Junior Heather Howard plays tough defense against the lopers of Nebraska-Kearny. Tevin Harris | Photo Editor

Missouri Western started off slow, losing against the Lopers 7-3. After that, the Griffons turned up the pressure and went on a 21-2 run, forcing the Lopers to 20 first-half turnovers. After the Griffons trailed by 4 points in the opening minutes, they never looked back, not trailing at all in the entire game.

Western Coach Rob Edmisson knew that the defensive intensity was going to be a factor to the Griffons winning the game. The Griffons’ defense made the Lopers uncomfortable the entire game, grabbing 13 steals in just the first half.

“Our defense intensity was really good and this was a much needed win,” Coach Edmisson said.

Western forced the Lopers to 39 turnovers. It’s a fun way to play, getting points from our defense and we needed this really bad. It lifted our spirits,” Western forward Heather Howard said. Western had 28 steals from the Lopers leading to many points.With the Lopers under the Griffons stifling defense there pressure was to much to overcome.

The Griffons were energized from the 2071 in attendance, with the crowd roaring when the Griffons went into halftime, leading 37-13.

In the second half, the Griffons didn’t let up, outscoring the Lopers 34-23. The Griffons held the Lopers scoreless from the three-point line in the entire game.

“We played comfortable tonight and this win got us back where we need to be,” Western guard Denis White said.

Denis White was great coming off the bench, shooting 5-6 with 10 points and 2 steals. Western allowed the Lopers to have only eight field goals in the second half. With this win, Western was able to complete their season sweep over Nebraska-Kearney. Western’s largest lead of the game was 37 points at the 4:23 mark in the second half.

With the Griffons outscoring the Lopers in bench points 35-8, the starting five had plenty of help. Sharniece Lewis had 12 points, nine in the first half with three three-pointers. Heater Howard stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, four rebounds, four blocks and three steals. JaQuitta Dever was another spark off the bench, adding 12 points and four steals.

Missouri Western shot 42.4% field goal and 27.6 percent behind the 3 point line. Western shot 70% free throw.

Missouri Western was able to showcase their talents in their first televised MIAA Network home game.

The Griffons next matchup is against Fort Hays State on the road. After that, the Griffons’ last game is next Saturday at home against Southwest Baptist. The MIAA tournament starts Tuesday March 5th at campus sites.

“I’m glad our seniors could go out on a good note,” coach Rob Edmisson said. “Our kids played with a lot of intensity and every one of our seniors did something special tonight.”

Western had five seniors playing their last regular season game: KC Clouser, Alicia Bell, Heather Howard, Brittany Griswold and Kallie Schoonover. With the win, Western was able to finish the season 15-11 overall and 8-10 in MIAA play. Heather Howard got a double-double, she has 13 on the season.

Every time the Bearcats inched close in an overall tight game, the Griffons had an answer.

In the first half, the Griffons were trading baskets with the Bearcats until the 12:58 mark, when Western went on a 7-0 run after the game was tied 7-7. After that run, the closest the Bearcats got was two points, but the Griffons never lost the lead.

“Our kids showed some toughness and our speed led us to force turnovers,” Edmisson said.

Going into halftime, the Griffons forced the Bearcats to 13 turnovers and held a lead over the Bearcats 32-26.

After an Alicia Bell lay-up and a Sharniece Lewis 3-pointer, the Griffons jumped out to a double-digit lead over the Bearcats, 37-26.

Southwest Baptist took their first lead of the second half after a made 3-pointer, but the Griffons responded right back with their own 3 from Heather Howard, making the score 48-47 Griffons. The Griffons pulled away, going on a 7-0 run, making it 55-47.

The Griffons didn’t look back the rest of the game and outscored the Bearcats in the second half, 39-38. Western never let the Bearcats’ offense get comfortable, forcing 20 turnovers throughout the night.

Sharniece Lewis came off the bench and went 4-for-6 from the 3-point line, scoring 12 of Western’s 34 bench points. Heather Howard had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Alicia Bell added 8 points and five rebounds.

“I don’t know if it has sunk it yet and I love all these girls; this is my home. Having my whole family be able to be here, it feels really good,” Alicia Bell said. “We all knew we had to get this win when we are getting down to the nitty gritty.”

Missouri Western was able to convert on 22-30 from the free-throw line, which was more than double what the Bearcats made the entire night.

Brittany Griswold added six points and fellow senior KC Clouser was able to add three points and three rebounds.
Kallie Schoonover  added six points and two rebounds.

“Tonight was pretty emotional and of all the gyms to choose from, I wouldn’t chosen anything else than Looney Arena,” Schoonover said. “Everyone came out and did their part and contributed.”

Just like last week, the Griffons kept it close in the first half going into halftime, losing 29-23. The Griffons had their largest and only lead in the first half at the 16:01 mark, leading 7-4.

“It wasn’t a good night shooting for us,” senior guard Alicia Bell said.

The Lady Blues went on a 13-2 run to lead the Griffons 17-9. The Griffons responded with their own run, making it 17-16 at the 6:22 mark then the rest of the half was a back and forth battle.

In the second half, the Lady Blues decided to turn up the throttle.

“We weren’t aggressive attacking the rim and didn’t make layups,” Bell said.

At the 8:36 mark, the Griffons would never get another field goal with Washburn leading 40-46.

“We turned the ball over too many times, making that the pivotal point of the game,” Western coach Rob Edmisson said.

The Griffons made just five free throws the rest of the game, leaving the outcome to a 60-45 win for the Lady Blues.

“We needed to finish and we weren’t converting,” Western forward Heather Howard said.

Washburn outscored the Griffons 31-22 in the second half. Western went 15-for-46, shooting 32.6 percent field goal shooting for the game.

“Missing free throws and layups deflates you,” Edmisson said.

The Griffons went 2-for-11 on 18.2 percent shooting behind the 3-point line and shot 13-for-26 free throws on the night.

“We missed too many free throws and the free throws could’ve made the game tight down the stretch,” Edmisson said.

Heather Howard recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. This is Heather Howard’s twelfth double-double this season. Brittany Griswold added nine points and grabbed three rebounds while Alicia Bell added four points with three rebounds. The Griffons were outrebounded 45-28 and got outscored 30-14 in the paint.

“We need to make a better effort to get into the boards,” Heather Howard said.

“We didn’t create enough second shots and we didn’t get offensive rebounds; we hurt ourselves,” Edmisson said.

The Griffons only had nine second chance points for the game. February has been a tough road for the Griffon Women, going on a three-game losing streak.

Western forward Sharnice Lewis breaks down her defender off the dribble against the Icabods at the lee Arena in Washburn, Kansas.

The Griffons fell to 13-8 overall and 6-7 in MIAA conference play.

Heather Howard led the Griffons with 14 points, five steals and four rebounds. Alicia Bell and Brittany Griswold both added seven points and three rebounds. Western came out shooting well leading the Lady Blues 12-9 and played great defense. After that 12-9 lead Western would never lead again in the game.

“We just stopped making shots,” coach Rob Edmisson said.

In the first half Western made only 8 field goals, they shot 36 percent from the field.

“We have to finish shots,” Heather Howard said.

With only making eight field goals in the first half Western still only trailed 20-26 at halftime.

Missouri Western forced the Lady Blues to 29 turnovers in the game.

“It was kind of dishearting when you take the best team in the conference top 10 team in the country and force them into 29 turnovers and not being able to capitalize on that and not being able to win the game,” Edmisson said.

In the second half Washburn came out blazing, outscoring the Griffons 39-28 and holding the Griffons to a 26 percent field goal percentage on 9-for-34 shooting.

“We got a lot of offensive woes,” Edmisson said.

The Lady Blues shot 59 percent in the second half.

“It’s really disappointing to work that hard on defense and execute our gameplan and give up wide open shots,” Alicia Bell said.

The Lady Blues largest lead was 23 at the 2:37 mark. They had three players scoring in double-digits while Western only had one player scoring double-digits.

Missouri Western had 14 points off the Lady Blues 29 turnovers. The Lady Blues out-rebounded Western 39-20. Western shot 17-for-56 30.4 percent field goals and went 6-17 and shot 35.3 percent from the 3-point line. With this loss, Western has dropped its second consecutive game. The Griffons will have a week long rest to prepare for Washburn.

“It will freshen up our legs and will help them physically and mentally,” Edmisson said.

The Griffons are currently ranked No. 8 in the MIAA conference with a record of 6-7 with four games left to play.   Western will try to get back on track for the remainder of the regular season after losing five of its last six games after getting off to a fast start.

Howard has been the leader of the team all season long, averaging team-high in rebounds and points with 13.8 and 9.8 rebounds per game.

Senior Brittney Griswold shoots a field goal in Looney Complex in Satuday’s contest.

“I feel like we came out a little weak it’s just one of those days,” guard Cassey Sobaski said. Missouri Western shot 22-for-66, 33.3 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from behind the 3-point line going 7-for-24.

“You got to make baskets,” Coach Rob Edmisson said. After the game was tied at 11-11 with a Brittany Griswold lay-up Northeastern went on a 8-0 run putting the score to 19-13 with 7:37 left.

Needing a spark, Edmisson put in Sobaski and she led the charge to put the Griffons on a 10-0 run and a lead. Sobaski had 10 points off the bench.

“I’ve always been a 3-point shooter and I work hard on that everyday,” Sobaski said. Western led the game 27-23 with 3:19 seconds left in the first half.

“I thought we came out in the first half right in it are guards did a tremendous job switching,” Griswold said.

Going into halftime, Western was down 30-29. In the first half the Griffons only attempted two free throws and made one of them. Northeastern went 9-for-17 from the free throw line.

In the second half, after a Griswold 3-pointer, Northeastern went on a 5-0 run to make the score 34-39 at the 15:10 mark. Griswold scored five straight points for Western to close the lead to 39-42 but Northeastern went on another run scoring five consecutive points to make the score 39-47 at 12:39. “They got easy lay-ups on us,” said Griswold.

Then Western started to run out of gas at the 11:06 mark when the score was 43-47 Northeastern leading. Northeastern went on a 9-0 run making the lead 43-56 with 8:08 left in the game, Western couldn’t come back from the deficit. “We just lost momentum,” said Griswold.

Griswold had 16 of the Griffons 27 points in the half. Griswold had a game high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

“It’s unfortunate when you lose to look at individual performances when Sobaski came in and knocked down shots and Brittany came in and played good,” Edmisson said. Missouri Western out-rebounded Northeastern 40-37 but had more turnovers than the Riverhawks with 16 while Northeastern had 13.

