Today's Contest
- Central Missouri is tied with Emporia State for the lead in the MIAA with a record of 13-2. The Jennies bring senior forward Keuna Flax, the leading scorer in the conference at 20.6 points per game. Flax has been named the MIAA Player of the Week four times this season. In the Lady Lions' 65-64 win over the Jennies Jan. 25, Flax scored a game-high 21 points.
- Aside from Flax, three other starters on the Jennies are averaging more than 10 points: senior guard BreAnna Lewis (13.8), sophomore guard Shelby Winkelmann (10.7) and junior forward Revonnia Howard (10.1). Three Lady Lions are averaging double-figure scoring, but only freshman
Kassidy Gengenbacher (14.6) is a starter at this point in the season.
- Central Missouri is ranked 12th in the current Division II women's basketball poll. The Jennies were ranked eighth when they lost to the Lady Lions earlier this season. The unranked Lady Lions are 7-8 in the MIAA, a half-game behind Northeastern State for seventh place in the conference.
Lindenwood Notes
- Barring a total collapse, and a perfect finish by Nebraska-Kearney, the Lady Lions are virtually assured of earning a seed in the MIAA Tournament. That's quite an accomplishment for a team that finished 4-22 last season and is competing officially in the conference for the first time. It's taken almost two full seasons for the Lady Lions to shed their NAIA yoke and become acclimated to the talent in the MIAA, one of the best Division II conferences in the country in several sports. Lindenwood coach
Tony Francis has been unrelenting in teaching the Lady Lions only their best effort nightly against MIAA teams will lead to wins.
- It appears Francis is quite ready to go into the conference tournament using eight players almost exclusively. Senior
Cassie Bluemner and junior
Meagan Hittle are seeing their minutes off of the bench diminish the closer the Lady Lions come to the end of the regular season. The Lady Lions have a deep cast of guards should sophomores
Jenny Rocha and
Dru Haertling or freshman
Kassidy Gengenbacher get into foul trouble. The same can't be said for the forward position where freshman
Bre Zanders is senior
Caroline Bourlioux's only backup to see considerable playing time.
- Besides the career-high 20 points Rocha scored in the Lady Lions' last game, she also played all 40 minutes for the second time this season. She led the Lady Lions with five assists, but turned the ball over a season-high eight times. Rocha is seventh in the MIAA with 3.5 assists per game.
- Junior
Morgan Johnson's performance from three-point range against Southwest Baptist raised her conference-leading three-point shooting to .437. She's made 38 of 87 three-pointers this season.
- Today is senior
Marissa Lehnig's 100th career game with the Lady Lions. Lehing is two field-goal attempts away from 700 and needs one basket to reach 900 career points. Although having started just once this season, Lehnig is third on the team with 11.2 points per game. As a sophomore, Lehnig scored a career-high 326 points. She has 246 points this season.
- The Lady Lions have been whistled for 459 fouls this season, an average of 21 per game. However, they've cut back on fouling the past two games with a combined 33. For the Lady Lions to find success in the tournament, that trend must continue.
- Three of the four Lady Lions' remaining games in the regular season are at Hyland Arena. Their lone road game is Feb. 19 at Northwest Missouri. Winning three of their last four games would give the Lady Lions a 10-9 record in the MIAA and overall record of 15-11. Both records should be good enough to host a conference tournament game.
Last Time Out
- For the second straight game, the Lady Lions shot at least 55 percent from the field and they beat the Bearcats in Bolivar, Mo. 94-82. After shooting 55 percent in their 72-60 home win over Missouri Western, the Lady Lions shot 55.6 percent against the Bearcats.
- The Lady Lions are 2-0 against the Bearcats this season and improved to 12-10 overall and 7-8 in the conference. The Bearcats fell to 9-12, 4-10.
- Four Lady Lions scored in double figures. Sophomore guard
Jenny Rocha scored a career-high 20 points to lead them. Rocha's previous career high in points was 18, also against the Bearcats.
- Freshman
Kassidy Gengenbacher scored 19 points. Junior
Morgan Johnson made 5 of 6 three-point baskets and finished with 17 points. Senior
Caroline Bourlioux grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and scored 14 points.
Central Missouri University Notes
- The Jennies are situated to receive a first-round bye in the MIAA Tournament which begins March 3. The top four teams in the conference receive a bye, while the next four teams host first-round games against seeds 9-12. The Jennies are tied with Emporia State for first in the MIAA. Pittsburg State is third with a conference record of 11-3. Fort Hays State and Missouri Southern are both 9-5 in the MIAA and jockeying for the fourth seed. The Lady Lions aren't completely out of the picture to receive a bye, but they would need to win out and get a lot of help.
- Ten Central Missouri players scored in the Jennies 86-53 win over Lincoln Wednesday in Warrensburg. Senior Keuna Flax led the Jennies with 20 points, the 14th time this season she's reached that plateau. The Jennies shot 23 of 28 (82.1 percent) from the free-throw line, and are 8-0 when scoring at least 40 points in the first half this season.
