting out to quick start, scoring eight of the game's first 10 points in the first two minutes.
UCM's lead slipped to three points at the 14:15 mark after SBU went on a 9-6 scoring spurt. However, the Jennies responded with an 11-3 run, pushing their advantage back to double digits at 25-14 with 9:08 remaining in the first half. Howard scored four of her team-high 20 points during the scoring run.
The lead was built to as many as 16 points with just over six minutes remaining in the opening half of play. SBU pulled to within 11, 40-29 at halftime.
The Jennies outscored Southwest Baptist, 20-8 in the paint and received 10 points from the bench in the opening 20 minutes. The offense shot 45.5% (15-of-33) from the floor including 50% (4-of-8) from long distance.
A pair of three-pointers to begin the second half for SBU sliced the Jennies lead to six at 43-37. Seniors
Jasmine Thompson, Prairie Chief and Howard combined for the next six UCM points, sending the lead back to double-digits at 49-37 with 14:52 to play.
The Bearcats battled to close the gap to 52-45 at the 10:28 mark but the Jennies held them off for the remainder of the game, doubling up on SBU, 20-10.
The double-double for Howard was her 10th this season, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Prairie Chief collected her third double-double of 2014-15 with 11 points and 11 boards. The 11 rebounds were one shy of matching her career-high.
Howard blocked two shots, moving into sole possession for seventh place on Central Missouri's all-time list with 84.
Slifer By The Numbers Slifer is 32nd on the all-time wins list for all NCAA coaches with 596.
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 596 wins and is ninth among all Division II coaches with a .740 winning percentage.
Slifer needs four wins to reach 600 in his 25-year coaching career.
Jennies Basketball In The Multi The Jens are 438-96 all-time in the Multipurpose Building, and 110-33 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.
First Meeting At Missouri Western In the first meeting of the season on January 14 at Missouri Western, the Jennies built a 25-10 lead early in the first half, but the Griffons came storming back to take their first lead in the early stages of the second half. The closest the Jennies came to tying the game was at 56-52.
Junior
Shelby Winkelmann was Central Missouri's leading scorer with 16 points, while redshirt junior
Danielle Barry and junior
Tayler Weiks combined for 16 points off the Jennies' bench.
The loss was the first for the Jennies against Missouri Western in the last 13 matchups.
Party of Five In the 72-55 win against SBU, the Jennies had five players, including four starters, score in double-figure points.
This season, UCM is 3-0 when five players score 10 points or more in the same game.
Inside The Winning Streak During the Jennies' five-game win streak, the offense is averaging 72.4 points while surrending just 57.6 points per game (plus-14.8 point differential).
They are outscoring the opposing team, 161-119 in the first half and 201-169 in the second half.
Revonnia Howard leads the team with 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, playing in 26.6 minutes per contest.
The Jennies are shooting 41.7% (128-of-307) from the floor and 38.6% (32-of-83) from three-point range. Junior
Tayler Weiks leads the Jennies with 10 three-point field goals made during the win streak.
Dishing Out Dimes The Jennies offense distributed a season-high 17 assists in the team's win over the Bearcats. It was also the fifth straight game of double-digit assists.
Three Straight With 70 In the last three games, the Jennies have finished with 78, 72 and 72 points, respectively, for an average of 74.0 points per game. It's the second time this season (Dec. 4-15) that the offense has scored at least 70 points in three consecutive outings.
Rebound Machine Senior forward
Revonnia Howard has been an asset on the boards this season for the Jennies. Her 9.2 rebounds per game is currently third in the MIAA entering this week. Seventy-seven of her 229 rebounds have been on the offensive end, both team highs. Her 77 offensive rebounds are currently fourth-best in the MIAA.
She is one of three Jennies (
Justina Prairie Chief,
Jasmine Thompson) to pull down triple-digit rebounds this season. She is one of two Jennies (Prairie Chief) to have 100 defensive rebounds this season as well.
Howard pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds in the 73-65 overtime win against Quincy on Nov. 24. Howard's 21 rebounds in a single-game are tied for fourth-most in UCM history.
The Chicago, Illinois native was the first Jennie to record at least 20 rebounds since Jojuana Jones hauled in 21 boards on March 6, 2008 in the first round of the MIAA Tournament against SBU (89-80 loss).
Block Party Howard has blocked 41 shots this season, bumping her career total to 84. She is two blocks shy of matching her total of 43 from last season. The 84 blocks move her into sole possession of seventh-place on the Jennies' all-time list.
She is seven blocks shy of tying Kamala Sherman for sixth-place on UCM's all-time list.
Playing Well At Home The Jennies are 9-3 at home this season and need one more win to reach at least 10 for the fourth consecutive season.
From The Foul Line Through 25 games, the Jennies boast the fourth-best free-throw percentage in the MIAA at a 75.1% clip.
Shelby Winkelmann (80.9%),
Justina Prairie Chief (80.3%) and
Jasmine Thompson (73.9%) are currently ranked in the Top 15 in the conference in free throw percentage.
Off To Fast Starts In the last eight games, the Jennies have either had the lead or been tied at halftime. The Jennies are outrebounding their opponents in five of those first halves and are shooting 40.1% (173-of-431) from the floor.
Howard's Double-Doubles Senior forward
Revonnia Howard collected her 10th double-double of the season against SBU. She now has 16 for her career, 12 more than the next leading Jennie (
Justina Prairie Chief with 3).
Staying Ahead For the last two games, the Jennies have not trailed from the opening tip-off. The last time UCM went two straight games without trailing was Feb. 8-Feb. 12 of last season.
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.
UCM in the Polls
The Jennies were ranked in the Top 25 for 33 consecutive weeks from January of 2013-December of 2014. This season, the Jennies faced four opponents (Fort Hays State, Emporia State, Pittsburg State and Drury) that currently sit in the Top 25, finishing with a record of 1-3.
UCM Program History The UCM Jennies are 892-368 (.707) after 44 seasons, and 689-279 (.711) in the 32 seasons since joining NCAA Division II ... the Jennies have won 10 MIAA regular season championships with last year's title, 7 MIAA Tournament titles, 6 NCAA regional titles, and the 1984 NCAA Division II Championship.
Series History With Missouri Western The Jennies lead the all-time series with the Griffons, 33-27. They have won the past seven meetings in Warrensburg. Central Missouri took last year's home game against Missouri Western on Jan. 15, 2014, 71-65.
A Win for the Jennies Would...... improve the Jennies record to 18-8 this season and 12-6 in MIAA play ... be the 14th win in the last 15 meetings overall with Missouri Western ... give the Jennies 10 home victories for the fourth-straight season.
A Loss for the Jennies Would...... drop the Jennies' record to 17-9 on the season ... drop the Jennies conference record to 11-7 ...be the second-straight loss to the Griffons and the first at home since January 10, 2007.
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.
Central Region Rankings The Jennies were ranked No. 9 in the initial Central Region rankings that were released by the NCAA last Wednesday afternoon. The top eight teams in the final rankings on Sunday, March 8 qualify for the Central Regional tournament March 13, 14 and 16 at a campus site to be determined. The NCAA-II Women's Selection Show is set for 9 p.m. on Sunday, March 8 on NCAA.com.
