Next up for the Jennies The Jennies basketball team (12-6, 6-4 MIAA) begins a three-game road trip, the first stop coming in St. Charles, Mo. against the Lindenwood Lady Lions. The Lions are 8-8 this season, but have dropped eight of nine conference games.
Last season, the Jennies and Lady Lions split the season series, both winning as the visiting team. The narrow 65-64 loss for the Jennies at home against the Lady Lions snapped a 21-game win streak at the Multipurpose Building for UCM.
The Jennies are 4-0 all-time against Lindenwood at St. Charles, their most recent win coming in the form of a convincing 88-69 victory on February 15, 2014.
Sophomore guard Kassidy Gengenbacher leads Lindenwood with 19.5 points per game, while Vanessa Zailo leads the MIAA with 13.4 rebounds per contest.
Last Time Out Seven Jennies contributed to a 44-point first half for UCM, propelling the team to a 79-67 win over visiting Lincoln at the Multipurpose Building Wednesday night.
The victory was the Jennies' (12-6, 6-4 MIAA) sixth in a row against the Blue Tigers and third in a row in Warrensburg. Senior
Revonnia Howard earned her sixth double-double of the season with a 17-point, 10 rebound performance. Junior
Shelby Winkelmann scored 15 while senior
Jasmine Thompson added 13 for the Jennies.
UCM never trailed in the game, running out to a 7-2 lead behind four points from Howard. The Blue Tigers tied the game with five straight points, senior
Justina Prairie Chief scored the next five points to put the Jennies ahead, 12-7 with 15:03 left in the first half.
UCM built its lead to 13 in the next 3:58, sparked by an 11-3 run. However, Lincoln fought to keep the game close, answering with four straight points to cut the Jennies' lead to nine with 10:31 left.
Both teams battled over the next 5:56, as the Jennies maintained a 13-point lead when
Tayler Weiks dropped a trey on the Lincoln defense with 4:35 left in the half. Winkelmann's layup on the next Jennies possession made it 40-25, the largest lead of the game.
The half ended with the Jennies leading 44-29. UCM scored 10 points off turnovers and received 10 points from its second unit.
In the second half, UCM maintained a commanding lead through the first 11:09 with a 62-51 advantage.
Lincoln cut the lead to single digits with 8:11 left to go following a layup by Kate Frazier. but Prairie Chief's three dropped Lincoln back into a 12-point hole with 6:46 remaining.
The Blue Tigers closed the gap to eight points with four straight free throws, but a three-pointer by Weiks pushed the Jennies' lead back to 68-57 with 5:26 to play in the game.
A 6-1 run by the Blue Tigers closed the margin to six points with 2:36 left, but the Jennies defense did not allow the gap to close any further, UCM ended the game on a 10-2 run to snap its two-game losing streak.
Slifer By The Numbers Slifer is 32nd on the all-time wins list for all NCAA coaches with 591.
Slifer is sixth among all Division II coaches with 590 wins and is ninth among all Division II coaches with a .740 winning percentage.
Slifer needs nine wins to reach 600 in his 25-year coaching career.
Free Throw Success In the Jennies' 12-point win over Lincoln on Wednesday night, the Jennies deposited 22-of-24 free throws (91.7%). It was the first time UCM shot 90% from the charity stripe since March 1, 2014 at Northwest Missouri (11--of-12 for 91.7%).
High Five For the second time this season, the Jennies had five players (Howard, Winkelmann, Thompson, Prairie Chief, Weiks) score double-figure points in the win over Lincoln. The Jennies are 2-0 this season in such situations.
No Stopping Howard Senior
Revonnia Howard picked up her sixth double-double this season against Lincoln on Wednesday. The Chicago, Ill. native scored 17 points with 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes. She also made 9-of-10 free throws, both career highs.
Rebound Machine Senior forward
Revonnia Howard has been an asset on the boards this season for the Jennies. Her 8.9 rebounds per game is currently third in the MIAA entering this week. Fifty-six of her 161 rebounds have been on the offensive end, both team highs. She is one of only two Jennies (
Justina Prairie Chief) to pull down 100 defensive rebounds this season.
Howard pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds in the 73-65 overtime win against Quincy on Nov. 24. Howard's 21 rebounds in a single-game are tied for fourth-most in UCM history.
