No. 5 Lady Blues return to Lee Arena to face No. 3 Emporia State in a battle of top 5 teams on KTWU . . .
The No. 5 ranked Washburn Lady Blues (10-1, 1-1 MIAA) return to Lee Arena to face the No. 3 ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets (9-2, 2-0 MIAA) in a battle of top-five teams. The game will be the first of two this season that will be televised. Tonight’s game will be on KTWU shown regionally and the match up on Feb. 17 in Emporia will be a national telecast at 11 a.m. on CSTV. The Lady Blues are coming off a 66-44 win over Central Missouri. The Lady Hornets topped Southwest Baptist 88-51. Both games were played on Dec. 30. Tonight’s game is also the first of three straight in Lee Arena for the Lady Blues.

Lady Blues on radio . . .
Lady Blues games will be broadcast on AM 580 WIBW with former Washburn quarterback Mark Elliott calling all the action with Bruce Steinbrock providing color commentary. The games will also be streamed live online at http://www.580wibw.com/audio/wibwam.asx.

Lady Blues on Television . . .
Tonight’s game with Emporia State will be the first of three which will be televised on KTWU this season. The Fort Hays State game on Jan. 10 and the Pittsburg State game on Jan. 20 will be televised as well. Broadcasting the game will be Jason Lamb doing play-by-play and Mike Manns doing color.

The coaches . . .
Washburn head coach Ron McHenry has posted a 169-34 (.833) record overall and 83-24 (.783) record in the MIAA with four consecutive MIAA regular season championships and the 2005 NCAA National Championship. He was named the Lady Blues head coach prior to the 2000-01 season. He is third among active women's NCAA Division II coaches in winning percentage and has the 10th most wins in MIAA history. McHenry was named the MIAA’s Coach of the Year in 2005 and in 2006 and the Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year in 2005. (complete bio on page 2 of notes.)
Emporia State head coach Brandon Schneider is 214-47 (.820) in his ninth year as head coach. He is responsible for over one third of ESU’s all-time victories. He is the fourth winningest active coach by percentage in Division II and was the fastest women’s basketball coach in D-II history to win 100 games in his first job. The Lady Hornets have gone to the NCAA Tournament in seven of his eight seasons as head coach. He is 10-10 against Washburn.

Last time out for the Lady Blues . . .
Lady Blues get program’s 650th win after strong second half at UCM
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The No. 5 ranked Washburn Lady Blues shook off a dreadful start and rolled to a 66-44 win over Central Missouri for the program’s 650th win.
Washburn (10-1, 1-1 MIAA) led by three at the break at 29-26, but pushed the lead to ten starting the second half on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 10 as the Jennies would not get any closer than eight at 40-32 as
Washburn would go on another 20-4 run to put the game away. In the first half, the Lady Blues led at 3-2 on a Cindy Keeley 3-pointer, but the Jennies responded with a 10-0 run holding the Lady Blues without a point for 6:30 in the first half as they were 1 of 12 from the field, but still only trailed at 12-5. Brooke Ubelaker broke the scoring drought with the first of her two first half 3-pointers.
After the scoreless stretch for the Lady Blues, Washburn finished the half on 10 of 16 from the field. Corkey Stiger scored 10 in the first half including six straight in a 1:34 timespan in the half. Ubelaker led the Lady Blues with 9 of her 17 in the second half hitting 7 of 8 shots from the field and 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Stiger finished with 13 points. Keeley scored nine points with six in the second half and led the Lady Blues with a game-high eight rebounds. Meagan Fromm led the Jennies with 11 points and Lindsey Maple scored 10.
Washburn shot a blistering 58 percent from the field in the second half finishing with a 48 average for the game. The Lady Blues shot 39 percent in the first half.
Washburn led the Jennies to 29 percent shooting for the game limiting the Jennies to 14 of 48 from the field and dominated on the boards 42 to 28.

Washburn/Emporia state series notes . . .
The Lady Hornets lead the all-time series 38-31. Washburn has won 11 of the last 15 games in the series. Both teams have been nationally ranked the last 11 times they have played and they have both been in the top ten during eight of the last nine meetings. Nine of the last 12 games between the two have been decided by less than ten points with four games decided by two points or less. The Lady Hornets won the last meeting in Topeka in the 2006 NCAA South Central Regional Finals by a 61-59 win in overtime ending the Lady Blues NCAA Division II record 51-game winning streak. In the last meeting in Emporia, the No. 1 Lady Blues rallied from a 14-point deficit with 10:17 remaining in the game in a come-from-behind 72-70 win over No. 3 ranked Emporia State winning their 34th consecutive game, snapping the MIAA record they shared with Emporia State, who won 33 straight games during the 1997-98 season.