“We just have to have everybody step up offensively we have the talent we just have to get tough,” Griswold said.

Jallisa and Sharniece Lewis are twin sisters who are both playing basketball for Western. Sharniece was born just two minutes after Jallisa 21 years ago. They’ve been playing together almost every minute since.

Even though they grew up playing softball, track and had scholarships for soccer, they knew basketball was what they would continue with after high school.

“We have five older brothers who all played basketball,” Jallisa said. “So we just picked it up.”

Unlike most siblings, they were fine playing together when they were kids. In fact, they were always on the same team, going back to when they first started throwing the ball around in seventh grade.

After high school, they both played for State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo. The first and only time they ever played on separate teams was just last season, when Sharniece decided to attend Highland Community College.

“I just wanted to get a new feel of somewhere new,” Sharniece said.

They both learned a lot about their own game while being apart from each other. Most importantly, they realized that ultimately, being together made them better players.

“It was really different,” Jallisa said. “Because when we played together, I always had someone I knew who could relate to me or predict what I could do, or I could predict what she could do. It was different not having someone like that.”

They both realized how they were meant to play together when the current basketball coach at Western, Rob Edmisson, contacted them.

Coach Edmisson first called Jallisa to see if she was interested in a visit.

“I told him I was interested in a visit and then he asked if I knew a girl named Sharniece,” Jallisa said. “I told him, ‘Yes, that’s my twin sister.’ So he recruited us at the same time but we didn’t know it yet.”

Even though they were being recruited at the same time, they weren’t being recruited together, like most people would assume.

“We told them we were recruiting them separately,” Edmisson said. “It wasn’t a package deal. In fact, we’d call the house and talk to one of them, hang up and call back to talk to the other one. We wanted to make sure they both knew and felt they were being recruited individually.”

Sharniece was especially impressed with what the coach had to offer. It was enough for her to change her plans to go a different direction.

“He seemed different, but in a good way,” Sharniece said. “When we first came here we were very interested. At first I was going to sign to a different school in Minnesota and the more I talked to him and our new teammates I felt very comfortable, and I knew I wanted to be a part of this program.”

When combining the sisters, there is a wide range of skills that are covered between the both of them. Jallisa is a post player while Sharniece is a guard. Each of their individual skills makes up for where the other one lacks. They also have played so much together that they can tell when the other one is off their game, often before the coach or other players can tell.

Off the court their interests are still pretty similar. While Jallisa is majoring in psychology and Sharniece is majoring in Physical Education, they both have the same family priorities when they aren’t in school.

“We really enjoy being with our family,” Sharniece said. “Anytime we get a chance to do something with our family, we take it.”

When it comes down to it, that became their biggest comfort when playing for Western. The fact that Coach Edmisson is family oriented and cares greatly about building team chemistry really helped them to dig deep and bring out all their passion to put into their game.

“Our coach always says ‘this is a family’ and I feel like when I’m away from home, this really is my family,” Jallisa said.

Lanicia Lawrence gets out in front of everybody in the Griffons win over the Gorillas. Photo by Tevin Harris

The Griffons closed out Wednesday’s game with a 70-65 win against the Pittsburg State Gorillas, and may have given the team a turn back towards their winning ways.

After lagging just behind the Gorillas virtually all night, the Griffons high pressured defense and physical toughness showed to be too much in the end. Western’s coach Rob Edmisson felt like pulling out a win after those three conference losses is a huge boost for this team’s confidence at this point of the season.

“It’s a big win,” Edmisson said. “It didn’t matter who we were playing. We needed to win and to win against a very quality team is a big thing too.”

Shooting has not been a strength for the Griffons this season, and was especially rough during their three losses where they shot just 34 percent from the floor. It’s no secret that the team has gotten the job done so far this season from their vicious defense, the same defense that forced Pittsburg State into giving up almost twice as many turnovers as the Griffons. They proved within the last few minutes that their defense allows them to hang with the best, and their offense finishing strong on top of that can produce wins.

With about five and a half minutes left in the game, Western’s senior guard, Alicia Bell, pressured Pittsburg State’s point guard into a jump ball and a turnover, which was the first for a series of turnovers that helped the Griffon’s seal the deal.

“I think it kind of got the team going and helped set the tone for what the coach was asking for,” Bell said. “A lot of people think coach is always mad but it’s because of the things you don’t know. We’re supposed to be doing that every single time there is a made basket, and we tend to fall back when we’re tired. I think towards the end we realized it’s our bailout and we have to bring the pressure and do what we know we can do.”

Coach Edmisson has no problem turning towards Bell’s intensity when the team is in need of someone who can lead by example.

“She’s such a tough kid,” Edmisson said. “She makes what I call special plays. We expect college basketball players to make layups and free throws, but those extra special hustle plays that you have to sacrifice your body for when you know it’s going to hurt, that’s the type of player Alicia Bell is. She’s that extra effort player.”

Bell finished the night with 11 points, four assists, and eight rebounds.

One extra effort play in particular was another forced turnover that turned into an and-one for Brittany Griswold with the assist coming from Bell with just a second left on the shot clock and just over a minute left. It was a play that helped separate the Griffons lead right when they needed it most.

Griswold, who had 14 points against the Gorillas, really noticed how the win was going to go to the team who ultimately fought harder for it.

“It was a battle,” Griswold said. “They didn’t roll over and just let us have it. Down to it I think it was a question of who was going to work harder. I think knowing that was just a confidence builder for the team.

The Griffons defeated Lindenwood in a close match Wednesday evening.

Western struggled early in the game against Lindenwood University, who came in the game hoping to get their season back on track.

Both teams appeared to have trouble handling the ball early and late in the game, with both teams totaling over 20 turnovers. Coach Edmisson credited the Griffons turnovers to the speed that also happens to be one of their strengths.

“We threw the ball away 28 times to a team that does not press,” Edmisson said. “We are our own worst enemy. Sometimes our speed can be our worst enemy, and tonight it was.”

Western came out the gate scoring well, but the Lindenwood Lions would continue to answer the call to make it a close game.

Sarah Schnieders was the Lions leading scorer with 16 and added five rebounds. Schnieders also helped her team on the defensive side, by recording 5 steals.

The score was tied 23 all at Halftime with both teams desperately trying to pull away from each other.

The second half began with some solid rebounding by the Griffons, particularly by a player who was not regarded as the team’s main rebounder.

Guard KC Clouser finish the game with 11 rebounds and also added some energy to the Griffons lineup.

“I put in a lot effort,” Clouser said. “I try to pride myself on hustling and giving the team what we need on the court at that time. If we need rebounds, then I am going to try and get rebounds.”

Every time it looked like the Lions were making a run, Sharniece Lewis made it harder for them as she knocked down 13 points, while shooting 3-6 from behind the arc.

Lewis noted that the team being over anxious at time did cause some problems in the game but they came through at the end.

“We get wide open at times,” Lewis said. “And then we do little things that end up throwing us off. We could have had more leads in the game, but we just could not finish at times. We just have to execute and do things right.’

The game was tied at 53 with 1:30 left in the game. It was Western’s pressure defense and also a clutch shot from Heather Howard that sealed off the game.

Howard finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while JaQuitta Dever scored 10 and ended with a team high 5 steals.

Coach Edmisson felt that although they got the win, there are still some things that they need to work on moving forward in the season.

“I told players from day one that I am not about the win-loss record,” Edmisson said. “I am concerned more about quality of play. This is the time of year where you see teams trying to separate themselves, and we are not there yet.”

Western’s all-time leading rusher Michael Hill will play in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic in Montgomery, Ala. on Saturday, January 19.  His team will be coached by ex-NFL head coach Dan Reeves.  The practices are open to the public.

Travis Partridge, Michael Hill, Macon Allen, and David Bass were selected to the first team Don Hanson All Super Region 3 team. Ben Pister and Shane Simpson were honored by being selected to the third-team all defense.

Griffons baseball held its first practice of the highly anticipated season.  The Griffons start the season with high expectations as Collegiate Baseball Lineup ranked them No. 25 in their preseason poll.

The first half belonged to the Griffons as they claimed a lead early on. Junior forward Sharniece Lewis lead the team, landing four 3-pointers. Senior forward Brittany Griswold pitched in with 11 points of her own.

Western capped off the first half with a 20-10 run, breaking their seven-point lead out to a 44-27 game at the half. Overall, they shot 51.9 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from beyond the arc.

“Our defense started out right,” senior guard Alicia Bell said. “I think that when our defense plays well, it really helps give our offense a lot of momentum.”

The Hawks came back in the second half ready to fight. They cut the Griffons 17-point lead to eight with just under 10 minutes to play. Senior guard Kallie Schoonover helped make it double digits again with two free throws, but Quincy responded with a 4-0 run making it a six-point game with 5:55 left to play. Western refused to give up, outscoring the Hawks 16-8 in the remaining minutes.

With a final score of 81-67, the Griffons claimed the victory and improved to 6-1 on the season.

“In the second half,” said Lewis. “We weren’t playing our game. We weren’t doing everything we normally would do. It was just not being in the right places and our communication.”

Western improved on their amount of turnovers, only committing 12 on the night. But they struggled from the line, only hitting 57.1 percent (20-35). However, they out-rebounded Quincy 37-35 and had 12 more steals in the game.

“We’re still struggling on our free throws and overall execution,” coach Rob Edmisson said, “but we really improved on our turnovers.”

Sarah Faubel goes for a spike in Saturday’s game against UCO on Oct. 13.

Central Oklahoma — 3

Missouri Western — 2

(25-20, 26-24, 17-25, 18-25, 15-8)

In an effort to avoid being swept by the Central Oklahoma Bronchos, the Griffons had a comeback run, pushing the game to five sets to ultimately take a loss in the end on Oct. 13.

The Griffons hoped to show a spark of life during a disappointing Homecoming week; after a loss earlier in the day for soccer and the football team taking its first loss of the season, the last thing the Griffons wanted was to be swept around the board on Homecoming.

The Bronchos seemed to beat the Griffons mentally more than physically, especially in the first two sets. Although the Griffons looked more athletic, the Bronchos were always in the right place at the right time. There were obvious communication problems on the Griffons side as too many balls hit the floor.

The Griffons have been very inconsistent defensively this season. At times they are defending all over the court; getting blocks, digs and anything to keep the ball in the air. Other times, they seem to be out of place, standing too long and not adapting to what the other team is doing offensively. Unfortunately the first two sets were the worse of the two. The Bronchos had two girls who continued to find openings in the Griffons’ defense and made them pay for it with 38 kills between them.