The Chicago, Illinois native was the first Jennie to record at least 20 rebounds since Jojuana Jones hauled in 21 boards on March 6, 2008 in the first round of the MIAA Tournament against SBU (89-80 loss).
Point Of Emphasis Central Missouri has held its opponents to under 80 points in 34 of its past 35 games. The Jennies are 26-9 during that span and are 36-9 since the beginning of last season.
Embray Against Lindenwood In the Jennies' 19-point win at Lindenwood last season, senior
Breonna Embray was 5-of-7 from three-point territory, scoring 15 points in 19 minutes. The five three-pointers made and seven attempts were both career highs for Embray.
Seeing Double After a four-game streak of scoring in single-digit points, senior
Justina Prairie Chief has provided the offense with seven-consecutive games of double-digit points. Over this seven-game span, she has averaged 12.7 points per game.
3-Point Threat Junior
Tayler Weiks has provided the Jennies offense with an outside scoring weapon this season, knocking down 29 three-pointers. She has knocked down multiple three-pointers in eight games, including three in the past two games against Northwest Missouri and Lincoln. Twenty-nine of her 35 field goals made have been from behind the three-point line (82.8%), the highest percentage of any Jennie.
Gaining Separation The Jennies led the Blue Tigers by as many as 20 points in the second half. The 20-point advantage is the largest lead UCM has held against any opponent this season. It is the largest advantage for the Jennies over an opponent since the Central Regional first round matchup against Northern State last season (led 50-30 in the second half).
First Half vs. Second Half Through 18 games, the Jennies have outscored opponents, 592-551 (plus-41) in the first half. In the game's second half, the Jens hold a 593-546 (plus-47) advantage over their foes.
Following A Road Loss This season, the Jennies have followed up a road loss with a road win twice this season, winning at Missouri S&T and at Nebraska-Kearney.
UCM has not lost back-to-back road games since February 23 and March 2 of 2013 against Southwest Baptist and Washburn, respectively.
Offensive Outburst The Jennies offense produced 79 points against Lincoln on Wednesday, the largest total since December 7 against William Jewell when they scored 78.
UCM is 4-2 this season when scoring 70 points or more.
Excelling In The Classroom The Jennies experienced plenty of success both on and off the court last season with eight MIAA Academic Honor Roll selections, for earning at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
UCM in the Polls The Jennies earned one point in the most recent Top 25 poll, released on January 20. The Jennies were ranked in the Top 25 for 33 consecutive weeks from January of 2013-December of 2014. This season, the Jennies faced three opponents (Pittsburg State, Emporia State and Drury) that currently sit in the Top 25, finishing with a record of 2-1.
UCM Program History The UCM Jennies are 887-366 (.707) after 44 seasons, and 684-277 (.711) in the 32 seasons since joining NCAA Division II ... the Jennies have won 10 MIAA regular season championships with last year's title, 7 MIAA Tournament titles, 6 NCAA regional titles, and the 1984 NCAA Division II Championship.
Series History With Lindenwood University The Jennies lead the all-time series with the Lady Lions, 7-1. UCM won the most recent meeting with Lindenwood 88-69 on February 15, 2014 in St. Charles. The Jennies are 4-0 all time in St. Charles.
A Win for the Jennies Would...... improve the Jennies record to 13-6 this season and 7-4 in MIAA play ... extend the Jennies win streak against Lincoln to two games ... keep the Jennies undefeated (5-0) against Lindenwood on the road.
A Loss for the Jennies Would...... drop the Jennies' record to 12-7 on the season ... drop the Jennies conference record to 6-5 ... be the second loss to Lindenwood in the last three games ... snap UCM's four-game win streak against Lindenwood in St. Charles.
Jennies on the Air Central Missouri women's basketball can be caught throughout the season on 98.5 "The BAR," 1450 KOKO, and warrensburgradio.com as Greg Hassler provides play-by-play.
Fans can catch highlights each week on Central Missouri Sportspage, Thursday nights at 7 p.m., and Saturdays at 5 p.m. on KMOS-TV. Jennies fans can also tune in to 98.5 "The Bar" and 1450 KOKO each Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. for Central Missouri Sports Talk, with Greg Hassler and Bill Turnage. The pair will talk UCM athletics, as well as other hot topics in the sports world. Jennies coaches and players will drop in throughout the season as well.