Last Meeting with the Lady Hornets . . .
(March 13, 2006) TOPEKA, Kan. -- Junior forward Casey Henningsen scored 25 of her 27 points after halftime, including the game-winning bucket in overtime, as No. 8 Emporia State handed No. 1 Washburn its first loss in 52 games, 61-59, in the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball South Central Regional final Monday night (March 13) at Lee Arena.
Sophomore forward Michelle Stueve scored 12 points, but finished the regional with a 30.7 scoring average and was named the Most Outstanding Player.
The Lady Blues (32-1) were led by senior guard Jennifer Harris, who scored 32 points in spite of aggravating a back injury late in regulation. She averaged 31.0 points in the regional and made the All-Tournament Team.
Rounding out the All-Tournament list was Henningsen, forward Brooke Ubelaker of Washburn and West Texas A&M senior forward Keisha Monroe.
Emporia State was in a deep hole early, not making a field goal until the 10:39 mark of the first half. Washburn held a 17-2 lead before Henningsen snapped a string of 11 straight misfires from the field with a follow off her initial try -- blocked by Ubelaker.
The Lady Blues kept the Lady Hornets from getting any closer than nine points in the remainder of the first half, taking a 31-20 lead into the intermission. Harris had 13 points for Washburn in the first half.
After making just 6-of-29 from the field in the first half, ESU came out blazing in the second. The Lady Hornets made eight of their first 15 shots from the floor, and combined with nine WU turnovers and 3-of-15 shooting by the Lady Blues took a 42-39 lead with 7:48 to go in regulation.
Junior center Denisa Svarova’s free throw with 7:56 left in the second half gave ESU the lead and equaled the Lady Hornets’ first-half scoring output.
Once ESU grabbed the lead, Washburn would come back and tie four times before regaining the lead with 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Harris aggravated a lingering back injury in trying to stop ESU junior forward Carolyn Dorsey on a layup attempt following a steal at the 2:02 mark, and had been rotated into the lineup afterward for offensive situations in an attempt to give her a break.
The Lady Hornets called timeout with 19 seconds remaining in the second half, and the play went to Henningsen in the post. Her first try was blocked by sophomore forward Amanda Holmes, but Henningsen got the rebound and made her follow with five seconds to go. Henningsen ended up with 19 points in the second half.
Washburn had a chance to get the win in regulation, but a long three-point try by senior guard April Roadhouse missed the mark, sending the game to overtime knotted at 53-53. ESU held WU to 7-of-29 shooting in the second half (29.2 percent).
Henningsen made ESU’s first two buckets of the extra session, but WU had answers from Ubelaker and Roadhouse to keep the game tied.
The door was cracked for Washburn when ESU freshman forward Genae Glasper threw the in-bounds pass after Roadhouse’s bucket away, which gave the Lady Blues possession under their basket with 3:08 to go. WU couldn’t capitalize, as Harris’ three-pointer was off the mark and Stueve grabbed the rebound with 2:52 to go.
The two squads traded turnovers, and Washburn was able to get a 59-57 lead with 1:21 left on a jumper by Harris. ESU senior guard Andi McAlexander made a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 59-59 with 52 seconds left.
Harris missed a shot on the next trip down for the Lady Blues, with 35 seconds left. After an ESU timeout with 25 seconds to go, Henningsen had the ball and the game in her hands again, scoring the go-ahead bucket with six seconds left.
Washburn had a good look at a game-winning shot of its own. Roadhouse drove the lane and dished to junior guard Cindy Keeley on the right wing behind the arc. Keeley’s try rattled out, and Emporia State could make plans for its first Elite Eight trip since 2000.

About Emporia State . . .
The Lady Hornets were ranked No. 3 in the WBCA/USA Today Coaches Poll that was released on Dec. 19. They are 9-2 and 2-0 in the MIAA after posting an 88-51 win over Southwest Baptist last time out. Their other MIAA win was a 89-58 win over Fort Hays State on Dec. 9.
Junior All-American Michelle Stueve leads the Lady Hornets in scoring this season with a 17.1 points per game average. Her 9.5 rebounds per game also leads ESU. Four other Lady Hornets are scoring in a double-figure average per game. Senior center Casey Henningsen is scoring 14.3 ppg, freshman guard Cassondra Boston is scoring 12.4 points per game and senior guard Carolyn Dorsey is scoring 10.0 ppg.
On the season, the Lady Hornets are averaging 84.3 points per game while allowing 59.8 points per game.