The team has been changing the lineup around all season, but recently there have been bigger changes more often. Sarah Faubel, who in the past played libero, has been up at the net getting more kills as an outside. She has seen a lot of different positions and seems to handle them all with confidence.

“It just kind of depends on what our team needs every week,” Faubel said. “Sometimes someone will be hurt and I’ll go outside, and sometimes things just aren’t connecting so I’ll go to other spots, but I’m totally OK with going anywhere.”

Faubel had a great night with 11 kills and nine digs.

Freshman power hitter Melissa Cairns has been dynamic at the net all season. Although she is still recovering from a torn labrum in her hip, it hasn’t seemed to affect her game. Lately she has been transitioning more to the outside as well as playing back row — a big change for her that she still is trying to get used to.

“For me, personally, I think it does affect [my focus] because I’m not the most comfortable passer,” Cairns said. “So that carries around with me the whole way but it’s one of those things you just have to get past it.”

Cairns finished with eight kills and seven digs.

With a combination of lineup changes and unexpected injuries, the Griffons are still working to find what works best for the team.

The Griffons have a tough schedule ahead of them as they play the 19-2 Nebraska-Kearney Lopers at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at MWSU Fieldhouse followed by the 21-1 Washburn Lady Blues at 2 p.m. on Oct. 20 in Topeka, Kan.

In 22 seasons as a basketball coach, that alone stood out as the 48-year-old was waiting to hear back from several schools about a job. When Western sought out to hire somebody, Edmisson was a man the Griffons envisioned.

They snagged him off the market Thursday night.

Edmisson was hired as the eighth Women’s Basketball coach in Western’s history after being announced at the Griffon’s press conference Friday afternoon, and will take over for Lynn Plett, who was let go after five seasons at the helm.

During the search, Western Athletic Director Kurt McGuffin said a winning coach mattered, as well as a Midwest guy and somebody who could build a program. Edmisson fit that description according to McGuffin.

“When we look for a basketball coach, we look for the right fit: someone to build a program,” McGuffin said. “I kept going back to coach Edmisson. When our job came open, we talked early, and then I kind of went through his background, and I said ‘gosh, we know a lot of the same people.’ And I continued to call them and get their input on coach Edmisson. And I found what I thought we needed here.”

The Director of Athletics spent 28 days searching through a list of over 200 applicants. He narrowed it down quickly, and with help from several people, McGuffin brought in two candidates for a visit. Edmisson made the cut to the final two.

From there, McGuffin made the decision to go with the former Oklahoma City coach, who was fresh off of a NAIA Championship, having just won it nine days prior.

“We’re going to take this program back into even higher status,” Edmisson said. “Ultimately, our final goal is what I experienced nine days ago — a national championship. And that’s where we’re headed.”

Edmisson hoists over 400 wins as a collegiate coach and another 100 in high school. He led Oklahoma City to a 35-1 record with a talented group that had three Division I players.

He took the Stars to seven straight post-season tournaments and topped it off with the 2012 championship. After that performance, he knew it was time to move up.

“This isn’t going to be just Rob Edmisson show up and all of a sudden we win 30 games,” Edmisson said. “It’s going to take the whole community to get going. But what we are going to do is get this back to hanging banners. That’s our goal; that’s our mission. We will get there.”

Edmisson credited McGuffin as a huge factor in why he chose Western. He stated that the new A.D. is the face of the program, and they immediately shared a bond. McGuffin took over as the head of Western athletics in late October.

The Griffons have six available scholarships, and after losing all-time leading scorer Jessica Koch, they need them. Koch, who finished with 1,776 points, is just one of five seniors that the Griffons lose. Returning starters include a trio of seniors in Kallie Schoonover, Alicia Bell and Brittany Griswold, who suffered a stress fracture in her right foot in the final month of the season, ending her junior campaign early.

Plett finished his five-year tenure with a 46-89 record, which included a 33-72 MIAA record. He was fired less than 24 hours after Western lost to Washburn in the first round of the MIAA tournament, as McGuffin pointed to change needing to be made. Edmisson will almost certainly show a roster change if he follows the same path he took at Oklahoma City.

The outside shot was going in early as Jessica Koch hit three 3-pointers, Kallie Schoonover hit one and the Griffons got out to a 18-7 lead. Abby Stone protected the basket by blocking four shots in the first four minutes.

Washburn got things turned around in a hurry, going on a 23-0 run that included a string of six 3-point makes to give the Lady Blues a 30-18 lead. Western fought back and went into the halftime break trailing 43-34.

“Any run that they had was going to be deflating,” Koch said. “We wanted to be with them the whole game.”

Western cut the lead down to eight midway through the second half, but were unable to get within striking distance as Washburn extended the lead.

“Early in the second half, we continued to fall back,” coach Lynn Plett said. “They just got too many second chance points.”

Koch, the MIAA’s leading scorer, put in 25 points including 6-for-10 from 3-point range and had four assists in her last game as a Griffon.  She finished her career as Western’s all-time leading scorer with 1,776 points.

“It wasn’t a negative year, it was a very positive year,” Koch said. “Even though we lost today, it was a great year for us, and I love Missouri Western.”

The Griffons were defeated two times during conference play by the Lady Blues, but up-tempo guard Ashleigh Curry missed both games. Washburn held her to 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting and limited her from getting out and scoring in transition.

“It frustrated me, but I had to keep my head and get back in the ball game,” Curry said. “I was just frustrated.”

Schoonover was the third player who scored in double-figures for the Griffons as she hit 4-for-8 from the field, putting in 11 points.

Western couldn’t overcome the size of Washburn, getting out-rebounded 46-to-21 and 20-to-13 on the offensive glass. Washburn post players Dana Elliott and Cassie Lombardino pulled down 11 and 10 rebounds while the leading rebounder for the Griffons was Curry with seven.

“I think a lot of it came down to the rebounding, and they were getting to the free throw line,” Schoonover said. “The balls were falling to them, and they were attacking.”

The Griffons attempted just two free throws to Washburn’s 15 attempts in the first half of play. The Lady Blues shot 50 percent from 3-point range on the day. Western finished its season at 7-20.

“I thought it was a really special day in a lot of ways,” coach Lynn Plett said. “We have 5 seniors on the team, and all five seniors played great throughout the entire ball game.”

After losing 11 of its past 12 games, Western needed this win to keep its season alive.

“This is the time of year when everyone is playing for the next day and if you lose you go home,” Plett said. “We are the underdog, and we need to understand that, and it’s a positive really.”

The Griffons jumped out to a 20-9 start after seniors Jessica Koch, Brittany Casady and Ashleigh Curry all hit early 3-point shots. The score was extended to 42-19 on another 3-pointer by Casady and then 44-19 on a layup by Alex Noble. Western was up 50-26 after a jumper by Koch and never looked back.

Koch led the Griffons in scoring with 24 points on 6-for-16 shooting and became the Griffons all-time leading scorer. She also grabbed nine rebounds and stole the ball six times.

Curry scored 20 points on 5-for-11 shooting and dished out three assists while Casady scored a career-high 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point distance and dished out three assists.

Now that there is no chance of missing the conference tournament, a weight has been lifted.

“I don’t think I realized how much pressure there really was,” Koch said. “I was losing some sleep just worried about getting to the tournament. Now we can just go out and play our game the best that we can.”

The Griffons will face Washburn in Kansas City, Mo., on March 1 in the first round of the MIAA tournament.

Western dropped the last game between the two schools 60-55 but hopes that the momentum from senior night will push them over the top in the tournament. The Griffons sit at 7-19 on the season

“We haven’t won as much, but I think we are going to start peaking in the tournament,” Koch said.

“We need to really go in relaxed,” Plett said. “I thought we played really loose; if we can maintain that kind of confidence with the intensity, then anything can happen in this tournament.”

“Since freshman year I just wanted to help in any way that I could,” Koch said. “Every summer I wanted to come back better than the year before, and that kind of evolved into my role of trying to put the ball in the bucket.”

Koch broke the record on senior night while snapping a six-game losing streak for the Griffons with the season on the line. The win on Saturday guaranteed the Griffons a spot in the upcoming MIAA tournament in Kansas City, while a loss would have ended the season.

“I’m not sure anyone could have written a script any better than what it was,” coach Lynn Plett said. “As much we wanted it to get out of the way before the last game of the regular season, it ended up being a good thing because she could do it at home with all of the support and everything here.”

“Our main concern was making it to the tournament,” Koch said. “The scoring record was just in the back of my mind. If that didn’t happen, I wasn’t going to be concerned as long as we made it to the tournament.”

Koch is a versatile scorer, capable of scoring from the inside or outside, but scoring isn’t all she can do on the court. She has filled the stat sheet up in every statistical category while improving her numbers in every season of her career as Griffon.

After taking a medical redshirt because of a season-ending knee injury in ’07-’08, Koch was an impact player right away. She bounced back from the injury to win MIAA Freshman of the year in ’08-’09 while starting in all 27 games and leading the team in six statistical categories, including points per game with 12.

Koch’s sophomore season saw her scoring increase to 14.3 points per game while netting a season-high 26 points against Quincy and being selected as an honorable mention all-MIAA performer. She also hit the glass, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game.

As a junior she was selected as a second-team all-MIAA performer after she averaged 16.6 points per game, scoring in double figures in every game but one. She also led the team in steals, assists, and rebounds. She scored a season-high 31 points against Nebraska-Omaha on Feb. 9, 2011.

Koch has upped her scoring average once again as a senior, scoring 21.9 points per game and being named first-team all-MIAA. She also leads the Griffons in rebounds, steals, blocks and assists and put in a career-high 38 points at Southwest Baptist, scored 33 at Emporia State, 31 at No. 13 Arkansas Tech and 30 at Nebraska-Omaha.

“Every single time I step on to the floor my thing is that I need to play hard,” Koch said. “The scoring just kind of goes with that. As long as you play hard other stuff is going to come. Some nights you might not be scoring as well as other nights and that happens, but as long as you play hard it’s going to be a good game.”

Koch is relieved to have the pressure of breaking the scoring record and getting to the tournament off her back. She is ready to lead her team into battle on March 1 against Washburn in Kansas City, Mo.

The Griffons were outplayed in every aspect Wednesday night, losing 75-55. Central shot 42 percent from the field.

“[Central] has a great inside-outside game,” coach Lynn Plett said. “We should have been up on them more.”

Though the game was meaningless in regards to playoff implications, Western wouldn’t say that the game didn’t matter. The Griffons needed confidence to come out of Wednesday’s game, and a loss Saturday could result after feeling such dissatisfaction from a lackluster performance.

