KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 5, 2020) - It wasn't pretty, but it didn't need to be. Central Missouri overcame their worst shooting performance of the season, but scored enough and got key stops when they needed to to advance in the MIAA Tournament with a 65-61 win over No. 8 seed Washburn. The win gives the Jennies 25 on the season and moves them to Saturday's semifinal round.

How it Happened
• The Jennies dominated under the basket, and they had to. UCM shot 42% from the floor, but they were just 1-20 from three. They scored 36 of their 65 points in the paint.
• Washburn made 50% of their three-pointers and were 14-15 at the line. 
• UCM had the defensive advantage with a 37-30 edge in rebounding and they forced 15 Ichabod turnovers.
• The Jennies outscored Washburn 18-12 in second-chance points with 12 offensive rebounds, most of those coming in the second half.
• The game started with a Nija Collier layup. The Ichabods though scored seven straight for a 7-2 lead. With the game tied at 12 after a Megan Skaggs layup going around a three-on-one, Washburn scored four straight. Morgan Fleming put in a layup in the closing minute and the Jennies were down 16-14 after one. UCM was 0-6 from three in the first quarter. 
• Washburn extended their lead to five, 19-14 to start the second. The Jennies though scored six straight getting a three from Collier and a layup from Megan Skaggs for a 20-19 lead.
• The teams traded the lead a few times in the closing minutes of the half. Kim Crown gave UCM their largest lead, 27-24 at the free throw line, but the Ichabods scored the final four points, including getting two offensive rebounds before putting in a layup for a 28-27 lead at the half.
• The Jennies shot 42% in the first half, but were just 1-12 from three. They also were outrebounded 20-17, 8-3 in offensive rebounds and allowed 10 second-chance points.
• UCM scored 23 in the third quarter to get on top by four. The Jens used two three-point plays, one from Skaggs and one from Stearns during a 9-0 to take their largest lead, 45-37.
• The Jens still led by eight, 48-40, when the Ichabods knocked in back-to-back threes. Morgan Fleming in the closing seconds hit a jumper at the elbow for a 50-46 lead going to the fourth.
• Fleming extended the Jennies lead to six, 55-49 early in the fourth quarter. With the shot clock winding down, she spun past her defender and put in a layup just before the shot clock went off. 
• The lead stayed in the 4-6 range for much of the fourth quarter. UCM was up four, 61-57, with 2:30 to play. The Ichabods had two chances to cut into the lead but a turnover and a missed field goal chewed up valuable seconds and they were forced to foul. In the closing seconds, Fleming went 4-6 at the line to keep Washburn at bay and UCM held on 65-61.

It Was Over When...
• The final horn blew. The Ichabods never let the Jennies feel safe and UCM will take the hard-fought win into the semifinals.

Jennies Stat Leaders
• Morgan Fleming scored a game-high 20 points going 6-15 from the floor and 8-12 at the free throw line. She also came down with six rebounds and passed out four assists.
• Megan Skaggs added 15 with seven rebounds and four steals.
• Kim Crown came off the bench to score 10, going 6-8 at the free throw line with six rebounds.
• Gigi McAtee chipped in four points with six rebounds and two assists.
• Nija Collier scored nine and Ryann Stearns five.

For the Ichabods
• Alexis McAfee was 2-3 from three and 7-7 at the free throw line for 19 points. She also came down with eight rebounds.
• Hunter Bentley scored 10 and was a rebound shy of a double-double.
• Reahan Phelan splashed three three-pointers to scored 16 points with four assists.

News and Notes
• Morgan Fleming surpassed 1500 career points, just the 10th Jennie to achieve that milestone.
• UCM has won eight of the last nine against Washburn.
• Central Missouri has won 25 games in a season for the 11th time in program history and the third consecutive season. It's the fourth time Coach Slifer has led UCM to 25 wins in a season.
• The Jennies are now 42-29 all-time in MIAA Tournament games and 19-10 in quarterfinal round games.
• UCM has made the MIAA Tournament semifinals in three of the last four seasons.

Quotable
Coach Slifer Opening Statement
That was a grinder game. One that we are kind of used to playing in and one that when you go 1-20 from three and still find ways to win, that's the sign of a good team. I thought that we hit the boards in the second half. In the first half I thought Washburn was very aggressive and handled us and we didn't get to the offensive glass, nor did we keep them off. That doesn't happen very often. I thought in the second half we played with a lot more poise and a lot more purpose. I want to single out Kim Crown who had a great second half and she got big rebounds. She's a senior who comes off the bench for us and instead of wallowing in self pity, she is the one who cheers the loudest and is the happiest when Nija [Collier] does great and Nija, to her credit, is happy when Kim does great. So it's great to have that in your program where you're deep enough to have two forwards who can rotate in and out. That was a game that we're going to take. We made plays when we had to. We wish it would have been easier, but Washburn is well coached and they've got a lot of talent.

Coach Slifer on handling the early foul trouble of Skaggs and Fleming...
We had some trust, but we also took them out quite a few times. We didn't want to put them in a position where they had three fouls. That's something that's changed in the game of basketball the last couple of years. We play people with two fouls now. I was a little bit nervous about it, but these two have been through it. I felt like they could get through the half and make plays.

Coach Slifer on game plan while struggling from three...
Normally, whenever we shoot that poorly, we hit the offensive glass extremely well, so we're fine with it. Today in the first half we did not do a very good job of offensive rebounding. It wasn't until the second half that we started rebounding those missed threes.

On the significance of playing in Municipal Auditorium...
Morgan Fleming: It's a special place. We love this tournament. I'm from Kansas City so it makes it even more special. We've been here as the No. 1 seed before and we had a short trip. We remembered that feeling and at halftime we talked about how we learned that lesson once and didn't need to learn it again. We really grinded through today because 1-for-20 is tough to play through but we found a way. 
Megan Skaggs: This is a very special tournament to us. Two years ago we lost first round and went home so this has been on our bucket list for four years and we really want to check that off this year and take home a trophy. 

Up Next
• The Jennies find out their semifinal round opponent tomorrow afternoon. They'll take on the winner of No. 4 Pittsburg State vs. No. 5 Fort Hays State. Tip off will be 12 p.m. Saturday, March 7.