WARRENSBURG, Mo. (March 14, 2019) - Central Missouri Jennies Basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. They begin the quest for a National Championship this weekend.

Opponent
No. 6 Lindenwood Lions (21-7, 14-5 MIAA)

Where
Hays, Kan. - Gross Memorial Coliseum

When
Friday, March 15 - 12 p.m.

How to Watch
• This week's games will be broadcast live on 1450 KOKO and 98.5 The Bar with Greg Hassler on the call. Online audio stream can be found at www.warrensburgradio.com. A webstream will be available on the Jennies Blueframe portal page at www.themiaanetwork.com./ucmmules.

Tip Off
• For the third straight season, Central Missouri Jennies Basketball will play in the NCAA Regional Championships. The Jennies were National Champions a year ago after going 1-1 at the 2016-17 NCAA Regional.
• The Jennies earned the No. 3 seed with a 24-6 record and were runner's up in the MIAA Tournament last weekend.
• Fort Hays State earned the number one seed in the region and will be the host throughout the tournament. Should UCM win, they will face the winner of #4 Minnesota Duluth and #5 Minnesota-Moorhead in the regional semifinal Saturday, March 16. 

Story Lines
• All-time the Jennies are 27-20 in NCAA Tournament games. They are 9-7 under Coach Dave Slifer and are making their eighth regional apperance in 15 years. 
• The Jennies and Lions have gotten quite familiar with each other. This will be their third meeting in the last three weeks and fourth overall. The Jennies are 3-0 against Lindenwood this season and defeated them 67-61 in the MIAA Tournament.

Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• The only title this group hasn't won is the MIAA Tournament Championship, and that again slipped though their fingers in a 63-56 loss to Fort Hays State in the MIAA Finals last week. The loss snapped UCM's season-long eight game winning streak. 

Previously vs. Lindenwood
• For the third time in six games and 17 days the Jennies and Lindenwood Lions will do battle. Three times already this season UCM has defeated Lindenwood with an average margin of victory of 7.3 points. UCM won 67-61 in the lowest scoring game of the three in the MIAA Tournament. Megan Skaggs and Paige Redmond each scored 17 points while Sydney Crockett had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Jennies vs. LWU
• Over the last 4 years, the Jennies have gone 8-2 against Lindenwood. Paige Redmond enjoys seeing the Lions as she averages 17.6 points per game while shooting 44.9% from the floor and 90.4% at the free throw line.
• Morgan Fleming is scoring 16.2 in six games against the Lions while shooting 50% from the field and grabbing 5.2 rebounds.
• Megan Skaggs scores 15.5 on 42-80 shooting against Lindenwood.
• Peyton Taylor is shooting 52.4% in seven games against the Lions and averaging 9.3 points against them this season.

Jennies in the Rankings
• After four straight weeks, UCM moved up from No. 24 to No. 23 in the final WBCA poll of the season. 
• The Jennies have been ranked by the WBCA in 40 of the last 41 polls dating back to the 2016-17 season.
• The Jens were picked first in the MIAA preseason coaches poll, following their 18-1 regular season championship last season.

Jennies at Neutral Sites
• This season UCM is 6-1 in neutral site games this season.
• All-time the Jennies are 49-27 when playing at neutral sites under coach Slifer with 18 of those wins coming in the last three years. 

The MIAA Universe (As of March 11, 2019)
• Not one, not two, but three Jennies ranked in the MIAA top-10 in scoring. Paige Redmond moved up to No. 3 overall with 16.5 points per game. Megan Skaggs has hopped into seventh place at 15.3 points per game and Morgan Fleming is tied for 8th at 15.1. All three are also in the top-10 in FG%. Skaggs is second at 56.5%, Fleming sixth at 44.8% and Redmond ninth at 42.6%. 
• Redmond is leads the MIAA in minutes per game at 36.9, a minute and a half ahead of second place. She's also third in assists with 4.3 and Fleming is fifth with 3.5. 
• The Jennies have moved up to fourth in the MIAA in scoring defense at 62.5 points per game. 

Individual Milestones 
• Paige Redmond became the 5th Jennie to score more than 1700 career points, doing so against Lindenwood in the MIAA Tournament. She is currently at 1,717, 5th in Jennies history. Redmond is also climbing the all-time 3FGM and assist list. She has 214 threes for her career which is third all-time is 6th with 425 assists, and fourth with 123 games played. 127 is the UCM games played record. With five more three-pointers, she'll move into the single-season top-five for three-pointers made. 
• Sydney Crockett is also moving up the all-time three-point list and is currently tied for 6th with 146, and 6th with 121 games played.
• Megan Skaggs needs 10 more points to move into the UCM top-20 in scoring. 

10 Below
• For the last three seasons the Jennies have made a habit of holding teams to fewer than 10 points in at least one quarter. It's happened in 46 games dating back to the 2016-17 season and in those games, UCM is 42-4. The Jens were 15-1 when doing so in 2016-17 and 18-1 last year including four of the six NCAA postseason games. The Jens are at it again this year. In 11 games, they've held an opponent to single-digits in one quarter of play. UCM held the Bronchos to 8 2nd quarter points Thursday, and are 9-2 this season. 

Who's Hot?
• Megan Skaggs is scoring 18.7 points per game in her last seven and shooting 72.7% in her last four games.
• Paige Redmond has hit at least 5 FG in her last seven games and is scoring 18.4 points in those games
• Gigi McAtee had a productive MIAA Tournament playing 54 minutes with seven points and 10 rebounds.

Fourth Time's a Charm
• Believe it or not, Coach Dave Slifer has been in this situation before, facing a team for the fourth time in a season. It hasn't always gone his way though, as he went 0-4 against Washburn in both 2005-06 and 2009-10 and 1-3 against Emporia State in 2004-05. He is trying to do to Lindenwood what Emporia State did to him his first year, knock them out of the MIAA and NCAA Tournament. 

Scouting the Oppsition
Lindenwood Lions (21-7, 14-5 MIAA)
• Lindenwood enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 seed in the region with a 21-7 record after going 1-1 in the MIAA Tournament.
• The Jennies have defeated the Lions three times this season, including in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament, 67-61, in the Lions most recent game. 
• Lindenwood averages 71.6 points per game, sixth in the MIAA and have the MIAA leading scorer, 1st Team All-MIAA Kallie Bildner who averages 17.1 points per game.
• Behind Bildner, Lexie Moe is scoring 9.9 and Charisse Williams 9.6. Lindsay Medlen averages 8.1 points and leads the team with 88 assists.
• At +9.8 Lindenwood is the top rebounding team in the MIAA. Thanks in part to MIAA leader Kallie Bildner who pulls down 10.4 boards.
• The Lions are also leading the league in field goal percentage at 47%. Bildner is connecting at a 61.1% clip and Williams is also over 50% at 51.5%. 
• The Lions can be turnover prone, their -3.93 turnover margin is last in the MIAA. 
Player to Watch
#25 Kallie Bildner (6-3, F, Jr., Waynesville, Mo.) - Leads MIAA in points & rebounds