“We just didn’t have the energy from the beginning of the ball game that we needed to,” Plett said. “I don’t think there was any in their heads at all, ‘We don’t have to play hard today,’ cause I’m not even sure they all realized that.”

The Griffons fell behind 29-6 with 8 minutes, 28 seconds to play. The Jennies didn’t stop adding pressure to the Griffons, and secured a 37-17 halftime lead.

Western cut the lead down to 14 twice, but Ashleigh Curry missed a 3, and Jessica Koch — who led the Griffons with 16 points — missed a layup that rolled off the rim. Both tries could have cut the lead.

“We just need to have the confidence in each other,” Koch said. “At halftime we said, ‘We need to come out and we need to take some pride in our defense.’ And that led to our offense.”

Koch, who was playing with the flu, needed 40 points to become the career leader in points scored at Western. After her 16-point effort, the senior needs 24 Saturday. Should the Griffons defeat Southwest Baptist, she has at least one more game to try to extend her point total in the MIAA tournament.

If the Griffons win Saturday, they are the No. 8 seed in Thursday’s first round of tournament action. If they lose, they are not going to be invited. Southwest needs a win and a Northwest Missouri State loss to sneak into the field of eight. Northwest needs a win and a Western loss.

Northwest plays last-place Missouri Southern Saturday.

“I really believe that their heart is still there,” Plett said. “We got to play smarter and we got to play more aggressively than we did tonight.”

The Jennies were paced by four double-digit scorers. Western shot 50 percent in the second half, but went 4-for-29 in the first half, which resulted in the slow start.

Koch said though the game didn’t matter, the players wanted to win and didn’t think about the game not counting.

“It’s basically the start of our tournament,” Koch said. “We need to win to keep on going. So that’s the type of urgency that we’re going to have.”

Curry came off the bench and went 5-for-12 from the field and finished with 12 points.

Sport: Women’s Basketball

Year: Senior

Position: Forward

Stats this week: Points — 42; Rebounds — 18; Steals — 5

Koch scored 21 points in both games this past week. Behind Koch’s scoring, Western split both games and improved to a tie at the No. 8 spot in the conference standings. The leading scorer in the MIAA also recorded three blocks to help out on defense.

In doing so, they shot 59 percent from the field as Western defeated Fort Hays State 90-78 Monday night at MWSU Fieldhouse.

Western had been on a five game losing streak after it pulled three straight wins to open the new year. However, with two players — Ashleigh Curry and CC Bozeman — coming off of a team suspension, the Griffons looked out of sync the past week. That all changed Monday.

After going into halftime down 33-32, the Griffons forced four straight Tiger turnovers, three of which turned into points for the home team. Senior Jessica Koch said that it was a team effort that she could only explain occurred because the team fought the whole game.

“The past two games, we played great against two great teams,” Koch said. “We knew that eventually we weren’t going to just get close, we were going to start winning, especially with Ashleigh and CC, that’s just going to take us over the top.”

Koch stressed that in the MIAA, her team knows that if they make a late run, they have a shot at winning more than just one game.

Coming into Monday, Western currently sat as the first team out of the MIAA tournament seeding, sitting at the No. 9 seed. In order to go to Kansas City in March, the Griffons need to place in the top eight. With four wins in the conference, their chances of making it have shot up dramatically.

“Subconsciously, the fact that we were competitive with the top teams should have given us some confidence,” coach Lynn Plett said. “Just because we did this tonight doesn’t mean we’re going to do this the next night. But hopefully we gained the confidence of the last three ball games and carry it on.”

Monday, the Griffons showed that and more.

Reserves players Brittany Casady and Emily Romdenne didn’t miss a shot (combined 4-for-4) and the Griffons shot 40 percent from the 3-point line. Along with a defense that bothered the Tigers all game, Western improved its place to a tie at No. 8 with Southwest Baptist.

“Our goal all along has been to get everything together and start clicking,” Plett said.

Plett pointed to Koch and Curry’s speed as a reason to transition buckets. He also said Kallie Schoonover and Alex Noble had more confidence which resulted in buckets.

Curry came back from the suspension and attacked the hoop, just as she had played before. The star senior, who suited up for just the fourth time this season, came off the bench with just over 15 minutes to play and immediately showed her quickness.

The skill guard totalled a team-high 24 points and went 8-for-13 from the field.

“The team came together and we dominated,” Curry said. “We can surprise a lot of teams with the tempo we had tonight.”

The Griffons do not play another home game until Feb. 22 when they take on Central Missouri. Until that date, Western plays five-straight road games.

With that in mind, the Griffons made a statement the fans will remember until they step back on the court for their next home meeting.

Center Brittany Griswold missed her second-straight game with a foot injury and could be out for a couple more weeks.

The senior, who hasn’t played in four-and-a-half seasons, came off the bench and scored 25 points, but Missouri Western fell to Central Missouri 72-67.

The five-point loss isn’t too bad as of now for the Griffons. Coming up this week, if they can play the way they have to start the 2012 season, Western (5-9, 3-6) may start a new winning streak, and take down a No. 1 team in the process.

Tuesday, the Griffons hit the road for the second-straight game and take on Southwest Baptist.

The Bearcats (5-9, 1-8) are currently placed at No. 10 in the MIAA. They are the only team the Griffons have not played yet in the conference. It’s a winnable game, and the team knows this. In their games against Northwest Missouri State, Lincoln and Truman State, the exact same situation occurred. Western knew they were the favorites in each game and pulled a win in all three.

There are two differences in this game – this one is on the road. The Griffons are 2-6 on the road and haven’t won an MIAA road game yet. If Western, who started off slow against Central, can start out quick and knock down shots early, the Griffons should pull the win out.

The other difference — Curry is back. She could possibly be the best player in the conference. If she isn’t, perhaps her teammate Jessica Koch is. With both playing, the Griffons are excited about their chances of winning the rest of the season.

Saturday afternoon Western returns home and plays Pittsburg State, top team in the MIAA.

These two teams met Nov. 30, and it wasn’t close. The problem with the first game wasn’t a slow start, but a bad finish. Western was only down by 11 at the half. Leading MIAA scorer Jessica Koch ended the game with 24 points, and now with another scorer — Curry — either, possibly both, can put down 20-a-night.

Alicia Bell, who has been a hustler around the basket, especially on the offensive end as the guard has 47 offensive boards, and Center Brittany Griswold also provide quality help for Koch and Curry.

Pittsburg’s (15-1, 9-1) only loss was home against No. 2 Washburn. Pittsburg leads the MIAA in scoring, but also play tough defense as it is also the leader in blocked shots. Western, who have been better on offense since the calendar year starter, needs to score, hit 3s and not turn the ball over in order to keep the game tight so it can win the game.

But it was Alex Noble’s layup and Alicia Bell’s free throws that gave Missouri Western its third straight win, as the Griffons defeated Truman State 65-64 Wednesday night at MWSU Fieldhouse.

The win itself shouldn’t come as a big surprise, as the Bulldogs and Griffons are tied for sixth in the conference with six more weeks to play. But the way the Griffons struggled in the first half compared to the second half definitely saw a change, and the role players proved to be the difference.

“It was so fun having the whole team together and complete something that we wanted to do,” Koch said. “We all wanted to beat that team. We all wanted to play well. We came together and we did it.”

The role players came through when Western needed them to most. Down 60-59 with less than one minute to play, Koch went up for a 3-pointer, only to see the ball dribble around the hoop and bounce out. That’s when Noble jumped up to take the offensive rebound, and scored a quick two-point bucket to give Western its first lead of the game.

Bell went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 25 seconds, and Kallie Schoonover wrestled away a defensive rebound to give the ball back to the Griffons and maintain the lead.

“We’ve fought back before but we haven’t successfully fought back,” Western coach Lynn Plett said. “I think Truman has really improved. I thought they played really well tonight and for us to beat them was huge for us.”

Western (5-8, 3-5) found itself in a hole early. With Griswold the only offense early, Truman (8-5, 3-5) took advantage. Its tight defense countered with an electrifying offense that scored 29 points in the first nine minutes. Western, down by its biggest margin of the night — 16,  found a little offense after that as Truman took a 41-32 lead into the half.

“We didn’t come out very strong,” said Griswold, who had a game-high 23 points. “We couldn’t let them get a huge lead that we couldn’t come back. I guess that was the drive for me to keep going, that I’m not going to give up on this.”

The Bulldogs never added to its lead, instead went back-and-fourth with a hungry Griffons team that wanted to make a statement at home.

Truman packed on a few buckets to take a 51-44 advantage, but Alex Saxen nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Bulldogs lead from seven to four. Becka McHenry, who led her team with 18 points, matched Saxen’s 3. But the Griffons didn’t let the deficit affect them.

Another reserve, Brittany Casady, put in a 3 to again cut Truman’s lead down to four. Both teams matched five points apiece as the game locked at 59-54 with 6 minutes and 45 seconds to play.

“There was a time where there was a stalemate,” Koch said. “They were playing just as tough of defense as we were.”

Koch was the answer. After a drought of more than three minutes in which neither team scored, Koch threw up a contested 3 that swished through the net, marking the score at 59-57. Less than two minutes later, Griswold joined her teammate as she put in a left-handed two-pointer that tied the game.

After Nicole Gloor made one-of-two free throws, Koch shot another 3 that bricked off the rim, when Noble — a senior — took the rebound and scored to give her team the lead.

“This whole year, even before the new year, we were such a hard working team,” Koch said. “I think finally we’re just starting to play together and it’s starting to show.”

Western’s defense didn’t allow a field goal from from the 6:45 mark until McHenry put in a two-pointer with 13 seconds to play to cut Western’s 63-60 lead down to one. But Bell knocked down both her free throws and McHenry fouled out, leaving Truman without its biggest offensive threat.

The Bullodogs missed on a 3 to tie, and Breanna Daniels made a layup at the buzzer to end the game 65-64 to give Western the win.

Griswold led the Griffons in scoring with 17 points and Koch was second with 12 as they secured their first MIAA win this season in their 62-51 victory against rival Northwest Missouri State at the MWSU Fieldhouse.

Koch, who up until Wednesday night had played three-straight 40-minute games, has been the only Western threat on the offensive side of the ball. Needing help, Griswold — a junior transfer — stepped in for the Griffons.

“We saw their heads falling and we took advantage of it,” Griswold said. “We took that high and that adrenaline rush that we had, and we just started pushing it up the court.”

