Jennies meet Fort Hays State in MIAA Tournament Semifinals on Saturday

No. 5 Seed Central Missouri Jennies (21-8) vs. No. 1 Seed Fort Hays State Tigers (27-2)
MIAA Tournament  | Semifinals

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Next up for the Jennies
    The fifth-seeded Jennies (21-8) will match up with No. 1 seeded Fort Hays State (27-2) in the MIAA Tournament semifinals on Saturday, March 7 at the Municipal Auditorium for a 6 p.m. tip-off. The Tigers knocked off eighth-seeded Northeastern State, 79-53 in Friday's quarterfinal round. 
     During the regular season, Fort Hays State won a narrow 76-75 overtime decision in Hays, Kansas back on December 4. 
    Fort Hays State's senior center Kate Lehman scored a team-high 24 points in 23 minutes in the Tigers' quarterfinal round win over the RiverHawks. Junior guard Chelsea Mason added 23 points and five rebounds. 
    The Jennies are 3-0 all-time against Fort Hays State in the postseason. Last season, UCM knocked the Tigers out of the conference tournament in the semifinal round, 71-69. 
    The Jennies have eliminated Fort Hays State from the MIAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons. 
    
Last Time Out
    The fifth-seeded Jennies gave head coach Dave Slifer his 600th career win, knocking off fourth-seeded Missouri Southern, 70-64 at the Municipal Auditorium, advancing to the MIAA tournament semifinals for the fourth straight season. 
    The Jennies (21-8) never trailed against Missouri Southern and the game was tied only once with 15:11 left in the first half (5-5 score). 
    Three players for UCM scored in double-digits, led by senior Revonnia Howard, who finished with 23. The Chicago, Illinois native made 9-of-10 free throws and pulled in a team-high nine rebounds with a block. The block tied her with Tammy Wilson for fifth place on the Jennies' all-time list with 92. Junior Shelby Winkelmann chipped in 14 and junior Tayler Weiks added 12 off the bench. 
    After the game's only tie at 5-5, the Jennies scored six straight points to take an 11-5 lead with 12:58 to play in the first half. Howard scored five of her 23 points in the first seven-plus minutes. 
    Winkelmann and Weiks combined for nine of the team's next 11 points, sparking an 11-4 run to push the lead to 10 points with 7:18 left on the first half clock.
    Missouri Southern closed the gap to 31-28, going on a 16-9 run over 5:32, but Howard and Weiks accounted for the Jennies' final six points of the half, providing UCM with a 37-31 lead at the intermission. 
    Coming out of halftime, the Jennies began to pull away from the Lady Lions, scoring 12 unanswered points to go up, 49-31, six coming via the three pointer from seniors Breonna Embray and Justina Prairie Chief.
    Missouri Southern fought back, scoring 11 of the game's next 13 points to cut the deficit to nine with 11:34 to play.
    The two teams traded buckets for the next seven possessions before Missouri Southern's Sharese Jones completed a three-point play to make it a 61-54 game in favor of the Jennies with 6:04 remaining.
    A three-point play from senior Jasmine Thompson and a layup from junior Danielle Barry spiked the Jennies' lead to a dozen points with 5:16 to play, but the Lady Lions made one final comeback, scoring 10 straight points, closing the gap to 66-64 with 44 seconds to go.
    In the final 16 seconds, Howard was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line as the Jennies secured their spot in the conference tournament semifinals on Saturday night. 

Slifer By The Numbers
     Slifer is 32nd on the all-time wins list for all NCAA coaches with 600. 
    Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 600 wins and is ninth among all Division II coaches with a .741 winning percentage.
    Slifer earned his 600th win on March 6, 2015 in a 70-64 win over Missouri Southern in the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals. 

Jennies In MIAA Tourney Play
    The Jennies have won seven MIAA Tournament titles, the last coming in 1990.
The Jennies have reached the MIAA Championship round twice in the last five seasons (09-10, 13-14) and have finished tied for third or better in six of the past eight seasons. The Jens are 38-24 all-time in MIAA Tourney play and have won four of their past five conference games. 

Bounce-Back Game For Winkelmann
     Jennies junior guard Shelby Winkelmann, the reigning MIAA Athlete of the Week, scored just seven points in the MIAA first round game against Lindenwood on Tuesday. 
    She came back to score 14 points, hitting 6-of-12 shots to go with a team-high six assists in the conference quarterfinals victory against Missouri Southern.

