The No. 3 Lady Blues look to rebound from third loss of season at Fort Hays State . . .
The No. 3 ranked Washburn Lady Blues (22-3, 13-3 MIAA) will look to rebound from their third loss of the season as they travel to Hays, Kan., to take on the Fort Hays State Lady Tigers on Wednesday night. Washburn is coming off a 74-67 loss to then No. 9 Emporia State. The Lady Tigers (14-11, 5-11 MIAA) have won their last two games after topping Truman 79-63 last time out.

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.

The coaches . . .
Washburn head coach Ron McHenry has posted a 181-36 (.838) record overall and 96-26 (.782) 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.)
Fort Hays State head coach Anette Wiles is in her seventh season of directing the Fort Hays State University women’s basketball program. She led the Lady Tigers to a 21-7 record last year and a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament appearance. She is 124-72 in her seventh season at FHSU and 287-124 in her 14th season as a head coach. She is 0-2 against WU overall going 0-1 at FHSU and 0-1 while at Bethany coaching the Sweedes from 1993-2000.

Last time out for the Lady Blues . . .
No. 3 Lady Blues go cold in 2nd half in loss at Emporia State
EMPORIA, Kan. - The No. 3 Washburn Lady Blues could not hold off a hot shooting No. 9 Emporia State Lady Hornet squad in the second half falling for the first time in five games 74-67 on the road. With the loss, the Lady Blues fall to 22-3 and 13-3 in the MIAA while ESU climbs to 18-6 and 11-4 snapping a two-game losing streak.
The Lady Blues led at the break 38-24 behind 52 percent shooting from the field as Brooke Ubelaker and Cindy Keeley led the charge scoring 13 and 11 respectively. Washburn opened the game up early thanks to a 17-2 run pushing the lead from 15-14 lead into a 32-16 lead with 4:13 remaining in the first half.
In the second half, Amanda Holmes scored the first points of the period for the Lady Blues pushing the lead to 40-24, but the Lady Blues would only hit three field goals over the next 6:23, but still led 47-42.
After bouncing between a 5- to 2-point lead over the next six minutes, ESU took the lead for good at the 4:21 mark. The Lady Blues cut it to 1 at 68-67 with 1:49 remaining on a Amanda Holmes free throw, but ESU hit a 3-pointer their next time down the court and 3 of 4 free throws in the final 20 seconds to secure the win.
Ubelaker scored 16 points and hit her 73rd 3-pointer of the season, snapping her school record of 71 set last season. Keeley finished with 16 points.
ESU’s Michelle Stueve scored all of her 18 points in the second half and Cassondra Boston led the Lady Hornets with 20.
Washburn was outshot from the free throw line hitting 10 of 16 attempts compared to ESU connecting on 28 of 32 attempts.

Washburn/Fort Hays State series notes . . .
Wednesday’s meeting will be the 58th in the series which started in 1970 with a FHSU 34-21 win. The Lady Blues lead the all-time series 32-25. The Lady Blues have won the last seven in a row and the four in Topeka. Washburn has also won the last seven meetings in Hays. The Lady Tigers have not won in Topeka since Dec. 3, 1994 in a 67-62 win over Washburn. Wednesday’s meeting will be the first time the two schools have played each other as members of the same conference since a 69-59 Washburn win over Fort Hays State in the NAIA District 10 playoffs on March 2, 1989 when both schools were part of the CSIC conference. The two teams played the following year during the 1989-90 season as Washburn was not eligible for the MIAA championship playing in the NAIA national tournament as a first-year member of the MIAA. Washburn played FHSU on March 6, 1990 in the NAIA District 10 semifinals and won 74-52 while the Lady Tigers were still part of the CSIC.

Last Meeting with the Lady tigers . . .
(Jan. 10, 2007) TOPEKA, Kan. - The No. 2 ranked Washburn Lady Blues jumped out to a 29-4 lead to start the game and never looked back as they renewed their conference rivalry with Fort Hays State with a 78-34 win. With the win, the Lady Blues improved to 13-1 winning their eighth straight game and 4-1 in the MIAA. The Lady Tigers fell to 9-4 and 1-4 in the MIAA.
Washburn shot 50 percent in the first half while jumping out to the big lead eventually increasing their lead to as many as 26 at 37-11 with 2:11 remaining before taking a 37-13 lead into the break. The Lady Blues held Fort Hays State to 5 of 28 from the field for an 18 percent shooting clip.
In the second half, it was all Lady Blues as Washburn pushed the lead to 44 in the final minute holding the Lady Tigers to 8 of 30 from the field.
Amanda Holmes led the Lady Blues with 10 of her 16 points in the first half. She was 6 of 8 from the field. Holmes also recorded six blocks, which were a career high. Cindy Keeley scored a season-high 15 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Brooke Ubelaker scored 13 points to go along with six rebounds.
Ashlee Gustin led the Lady Tigers with 10 points before fouling out in the second half.
Washburn shot 45 percent for the game hitting 28 of 62 shots while the Lady Tigers were 13 of 58 from the field hitting 22 percent.
Washburn also dominated on the boards out rebounding the Lady Tigers 50 to 28.

About the Fort Hays State . . .
The Lady Tigers are 14-11 overall and 5-11 in the MIAA after topping Truman at home on Saturday 79-63. All of the Lady Tigers’ losses this season have been in MIAA action.
Topeka native Ashlee Gustin leads the Lady Tigers in scoring at 15.8 ppg. She is also recording 6.4 rebounds per game. Naomi Bancroft leads the Lady Tigers in 3-pointers made with 2.52 per game. On the season, the Lady Tigers are averaging 70.0 points per game while allowing 66.9 ppg. In conference play, FHSU is scoring 66.1 ppg while allowing 74.4 ppg.