Griffons coach Lynn Plett referred to himself as a “crazy coach” because he doesn’t limit his players from shooting the ball. Griswold was a prime example of that. The junior shot the ball 18 times, including nine 3s. Even when she went 1-for-7 from the 3-point line in the first half, Griswold kept shooting. She made both her 3s in the second half, one which was in the midst of a 19-3 run to start the half.

“Cory [O'Dell] and I talked about it before the game,” Plett said. “One of these teams is going to go out feeling a whole lot better and the other is going to have to wait for another day. Fortunately that wasn’t us.”

Western (3-8, 1-5) only trailed the game when Northwest led 2-0. Koch and Alicia Bell quickly turned the advantage in the Griffons favor when the duo went on an 11-2 run, all points scored by the team’s leaders.

Western came out in the second half leading 34-26, but the intense play favored the Griffons as they halted the Bearcats, who only scored one field goal in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Western jumped out to its biggest lead, 53-29 before Northwest could start much on offense.

“When you’re going up against your rival, the records really don’t matter,” said Koch, who had a game-high 12 rebounds. “It was a clean slate, 2012, and we’re ready to be a new team.”

The rivalry between the two teams continued on the court just as it had in years past. With both teams desperately in need of an MIAA win, the physical matchup was shown throughout the night. Plett said it wasn’t a must-win game, but they wanted it. Northwest coach Gene Steinmeyer, whose team made it to the Elite 8 last year in the NCAA Division II National Championship, told the Saint Joseph News-Press that Plett did a good job of preparing his team.

“I didn’t have the team ready to go,” Steinmeyer said. “Lynn did. I didn’t, bottom line. Put the credit where it belongs; put the blame where it belongs.”

Freshman Stacey Mgbike stepped off the bench and made her biggest contribution to the team so far this season. Mgbike tallied nine rebounds in 16 minutes, the most action she has seen all year. Plett said he went with Mgbike more because he wanted to counter some of the Bearcats strength.

“Stacey, I thought, did a good job,” said Plett, who also mentioned Alex Saxen and CC Bozeman as players off the bench who stepped up. “It’s always nice to get some support help.”

Saxen, who scored 14 points in the loss to Nebraska-Omaha, went 2-for-6 from the field with nine points. Bell scored 10 points and led her team in assists with 5.

Coach Lynn Plett knew that Quincy, who went 26-4 last season, would be a tough early test for the Griffons.

“Some people say ‘Don’t play such a good team early,’ but it tells us where we are,” Plett said. “We’ve learned one thing: That we’ve got to got to get a lot better defensively.”

The Griffons were playing close early with a score of 25-23 when Kassidy Shuman hit three straight three point baskets to open up a nine point lead for Quincy.

Shuman shot a blistering 6-for-7 from three point land in the first half, and scored 19 of her 21 points in the first frame.

“It was more deflating for the players and maddening for me,” Plett said. “I wish it would have been more upsetting for the players on defense. They don’t have to keep scoring the same way — make them score a different way.”

With the Griffons already down 10, Quincy went on an 8-0 run to push the lead up to 54-36 at halftime. Western played closer in the second half, but could never make it a game, as it was outscored 37-32.

Quincy connected 15 of its 31 three point attempts on the night, including 11 in the first half.

“They couldn’t miss tonight,” Brittany Griswold said. “We were helping on their drive, and they kept popping out and shooting it, and we just weren’t getting out there in time.”

6’4” Linsay Henke gave Quincy a size advantage over the Griffons, as she scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Quincy beat the Griffons for 19 offensive rebounds.

“I would associate that with our defense,” Plett said. “We would turn around and look, but we wouldn’t go to the boards, we wouldn’t box out, and they got second opportunities.”

Jessica Koch led the Griffons in scoring and rebounding with 19 and 8 respectively. She also added three assists. Griswold finished with 11 points.

After not playing in the first half, 6-foot freshman Stacey Mgbike scored eight points on 4-6 shooting in the second half, and showed flashes of athleticism.

“The biggest plus factor was Stacey,” Plett said. “She gave us good minutes. She’s the strongest player we have in the post. Once she figures out the offense a little bit better, she will be a good aspect for us.”

A scary moment came with one minute left on the game clock when Griffon guard Alex Noble hit her head on the court and lay motionless for a period of fifteen minutes. She was taken off the court by paramedics on a stretcher.

“Initial signs were good,” Plett said. “It was really precautionary to make sure everything was okay first and not move her too much to begin with. She had feeling in her fingers and everything. She could remember where she was and what she had for breakfast.”

The Griffons will try and bounce back in Golden, Colo., on Nov. 18 when they play the Colorado School of Mines. They will take on Colorado Christian University on Nov. 19 in the same location.

“I thought our defense was pretty decent,” coach Tom Smith said. “I thought they played together, our passing at times was very sharp; for the most part I was pleased.”

The Griffons have focused their efforts on becoming a solid defensive team, and it showed Thursday as they forced 25 turnovers and held Livin’ The Dream to 63 points on 19-for-45 shooting from the field.

“We are way better defensively right now than we ever were last year,” Smith said. “If that continues to get better, we have a chance at being a decent defensive team.”

TJ Johnson led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. He made two three-pointers and showed his leaping ability with some big dunks.

“That’s what I like to do,” Johnson said. “I like getting the crowd involved. If my teammate throws it up, I’m going to go get it.”

Deionta Mitchell scored 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting in 20 minutes. He also contributed three assists and a steal. His long range game was on display as he went 2-for-3 from three point distance.

“Last year I really didn’t shoot the ball that well,” Mitchell said. “That was a goal of mine this summer, so I just stayed in the gym a lot getting shots up. Tonight my teammates found me and got me open shots.”

James Harris scored 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting and dished out four assists. He had his hand wrapped up, and Smith said that he had only practiced two times before the game due to the injury of his left hand.

“Harris getting healthy has made a difference,” Smith said. “He’s probably our actual starting point guard.”

Dylan Frantz scored 14 points and handed out four assists.

“You have to love Dylan Frantz because he is a kid that just gives you a 100 percent every time,” Smith said.

Shawn Tarver scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. The 6’8” big man had his mid-range jumpshot on display.

“This team will have to depend on playing together,” Smith said. “I think that they shared the ball well, and I think they had fun doing it. That’s the biggest thing.”

Western women win 96-52

The Griffon women had their talents on display also, as they defeated Livin’ The Dream 96-52.

Jessica Koch led all scorers with 30 points. Koch, a second team all-MIAA selection and the Griffons’ leading scorer from last season at 16.6 points per game, also pulled down 11 rebounds and had seven assists.

Brittany Griswold scored 12 points, Brittany Casady had 11 and Caitlin Linihan scored 10. The women finished with a team total of 27 assists, 52 rebounds and shot 46.6 percent from the field.

Ashleigh Curry, who used to play for Livin’ the Dream, did not participate in the scrimmage. Coach Lynn Plett does not know when she will return to the team, but hopes for a return for Saturday’s opener against Quincy.

Coach Chad Edwards took over a team that had just six days to prepare for its first match in August.

After a full two months of engagement soccer, the season wrapped up over Halloween weekend.

Western finished with a 4-10 record, doubling its win total from a season ago. Though the team missed out on another MIAA tournament appearance, and placed last in the division, the Griffons battled through adversity with so many freshman playing and a new coach. Throughout the first 10 games, the Griffons saw a 3-7 record, where at the half they were either tied or in the lead in every game.

Edwards believes with recruiting well by adding forwards, his team will be in better shape for a post-season run next year. He also said this season will help out the future.

“I’m really proud of the way they competed,” Edwards said. “We got the culture established. I got what I’m trying to accomplish established.”

Among the seniors that played their last game in a Griffon uniform is Audrey Henderson. She leaves the program as the all-time leader in goals made with nine.

“I want to thank the four seniors especially,” Edwards said. “I’m really proud of the way they handled [this season].”

Volleyball entering final push

Coach Cory Frederick said he believes his team is playing the best volleyball they played all season.

Two straight losses could contradict that, but he said that didn’t exactly matter.

Western dropped three sets to undefeated Washburn last Saturday, one day after losing a 3-2 split set game to Emporia State. The two losses didn’t do anything to the Griffons in the conference, as they are still slated at fifth place with a 5-7 MIAA record and 12-13 overall.

“We struggled a bit last week,” Frederick said, “but we’re playing some good volleyball. Win five out of six is our goal.”

Frederick pointed to freshman Amanda Boender, who hit .667 and added 10 kills Friday nights against Emporia, as somebody who might step in and help the team over the next two weeks.

Basketball tip-off

Thursday night, both basketball teams will scrimmage for the first time at the Looney Complex, at least the first time against an opponent.

Livin’ the Dream, a pro-am basketball team out of Kansas City, Mo., will bring their talents to Western to play the Griffons.

The women’s team will tip off at 5:30 p.m. followed shortly by the men, who are scheduled to play around 7 p.m.

Tom Smith, who is one win shy of 600 total for his coaching career, is excited to see his team at home in this exhibition game.

“I’ve never had any group work harder than this group has worked,” Smith said. “I have three freshman for the first time. I can’t wait till they’re juniors. Hopefully I’m here when they’re juniors,” said Smith, who not only joked about that, but also about how he hopes to survive a sixth athletic director.

According to Western Athletic Director Dave Williams, Plett had been suffering discomfort for more than a week and decided to go to the emergency room yesterday.
The surgery was successful and Plett is recovering at Heartland Regional Medical Center and is currently experiencing less discomfort than he was.

Plett will miss tomorrow night’s game at Pittsburg State and currently there is not a specific timeline for when Plett is expected to be back on the sidelines for the Griffons. Plett could not be reached for comment.

The Griffons shot just over 58 percent from the free throw line in the game, connecting on 14-24 shots.

Western jumped out to an early lead with five straight points from Kallie Schoonover to give the Griffons the advantage. The lead swelled to eight with 11:26 to play in the first half.

Jessica Koch drives past a UCM defender in Saturday night's loss.

UCM would cut the lead to 22-21 with just over five minutes remaining in the half, but the Griffons would finish the half on a 9-7 run to take a 31-28 lead into halftime.

The Jennies gained their first lead of the game four minutes into the second half. Western would battle back and make the game close, but down the stretch free throws would make the difference.

Turnovers and second chance points were the other two factors leading to the Griffons downfall in the game. Western committed 19 turnovers as well as 16 offensive rebounds.

“We would shut them out on the first shot and then let them get a rebound and then they would put it in,” Rachel Luteyn said. “We just needed to do a better job of boxing out and taking away those second chance points.”
The second half remained close as the Griffons traded baskets with the Jennies until it came down to the final possession. The Griffons were down by three points with seconds left to play when coach Lynn Plett called a timeout and huddled his team around him to get one final play together.