Paint Points
     The Jennies finished with 42 points in the paint against Missouri Southern on Friday. It was the second time in the last four games (vs. Missouri Western) the Jennies scored at least 42 points down low. 

Season Numbers vs. Fort Hays State
    In the only regular season meeting with Fort Hays State, the Jennies had three players score in double-figures, including two (Justina Prairie Chief with 21, Shelby Winkelmann with 20). Senior Revonnia Howard recorded a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. 
    UCM shot 43.9% (29-of-66) from the floor, including (51.5%) 17-of-33 in the second half and overtime. The Jennies outrebounded the Tigers, 42-39, but committed 13 turnovers and recorded just eight assists. 

Revenge Games
     This season, the Jennies are 4-0 in the second meeting with the same team. They have defeated MIssouri Western, Lindenwood, Northwest Missouri and Missouri Southern after losing to each school in the season's first meeting. 

Weiks Off The Bench
    Junior guard Tayler Weiks scored 12 points off the Jennies' bench in the conference quarterfinals win on Friday. It was the fourth time in the last five games she has scored 10 points or more. She is shooting 50% (13-of-26) from three-point range and is 7-of-8 from the free- throw line. 
    When Weiks scores in double-digits this season, the Jennies are 8-0.

Inside The Winning Streak
    The Jennies' nine-game win streak matches the team's longest since Feb. 1-March 1 of last season when they rattled off 10 straight wins. During the current streak, the offense is averaging 73.4 points while surrending just 62.6 points per game (plus-10.8 point differential). 
    Three Jennies, Revonnia Howard (17.1), Shelby Winkelmann (13.2), Jasmine Thompson (13.2) are averaging double-digit points. Howard is also pulling down a team-best 9.0 rebounds per game and has 15 blocks and 15 steals, both team highs. Winkelmann leads the Jennies with 36 assists, including six against Missouri Southern on Friday. 
    Junior Tayler Weiks leads all bench players with 9.7 points per contest and is shooting 40.0% (18-of-45) from behind the three-point arc. 
    UCM is outscoring its opponents in the second half, 374-306 (plus-68 point differential) and hold a 287-257 edge (plus-30) in the first half of games. 
    The Jennies have a 122-97 edge in assists over the past nine games. They are averaging 13.5 assists per game during the streak and have reached double-digit helpers in eight of the nine wins. 
 
Impressive Offensive Production
    In seven straight games and eight of the past nine, the Jennies offense has produced 70 points or more.
    The seven game-stretch of such production eclipsed a five-game span from November 10-24 of 2012. During that streak, UCM's offense manufactured 92, 87, 78, 74 and 84 points to begin the 2012-13 season. 
    
Block Party
    Howard has blocked 49 shots this season, bumping her career total to 92. Her 49 blocks surpasses her total of 43 from a season ago and moves her into a tie with Tammy Wilson for fifth on the Jennies' all-time list. 
  
Rebound Machine
    Senior forward Revonnia Howard has been an asset on the boards this season for the Jennies. Her 9.0 rebounds per game is currently third in the MIAA. Eighty-six of her 258 rebounds have been on the offensive end, both team highs. 
    She is one of four Jennies (Justina Prairie Chief, Jasmine Thompson, Shelby Winkelmann) 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). 
    She has been held to single-digit rebounds in six of the past seven games. 

Howard's Free Throw Improvement
    This season, Howard has made 71.5% of her free throws (88-of-123). A season ago, she attempted just 81 free throws, converting on 46 (56.8%), a 14.7% improvement. 

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 896-368 (.708) after 44 seasons, and 693-279 (.712) 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 Fort Hays State
    The Jennies lead the all-time series with the Tigers, 13-8. The Jennies are 3-0 against Fort Hays State all-time in the postseason. The Jennies have won three of the past four meetings overall. 

 A Win for the Jennies Would...
...    advance the Jennies to the MIAA Tournament championship game on Sunday, March 8 for the third straight season ... extend the Jennies' win streak to 10 games ... improve the Jennies record to 22-8 this season ... be the fifth MIAA Tournament win in the past six tries. 

A Loss for the Jennies Would...
... drop the Jennies' record to 21-9 on the season ... eliminate the Jennies from the MIAA Tournament. 

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
    For the third straight week, the Jennies were ranked No. 9 in the initial Central Region rankings that were released by the NCAA on Wednesday, March 4. 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.