Last time out for fort Hays state . . .
(Feb. 17) The Fort Hays State women’s basketball team is fighting for their playoff lives to try and make the MIAA Tournament at the end of the season. The Lady Tigers got a much needed win over Truman State Saturday night at Gross Coliseum to keep their hopes alive. FHSU defeated the Bulldogs 79-63.
After gaining a 14-12 lead at the 13:25 mark of the first half, Fort Hays State would not look back as they would never trail the Bulldogs again in the game. FHSU would build a nine-point lead by halftime, 41-32, and then go on to outscore Truman by seven in the second half to claim the 16-point win.
FHSU had two school records broken on Saturday night. At the 9:01 mark of the first half, Naomi Bancroft hit her second three-pointer of the game. The three-pointer broke the school record for most three-point field goals made in a season. It marked her 63rd make of the season as she passed Petrece Faulkner who had 62 in 1992-93.
Ashlee Gustin also broke the school record for most foul-outs (disqualifications) in a season. She fouled out for her tenth time of the season with 33 seconds remaining in the game.
Sheena Kuntzsch had her second consecutive huge game for the Lady Tigers as she scored a game-high 22 points. She went 13-of-15 from the free-throw line in the game and was perfect on her only three-point attempt of the game. She went 4-of-9 from the floor. She also pulled down eight rebounds in the game. The performance comes on the heels of a 29-point performance at Oklahoma-Panhandle State.
Ashlee Gustin added 19 points in the win. She moved to fifth on the career rebounding list at FHSU with her fourth rebound in the game. Gustin now has 776 for her career. She passed Julie Crispin who had 775 in her career.
Katie Rausch had 14 points for the Lady Tigers in the win and she is now only three three-point makes behind Naomi Bancroft for the school record. Bancroft left the game in the first half and did not return after hurting her knee. At this point, the severity of the injury is unknown. Rausch has made 60 three-pointers this season.
Kayla Klug was the other Lady Tiger in double figures with 10 points. She almost recorded a double-double as she pulled down at career-high nine rebounds in the game, leading the team.
Georgia Mueller led the Bulldogs in scoring with 21 points. Two other Bulldogs were in double figures scoring.

Lady Blues notes . . .
#3 – Cindy Keeley – Next 3-point attempt will be 200th of career
#4 – Amanda Holmes – Moved into top 10 all-time with 59 career blocks
#10 – Jessica Aebi – 47 3-pointers rank 17th all-time at WU
#11 – Renata Germano – 12 of 17 from free throw line in the last 5 minutes of games this season
#13 – Jessica Mainz – Has scored in 23 of 25 games this season
#15 – Nikki Holmes – Hit 6 of last 9 field goals in last three games
#20 – Holly Henrichs – Played in her 73rd game of career vs Truman
#21 – Corkey Stiger – Averaging 18.3 points in last six games (47 of 86 from the field - 58%)
#23 – Stephanie Wittman – 5 of 13 rebounds this season have been offensive
#24 – Karla Tailele – Will redshirt this season with continuing knee problems
#25 – Megan Sullivan – Tied career high with 5 assists at ESU on Saturday
#32 – Brooke Ubelaker – Broke own single-season 3-point record hitting 73rd at ESU on Saturday
#33 – Hope Gregory – Will redshirt this season straining previous injury

Lady Blues tip-ins. . .
?Senior Brooke Ubelaker has started all 126 games of her Washburn career and she has scored in double figures in 97 games. Her start against Emporia State broke the school record for starts with her 126 snapping Brenda Shaffer-Dahl’s record of 125. The MIAA record is 129 set by ESU’s Emily Bloss (1997-2001).
?Senior Cindy Keeley has played in 126 games at Washburn career and is 12th on the all-time 3-pointers made chart with 67 for her career.
?The Lady Blues bench has outscored their opponents bench this season 699-369.
?The Lady Blues have not allowed an opponent to shoot above 50 percent in a game in a streak of 64 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 243 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 221-80 (.731) all-time in MIAA play.
?Washburn is 95-10 in games in Lee Arena under head coach Ron McHenry.
?Cindy Keeley moved into 19th in career blocks with 38. She also moved into a tie for 14th on the all-time steals chart with 134.
?The Lady Blues have six seniors who will be honored on Feb. 24 after the Central Missouri game. Four of them, including Holly Henrichs, Cindy Keeley, Megan Sullivan and Brooke Ubelaker have been with the program for four years and have accumulated a 115-11 overall record.
?Brooke Ubelaker’s 73 3-pointers made this season broke her record of 71 set last season.
?Against Emporia State, the Lady Blues suffered their first loss in 88 games when leading with 5 minutes remaining. Their last defeat when leading at the 5 minute mark was on Jan. 22, 2005 in a 53-50 overtime loss at Missouri Southern.

Lady Blues in Lee Arena . . .
In their 23rd season in Lee Arena, the Lady Blues are 287-55 (.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 in the 2004-05 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. 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.
Washburn is 95-10 (.901) in home games under Ron McHenry.

Lady Blues history . . .
Washburn is 662-319 (.678 in 981 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 . . .
(Feb. 13, 2007): The Washburn Lady Blues jumped from No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches Poll to No. 3 that was released today. The Lady Blues have been ranked in 73 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 will wrap up the regular season on Feb. 24 in Topeka against Central Missouri and celebrate senior day for six Washburn players: Brooke Ubelaker, Cindy Keeley, Megan Sullivan, Jessica Aebi and Nikki Holmes.