The pass was thrown to Jessica Koch, who immediately looked for an open teammate but couldn’t find one. She was forced into a rushed shot that came up short as two UCM defenders came up with the block to end the game.

“The last play definitely didn’t go the way we planned it. Jess didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball and she had to force it up,” Plett said.

The Griffons came out hot, starting the game with six straight points. The Bearcats then came storming back to tie it at six. After a three pointer by guard Rachel Graves, the Bearcats would take the lead and didn’t look back. The Griffons finished the season 7-20 and 5-15 in the MIAA.

The Bearcats dominated the first half and after taking the lead with 15:48 left and manhandled the Griffons for the next 10 minutes, going up by as many as 11. The Griffons would not go away easily though, as they outscored the Bearcats 11-4 in the final four minutes.

The run helped the Griffons make the game interesting and they were able to go into halftime down 30-33. Abby Stone was the Griffons leading scorer at the break with eight points and sophomore Jessica Koch followed with seven. For the Bearcats, Rachel Graves was the first half’s leading scorer with 10 points.

The Griffons shot 41 percent on 12-29 from the field and only 20 percent from three-point range, hitting only one in the first half. The Griffons’ defense stepped up their inside game holding the Bearcats to just 37 percent shooting and 27 percent from beyond the arc. Southwest Baptist took 18 threes in the first half and the Griffons knew they would have to hold them to a low percentage to beat them.

“We knew coming in they had a lot of good three-point shooters and we just had to slow them down,” forward Jessica Koch said.

Junior Rachel Luteyn goes up for a shot against a Southwest Baptist defender during Western’s game against the Bearcats this past Saturday. Photo | Matt Fowler

Southwest Baptist then started using their deadly half-court trap and the Griffons just couldn’t figure it out.

“I think one of our biggest problems was their half-court trap and us on offense turning the ball over,” Koch said.

The Griffons turned the ball over 15 times in the second half which lead to 18 points for the Bearcats.

The Griffons got the game within seven after a layup from Koch, but that was as close as they would get. Southwest Baptist pulled away after that going on a 10-4 run and ending the Griffons’ season on a sour note. Jessica Koch led the Griffons with 16 points, while Rachel Graves had 17 for Southwest Baptist.

Though the season didn’t go the way the team wanted it to, there are some positives that the team can take into next year.

“If you watched the game, we had 15-20 shots where we were right under the basket, so you make three-quarters of those and we win the game,” head coach Lynn Plett said. “So the team had the opportunities and knows the offense.”

There are some things he would really like to see them improve on.

“Number one, we have to improve on our confidence and just be more mature about things,” Plett said.

The Griffons finished their season at 7-20 overall and 5-15 in the MIAA.

Seven minutes into the game, the Griffons were looking good. Jessica Koch had just knocked down two free throws to give them a 13-12 lead. However, that was the beginning of the end for the Griffons as things took a huge turn, mostly due to Jolea Apon.

The guard for the Lions tied an MIAA record for most three-pointers made in a game with 11 from beyond the arc. She scored a total of 35 points and led the Lions to an 87-64 win.

The defense struggled in this game not only to defend the threes, but they were out rebounded 41 to 28. This was reiterated by Junior Lauren Nolke.

Kristin Bush posts up under the basket during the Women’s game against Washburn last Saturday. Photo by Ryan Richardson

When a player sets a record for three point shots, you can’t put all the blame on the defense. It is up for the Western offense to convert their own points and they did that well on Saturday.

“It was hard to get to her through the one or two players they would have there to screen you,” Nolke said.

The Griffons shot 29 percent on five of 17 from three point land. For the season they are shooting just over 31 percent.

The Griffons also struggled to score in the paint. Missouri Southern’s front court did their jobs and out-scored the Griffons 20-8 down inside. If the Griffons are able to flip those numbers, it may have been a totally different game. Western learned that earlier in the year when Missouri
Southern made their visit to Saint Joseph and in that game lost the battle of the boards to the Griffons and walked away with the loss.

The Griffons, who have been off and on over the season from the charity stripe, hit 84 percent of their free throws on Saturday, going 27-32. Free throws have been one of the strengths for the Griffons over the season, as they are now ranked fourth in the conference in free throw shooting percentage.

Jessica Koch was the Griffons leading scorer and is now fourth in the conference averaging 14.9 points per game and after going 12 of 17 from the one point line she now ranks sixth in the conference shooting 77 percent.

The Griffons will next take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday, Feb. 10. They hope to get back to their winning ways at home.

“I think it’s similar to the Quincy game it’s just we got down and we had nothing left to lose,” Nolke said. “We just went out there in the second half and just played harder and knew that if we wanted to win we had to stay focused and play ten times harder than the first half.”

Photo by Ryan Richardson

“I came back out and they were holding their own,” Koch said. “I was really proud of them and how they handled that. They were penetrating the basket and doing what they were suppose to do.”

Missouri Western Women’s basketball coach Lynn Plett said Western started doing better on defense in the second half.

“I really believe missed lay ups and free throws are really a reflection on your focus and I think our focus improved,” Plett said. “When things are going well for us we get more enthusiastic and we play a little harder and we play more.”

Western completed the game with 11 assists and 6 steals. Koch scored 15 points and sophomore forward Kristin Bush scored a career high 14 points.

The Griffons are now 5-13 and 3-6 in the MIAA. They will next face the Pittsburg State Gorillas this Saturday, Jan. 30, at home at 5:30 p.m.

Three alleged robbers of the golden arches had made Missouri Western State University a part of their escape route and one man was shot in the leg in the pursuit by S.J.P.D. Instead of the hor­rifying disasters that tore through other schools across the country this was an example of the civic security of St. Joe functioning smoothly. But that single shot rang loud throughout the minds of Missouri Western. What if? Are we ever going to be truly prepared for such a truly horrific occurrence? Does it really matter how many guns the officers have? Or how many cameras there are on campus? Or how
many people know which system to tune into for flash news? What if it happened here? Would we really be ready?

This didn’t turn out to be the worst case scenario. In this case the danger to students and staff never grew to the critical level that other schools across the country have attained. Due mostly to the quick and efficient response of S.J.P.D. and a brave employee at McDonald’s making the call for help, a crime that could have reached catastrophic proportions was avoided. Bravo to all involved. Missouri Western was kept safe for another day.

This whole story should serve to remind us that the danger is still out there. Preparations could still be made to prevent future tragedy. We got lucky this time. Next time shots ring out across campus let us be prepared to make sure it can be prevented again. Sooner or later this may be a reality that Missouri Western has to deal with. We would like to believe that Missouri Western will be able to provide the same amount of excellence in security as it has delivered in all other areas of the universities domain. We would like to believe that we are safe from harm, but shouldn’t we be brave enough to ask ourselves “What if”?
 

The Griffons, (10-13 overall and 5-10 in the MIAA) fired on all cylinders as they dominated most of the game leading by as much as 25 points. The Griffons were led in scoring by senior Jill Johnson, who racked up a career high 39 points and 16 rebounds, followed by teammate Yanique Javois, who amassed 32 points and nine boards of her own. Johnson’s double-double gives her eight on the season and fourteen in her career.

The team as a whole played well Wednesday night, as they were able to stay ahead most of the ballgame. Head Coach Lynn Plett agrees the team did an outstanding job.

“The team actually did quite well. In particular, Yanique and Jill had very good offensive nights, shooting the ball really well. I think the team played well overall.”

Intelligence was another key ingredient the Griffons used Wednesday in the win over Truman.

“We played very smart and aggressively, for the first time in a few games,” Javois said.

The Javois and Johnson duo accumulated 39 of the Griffons 47 first-half points.

The Griffons out-rebounded the Bulldogs 49-32 and always kept the game pace up-tempo, the way the Griffons like to play.

“We did a good job of keeping up the tempo and pushing the ball up the court. Offensively, we did a really good job of working the ball and executing our offenses better than we’ve done in the past,” Plett said.

On the defensive side, the Griffons were efficient at not allowing the Bulldogs too many offensive boards, as they had only 10 second chance points to the Griffons 21.

For the Griffons to continue their success, they must stay consistent with the game plan they employed with the Bulldogs. Senior point guard Chemia Woods also believes in the strategy.

“We’ve got to keep pushing the ball up and as always, we’ve definitely got to minimize our turnovers. Also, when we have a lead, we have to learn to keep it.”
Woods contributed eight points to the Griffon victory, followed by freshman Tierra Ford, who harvested seven.
The Griffons lost on the road Saturday to Central Missouri in Warrensburg, by the score of 66-49. The Griffons were led in scoring in Johnson and Javois with 14 points a piece. The Griffons are currently tied for the last conference spot with Fort Hays State. The Griffons have two games left in the season as they will travel to Maryville to face Northwest on Wednesday. They will wrap up their regular season against Missouri Southern on Saturday at home. The Griffons will look to finish this season on a positive note.

Being a success has not always been so easy for this southern belle, as she found out about the tribulations of life at an early age.  Woods was originally born in Dallas, Texas, but moved to Arkansas when she was four. It was also the time her parents’ divorced and she learned of the harsh realities of life.

“There were times growing up when I wanted to have a father figure in my life, but I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.” Through this adversity, Woods unearthed valuable life lessons she would take with her in the future.

Woods grew up in Menifee, Ark., where she discovered her God given talent in the fifth grade, basketball. Honing her skills, Woods realized her true potential while attending Morrilton High School. She was a guard on the Arkansas Class 4A State Championship team during the 2003-04 seasons. Also in her junior and senior year, she was a two-time, All-State selection. This opened the floodgates for a college career in basketball, more importantly, a basketball scholarship to Missouri Western.

“On my visit, the faculty, students and people I met in the community were really nice,” Woods said.

Besides a national championship, this Griffon has accomplished most achievements in her basketball career at Western. “I can honestly say I don’t have any regrets really, I’ve enjoyed every second of it, the good, the bad and the ugly,” Woods said. Basketball will not end for this all-star after graduation either, “I will ride it til` the wheels fall off,” Woods said. 

Basketball is in the immediate future for Woods, but in the event that it does not pan out, there is a fallback plan. “If basketball doesn’t work out for me, I plan to attend gradu­ate school, get a master’s of arts in some type of mass communications program, get a PhD and maybe one day become a professor,” Woods stated.

Her future is bright and radiant, whether we see her on television playing basketball, or in the classroom lecturing about interpersonal communication. So, tell us Chemia, which door do you want to open next, 1, 2, or 3?