Last time out for Emporia State. . .
(Dec. 30) All-American Michelle Stueve had 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead the #3 Lady Hornets to an 88-51 victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday afternoon in White Auditorium. Stueve scored six of the final eight points in a 14-0 run that gave ESU a 31-14 lead with 4:56 left in the first half. The Lady Hornets outrebounded the Lady Cats 56-30 and had 26 second chance points to eight for SBU. Casey Henningsen added 13 points, Andrea Leiker had 12 and Cassondra Boston had 10 points for the Lady Hornets.

Lady Blues notes . . .
3 – Cindy Keeley – Needs 2 points to reach 500 for career
4 – Amanda Holmes – 16 of 30 from the field in the last three games
5 – K.G. Hellen – Five of 11 rebounds this season are offensive
10 – Jessica Aebi – All 22 rebounds this season have been defensive
11 – Renata Germano – 13 of 21 from field in the last four games
13 – Jessica Mainz – Has yet to attempt a 3-point basket this season
15 – Nikki Holmes – 18 minutes against Central Missouri season high
20 – Holly Henrichs – Hit 1st two free throws this season against Central Missouri
21 – Corkey Stiger – Has scored in double figures in 8 of 11 games this season
23 – Stephanie Wittman – 4 of 6 from FT line this season
24 – Karla Tailele – Will redshirt this season with continuing knee problems
25 – Megan Sullivan – 38 career blocks rank 18th all-time on WU chart
32 – Brooke Ubelaker – Has averaged 12.0 ppg and 6.1 rpg in 9 career games against ESU
33 – Hope Gregory – Will redshirt this season straining previous injury

Lady Blues tip-ins. . .
?The Lady Blues have won 14 straight MIAA road games dating back to a Jan. 22, 2005 loss at Missouri Southern in a 53-50 setback.
?Senior Brooke Ubelaker has started all 112 games of her Washburn career and she has scored in double figures in 82 games … against Central Missouri, she became the sixth Lady Blue to record at least 1,500 points and 600 rebounds.
?Senior Cindy Keeley has played in 112 games at Washburn career and is 16th on the all-time 3-pointers made chart with 47 for her career … she needs three more to move into the top 15.
?The Lady Blues bench has outscored their opponents bench this season 353-141.
?The Lady Blues have won 30 straight regular season non-conference games in Lee Arena. The last defeat by a non-conference team in the regular season was to Missouri-St. Louis in a 59-51 setback on Dec. 30, 2000.
?The Lady Blues shot above 50 percent for the first time this season in their 46-point win over Northwood … the Lady Blues have not allowed an opponent to shoot above 50 percent in a game in a streak of 49 contests - Angelo State was the last time to hit 50 percent of their shots in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Springfield when they connected on 26 of 52 shots on March 12, 2005.
?The Lady Blues have not allowed an opponent to score 100 points in 229 straight games. The last foe to reach the century mark was on Jan. 27, 1999 when ESU scored 106 points in a 40-point win.
?The Lady Blues are 127-45 (.735) all-time in the month of December.
?The Lady Blues are 210-78 (.731) all-time in MIAA play.
?Cindy Keeley is tied for the team lead in MIAA games in rebounding with 7.5 per game to go along with 9.0 points per game.

Lady Blues in Lee Arena . . .
In their 23rd season in Lee Arena, the Lady Blues are 280-55 (.836) overall at home. The longest winning streak was 44 games from Dec. 1, 1990 to March 20, 1993.
The Lady Blues were 15-0 in Lee Arena last season, out scoring opponents by a 78.2-49.9 average. The Lady Blues were 13-1 in Lee Arena in 2003-04, 16-1 in 2002-03 and 15-1 in 2001-02.
Washburn is 88-10 (.910) in home games under Ron McHenry.

Lady Blues history . . .
Washburn is 650-317 (.671 in 967 games) in its 38th season of intercollegiate action. Entering this season, the Lady Blues were 24th in Division II winning percentage and 18th in Division II wins.

Lady Blues in the national poll . . .
(Dec. 19, 2006): The Washburn Lady Blues remained No. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches Poll that was released today. The Lady Blues have been ranked in 66 straight weeks of the national poll dating back to the 2002-03 season. The Lady Blues have been ranked in the top 25 after being ranked in each poll the last four seasons, plus the last 15 of the 2002-03 season entering the poll on Dec. 11, 2002. Washburn spent the entire 2005-06 season as the No. 1 ranked team in the land before falling in the NCAA South Central Regional finals to Emporia State.

up next . . .
The Lady Blues return home to play their second of three straight games in Lee Arena when they take on Northwest Missouri on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Blues will play host to Fort Hays State renewing the MIAA series in a game which will be broadcast on KTWU on Jan. 10 at 5:30 p.m.