The women’s basketball team have lost two key players to injuries. The first player they lost was junior, Amanda Thomas. She was supposed to be a key contributor to the team this season.

They just recently  lost Lauren Nolke. She is a freshman who has been playing well for the Griffons. She is currently out of action with a sprained ankle. She was starting to hit her stride and was really helping the team.

The biggest blow came at the beginning of the season when the Griffons found out Ashleigh Curry was ineligible for this season. She is currently taking a red shirt and will be available next season for the Griffons. Curry was a star on last seasons conference championship team.

Coupling this with a brand new coach, isn’t the recipe for a successful season. With new head coach Lynn Plett trying to help the team adjust to his coaching style, it has been hard losing three key players this season. The Griffons can’t seem to catch a break.

Not everything has been bad for the Griffons this season. They have gotten great play out of their three seniors: Jill Johnson, Chemia Woods and Yanique Javois. Johnson and Javois were both starters on last season’s team, but Woods replaced last years starting point guard Tiffany Davis who graduated. All three have played well in their senior seasons. They have also shown great leadership in their final seasons.

Bad things for this team this season just keep happening. At the beginning of the season the Griffons had to learn to play without Curry. Once they got into a flow they lost Thomas for the season. Now they lost Nolke a freshman who had been playing well as of late. The injuries and other circumstances have hurt the Griffons mightily this season.

This season has not went the way the Griffons had hoped that it would. Maybe the bar was set to high after last season’s great success. After winning the conference championship the Griffons had bigger and more lofty goals this season. Then again I wonder how different the season would have went with the whole team intact. The injuries have hurt the teams chances of having a successful season. Sometimes everything doesn’t go as planned for a team  and that is the way things have gone for Western.

Coming off of two straight conference wins against Central Missouri and Fort Hays State, the Griffons were able to make it three in a row in the MIAA (4-3) by defeating the Pittsburg State Gorillas 77-75 in a nail-biter that came down to the wire.

Missouri Western went into the half, leading 38-31. The Gorillas kept it close the rest of the game. Even with the Griffons leading by as much as thirteen, the game was a back and forth battle. But in the last minute of the contest, the Griffons would learn how crucial it would really become. 

Having struggled earlier in the game with free throws, senior Chemia Woods was fouled with 26 seconds left and realized that she could increase her team’s lead by three.

“I need to make these free throws because if we lose, I’m going to cry, and that’s all bad,” Woods said jokingly.

She nailed the free throws and made the score 75-72. Pitt. State immediately took a 30 second timeout. The Griffons huddled over Coach Plett to establish their game plan.

“We need to guard against the three point shot and not let them get any threes off,” Plett said.

The plan did not work exactly as they had hoped. With 17 seconds on the clock, the Gorillas sank a huge three pointer to tie the game at an even 75-75.

Trying to avoid going into overtime, the Griffons plan was to score swiftly and hold off any other attempts of a Pittsburg State rally. Like a finely tuned machine, the Western steam rolled down the court, and passed the ball into the post where it was in the hands of senior Jill Johnson.  Johnson was fouled on the shot attempt with six seconds left. Exhibiting her senior poise, Johnson made both free throws, which put the Lady Griffons ahead for good, 77-75.

Not only have the past few wins developed a rhythm for team, they have also blessed the Griffons with an impelling force called momentum. Coach Plett believes that in order to keep the team’s momentum rolling against Emporia State, “We need to continue to play with confidence, maintain composure, and also to be able to not get rattled by the some of the pressure that might be put on by Emporia’s aggressive defensive style of play.”

That is something that will be needed as the Lady Griffons head off to face the No. 16 ranked Emporia State Hornets on Jan. 29.

 

The loss of their head coach and key players really hurt the team. The team needs to find a way to play better together. New head coach, Lynn Plett, believes the team needs to find cohesiveness with each other.

“We need to have all five players play consistently together,” Plett said.

The strength of the team so far this season has been their offense. The Griffons are led in scoring this season by Jill Johnson, who averages 18.1 points per game. Yanique Javois is a close second with 17.6 points per game. Coach Plett believes running the floor is key for the Griffons.

“Our strength is to get up and down the floor in transition,” Plett said.

Turnovers have plagued the team this season. The Griffons averages 18.2 turnovers per game. Defensively, the Griffons have had breakdowns throughout the season.

“Big issue is for us to be more consistent on the defense end,” Plett said.

It will not get any easier for the Griffons now that conference play has began. The MIAA has three teams ranked in the top 25. Washburn is ranked number four, Emporia State is ranked number 16 and Missouri Southern is ranked number 23. The conference also has eight teams with winning records.

The two bright spots for the Griffons has been the play of Johnson and Javois. Johnson is ranked in the top five in the conference in both scoring and rebounding. Javois is ranked in the top five in scoring. Senior Chemia Woods is also in the top five for assists per game.

The Griffon’s will need to learn to finish ball games. The Griffons have outscored opponents in the first half of games 425-387. In the second half of games they have been outscored 433-420. Playing better in the second half of games is a must for the women’s basketball team.

The Griffons have shot well from the free throw line  this season. The Griffons are shooting 69 percent from the charity stripe. Free throw shooting has been key for the Griffons this season.

The Griffons will get back in action this week with two home games. The first will be Central Missouri on Wednesday and Fort Hays State on Saturday. 

President James Scanlon has appointed a team of Beth Wheeler, director of external relations, and Dan Nicoson, vice president for university advancement, to conduct the investigation. Wheeler declined comment and Nicoson was unable to be reached by press time.

The women’s basketball team has already had a rocky off-season. Their head coach, Josh Keister, left the program to be an assistant coach at Texas Christian University.

Ashleigh Curry, a standout on last year’s team, has been ruled ineligiable  until at least January. Senior Jill Johnson believes the team can recover and  be successful.

“We have such a young team that they were not around for all this, so they think this is what it’s like,” Johnson said.

If the investigation finds that improper benefits were given there could be harsh penalties for the program. The team could lose scholarships, be put on probation or be suspended from post-season play.

Missouri Western brought forth the violations themselves. Kent Heier, assistant director of public relations, felt that was an important fact.

No timetable has been set as to when the investigation will be complete. President Scanlon wants a thorough investigation.

“My overriding desire in this matter is to obtain a complete and unbiased reveiw of the facts so that the full truth is discovered,” Scanlon said in a press release. “Only in this way can the university maintain its integrity.”

Once the report is issued the NCAA will decide what the punishments will be for Missouri Western. No matter what the investigation turns up this has shined a negative light on the Missouri Western women’s basketball team.

Keister has accepted an offer to work with former Missouri Western coach Jeff Mittie as an assistant at Texas Christian University. TCU is a division I-A program that is on the rise.

This came as surprise to many of the women whom Keister coached last season. Rumors had been circulating that Keister might leave but many were just rumors. Ashleigh Curry who will be a senior next year, couldn’t believe the news.

“I was shocked,” Curry said.

All of the players on the basketball team were taken back by the news of Keister leaving. All of them reacted differently but will miss presence on the sideline.

Jill Johnson who is going to be a senior next year was overwhelmed by the news.

“I began crying instantly,” Johnson said. “I heard rumors, but you don’t actually believe it until it happeneds.”

Keister had been part of the Missouri Western women’s basketball program for the last ten years. He has spent the last three as the head coach of the team. In his three years as head coach, he piled up a career record of 69-23.

Keister had his most successful year as head coach of the Griffons this season. His team won 30 games for just the second time in school history. They also qualified for the NCAA national tournament for the 11th time in school history. Even with the loss of Keister athletic director Mark Linder believes women’s basketball is still in good shape.

“This program is a strong program, we have a good fan base that shows a lot of support for women’s basketball,” Linder said.

A national search for Keister’s replacement is already underway. Linder believes Missouri Western will land a good character coach that can keep the team moving in the right direction.

Linder and his staff will look for a coach that will be able to lead Missouri Western back to the NCAA national tournament and build on an already solid core of players.

The state of the women’s basketball program is still in good shape. Even with the loss of their head coach. Curry believes this team will still be successful.

“We still have a good team,” Curry said. “We can still compete for a national title.”

No matter who Missouri Western picks they will have big shoes to fill. Keister was very successful in the three years he spent as head coach. Even without Keister leading the way, Missouri Western will look to build on it’s success of the past season and look to be even more successful in the future.

The Griffons fell to Texas A&M Commerce in the second round of the tournament by one point in the last second of the game 73-72.

The Griffons took the lead with less five seconds left on the clock and were ready to celebrate an exciting victory until Commerce raced down the court and passed the ball to open player under the basket.

The ball fell in the basket, then the crowd went quiet. They all watched as Commerce jumped all over the court after pulling off an upset of the No. 1 seed on their home floor.

Commerce went on to play Washburn and beat them by one point as well. The Commerce team beat Washburn, Missouri Western and Emporia State in their region of the tournament.

No. 1 seed Missouri Western simply out-played the No. 8 seed Montana State –Billings (22-10) Friday night en route to their first NCAA tournament win since a 2001 first-round victory.

The host Griffons (30-3) cruised to an 80-59 win over a Montana State – Billings team that they had already defeated 75-56 on Dec. 2. The win moves Western to a perfect 16-0 at the MWSU Fieldhouse this season.

“I just liked the way our kids played hard and competed,” Western coach Josh Keister said. “I thought we were sharp tonight. We passed the ball well. At halftime we had 14 assists to five turnovers.”

The score was 3-3 in the early minutes, but unfortunately for Montana State (22-10), that’s about as close as they would get all night long. Missouri Western dominated the paint in the first half with 30 of their 47 first-half points coming from inside, including 12 from senior Inga Buzoka.

“My teammates find me real well,” Buzoka said. “I post up and they just throw me the ball.”

The Griffons were also strong in transition, outscoring the Yellowjackets 17-0 in points off of turnovers in the first-half alone, with many of those points coming off assists from Tiffany Davis, who had 11 on the night to go with her 10 points and seven steals.

“When I get the ball in my hands, if I have my teammates in front of me we do a better job of scoring offensively in transition,” Davis said. “We just like to run, and that’s the way we play.”

At the end of the first-half Western enjoyed a comfortable 47-31 lead.

When all was said and done, the lady Griffons were led in scoring by Ashleigh Curry with 22 points, five more than her season average. Buzoka finished with 16 points on 8-10 shooting and five rebounds, receiving some well-deserved rest in the second half.

Missouri Western shot an outstanding 61.8 percent from the field in the first-half, and finished the game with 50 percent. While there was no doubt the offense was clicking, Keister mentioned that in the NCAA tournament, it will be the Griffons’ ability to guard that will allow them to keep winning.

As for Montana State – Billings, there two best players were still able to put up fairly good numbers against the Western defense. Forward Michelle Lieber did her best to keep the Yellowjackets in the game with 26 points and 14 rebounds, her 13th double-double of the season. But, the Heartland Conference Player of the Year was held to 10-21 shooting, under her nation-leading average of 70.3 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Alira Carpenter scored 15 points in the first-half but managed only two points after the break.

“Carpenter was great the first half, but Yanique took it a little personal and guarded her tough the second half,” Keister said.

With their first NCAA tournament win since 2001 in hand, the Missouri Western Griffons can begin to look ahead to a second-round South Central Regional game against a tough and physical Texas A&M Commerce team, which upset MIAA powerhouse Emporia State 81-77 prior to the Missouri Western game.

“We actually recruited a couple of their kids and know how good they are,” Keister said. “Obviously when you beat Emporia State you’re doing something right.”

Press Conference with Coach Keister & the Players

The Missouri Western women blew Pittsburg State out in the opening round game of the MIAA tournament.

They won the game 86-66. Ashleigh Curry led the way with game high 22 points. The Griffons had two other players in double figures. Those players were Yanique Javois who had 15 points and Inga Buzoka who also added 14 points.

The win put the pushed the Griffons record for the year to 28-2 overall. While Pittsburg State ended their season with a 11-16 record.

Tiffany Davis set the Missouri Western school record and the MIAA tournament record with 15 assists in the game. She broke the record that was held by former Missouri Western Griffon Julie Sherwood.

The Griffons shot incredible from the three point line in the game. They hit nine three-point field goals in the game. Western throughly dominated throughout the whole game. In the second half they got their lead up to 30 points and had the starters on the bench with seven minutes left in the game.

The Missouri Western Griffons are looking to gain momentum heading into regional. The momentum they can gain from this tournament they can use to help them out in the upcoming regional tournament.

—

Missouri Western: 68 | Northwest Missouri: 58
By Brad Kester

The Griffons played the Northwest Bearcats in the second round of the MIAA tournament. Missouri Western needed to beat the arch rivals from the north to reach the championship game.

They didn’t play great basketball and missed many easy shots but were able to advance, winning 68-58. The Griffons only shot 34 percent for the game but Northwest shot worse.

Missouri Western held the Bearcats to 29 percent shooting. Northwest tied the game up at 12 in the middle of the first half and that would be the best attempt Northwest would make the rest of the game to overtake the Griffons. The Griffons then went on a 9-2 run that included three 3-pointers by guards Chemia Woods, Yanique Javois and Ashleigh Curry.

The Griffons biggest lead was 18 points in the middle of the second half. All they had to do from that point on was make sure that Northwest didn’t go on a big run in a short amount of time. The Griffons advanced to face the Washburn Lady Blues in the championship game. They swept the Lady Blues in their two regular season match ups.

If the Griffons win against Washburn they are guaranteed to get the regional tournament for the first round of the NCAA tournament.

—

Missouri Western: 70 | Washburn:71
By Brad Kester

The Griffons did their best to come back from a 21 point first quarter deficit in an exciting game. They lost by one point 71-70 but proved that they are a tough team and don’t give up when things get hard.

The Griffons came out flat to start the game. They had a 4-0 lead early, and then Washburn went on a 9-0 run.

This started the downfall of the Griffons in the first half. Washburn was scoring at will and nothing the Griffons did worked. The Washburn lead kept getting bigger. Missouri Western went without a basket for about 10 minutes in the middle of the first while Washburn kept piling on points.

The lead would reach 21 at its highest in the first half and Western went into halftime down by 18 points. They looked dead in the water and about to give up but the second half was a different story.

In the second half, the Griffons showed that they wouldn’t give up in tough situations. They could have done so easily when the game got out of control, but Western fought their way back into the game.

They hadn’t been in that situation all year but proved thaey would never give up. The Griffons took lead late in the game. They did everything they could to win a game that they were as good as dead in the first half.

After their one point loss against Washburn in the championship game of the MIAA tournament, the Griffons came home to find out they were the No. 1 seed in the South Central region.

Because they got the No. 1 seed, the Griffons get to play at home for the NCAA tournament. This means teams that play Western will have to deal with the crowd along with playing the top seeded team in the region.

“The team worked hard for an opportunity to play at home,” said Josh Keister coach of the Griffon lady’s basketball team. “Its one and done now so we’ll have to be on top of our game.”

Keister is planning on giving the team a few days off to rest before they step back on the court again.

“Three games in three nights is tough,” Keister said. “The last game against Washburn would make anyone tired. They played hard and I’m proud of them.”

The first game Missouri Western will play is on Friday night against University of Montana-Billings.

Missouri Western put on a “Watch Show” for the basketball team to see if their great season was enough to get the No. 1 seed. The Griffons lost their last game of the season against Missouri Southern to stir conversation about whether they would fall to No. 2 in the regional rankings. If the Griffons would have fallen to No. 2 in the regional poll the team would have had to travel to West Texas A&M.

West Texas lost their conference championship game so the Griffons held on to the No. 1 seed. Students, faculty and press all came to see if Missouri Western would get the No. 1 seed and host the tournament.

The school served food and had drinks ready for everyone that came to watch. Missouri Western held the “Watch Show” in Kemper Recital Hall with plaenty of room for everyone. The selection show for the tournament was on CSTV.com.

The things the publicity could bring to Missouri Western are numerous. We would get money for it, of course. I’m not sure where that money would go, but a little extra never hurt anybody.

Western’s athletic programs are highly talented. However, in an area where some football
team up north (whose name I can’t recall) overshadows everything, this would be a major confidence boost. Perhaps with the tournament coming here and our women playing so well, we could step out of the shadow.

The women have had a great season and have developed a huge fan base. That fan base
can only get bigger by having national notoriety. The tournament would definitely help
us the rest of this season and hopefully carry over to the next.

The Western women will have much of that fan base returning next year. The money that is received will help the cause as well. The only way to go is up from here. The momentum we have had this season should carry over to next year. We need to say thank you to our basketball team for bringing such a positive outcome on and off the court. And who knows, maybe we will be on ESPN soon.

Overall, the women have had a great season and look to continue as the tournament comes around. However, they would probably win if they got on ESPN.

No one remembers who loses the national championship. Oh yeah, that’s why I can’t remember that football team’s name.

Good luck in the upcoming games ladies!

The Missouri Western women’s basketball team won their fifth regular season MIAA title with a win over rival Northwest.

The Western women beat Northwest 77-58. They used a balanced attack to beat the Bearcats. They were lead in scoring by Jill Johnson; she had 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

A regular season conference championship was a goal for the team coming into the season.

Head coach Josh Keister felt the conference championship was huge for the team.

“First goal every year is to win a conference championship,” Keister said.

The Griffons had three players in double figures. Besides Johnson, Tera Petersen and Ashleigh Curry were in double figures. Curry had 17 points while Petersen added 14. Petersen also became the 12th player in Griffon school history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.

By clinching the regular season MIAA title, the Griffons will get the No. 1 seed in the MIAA championships, which will take place March 1-4 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. The Griffons also pushed their record to 27-1 overall and 16-1 in conference.

The Griffons shot well from three in the first half connecting on 57 percent of their three point shots in the first half. They used the momentum of the 3-pointers to cruise to a 45-36 halftime lead. The Griffons showed poise all year to win a tough conference.

The women’s MIAA has three teams, including Missouri Western, ranked in the top 15.

Missouri Western is ranked No. 2, while Washburn is No. 6 and Emporia State is No. 11. Keister felt the Griffons showed strength by winning such a tough conference.

“To win this many games in a tough conference is a huge accomplishment for the team and the program,” Keister said.

If the Griffons can take care of business and win the conference tournament, they have a chance of hosting the regional.

“With the great fans we have, it would be a huge advantage to play the regional at home,” Keister said.

The Griffons will look to finish strong this season. With one goal already wrapped up, they will look to attain the rest of them.

“We have to play it one game at a time and not look ahead,” Keister said.

The Griffons ended their regular season Saturday at Missouri Southern in Joplin, Missouri.

After winning the MIAA regular season crown in the previous game, celebrating their great season, cutting down the nets and all the other things that go along with the high of winning a championship, the Griffons were taken back down to Earth by the Missouri Southern Lions.

The Griffon women’s basketball team may have lost their chance to host a region in the NCAA tournament. They lost their last regular season game of the season on the road at
Missouri Southern 75-69.

The Griffons are rated No. 1 in their regional poll right now but things may change after the meltdown against Missouri Southern.

The loss may make it possible for West Texas A&M to leap frog the Griffons in the regional rankings. This would make the team travel south to Texas just like the football team did
during the fall after losing their last game of the season.

The Missouri Southern Lions played harder than the Griffons did on Saturday. Missouri Southern made 30 of 34 free throws and shot 41.1 percent from the field for the game.

The Lions played more like the MIAA champions than the Griffons did, though the Lions finished fifth in the conference.

Western only led twice and at the lowest point of the game for the Griffons, they were down by 18.

This could be the low point of the season for Western. This is the time the team needs to be playing well going into the MIAA and NCAA tournaments. They need to shake off this loss or they make an early exit out of both.

The Griffons were ahead by 16 points 5 minutes into the second half of the game. Then, everything started to go wrong.

All at once, the Griffons stopped making shots and playing defense. In the second half alone, Central Missouri shot 66.6 percent from the field. They couldn’t miss.

Nothing the Griffons did, worked against the game long assault on the basket Central put on Missouri Western.

Central shot almost 60 percent for the game even when they were down by 16, they kept making shots against the bad defensive effort the Griffons borough to the court on Saturday.

The 2-3 defense that Central Missouri went into late in the game slowed the Griffons to a stand still on offense.

The Griffons became instantly flustered when Central decided to play it. Tiffany Davis, the almost always effective point guard for the Griffons, was all of the sudden timid. She didn’t know what to do when the Central defenders left her alone at the top of the key.

Because Central Missouri was puzzling Western’s point guard, it allowed them to double the inside players Inga Buzoka and Jill Johnson and get in the face of shooters Ashleigh Curry, Tera Petersen and Yanique Javois.

In overtime the Griffons pulled it together and snuck away with a win that could have easily been a loss. They couldn’t put away they’re opponent when they had a chance early in the second half.

This game was different from the last two games the Griffons played because Central fought back. The Griffons didn’t match the intensity of the other team on Saturday, but there is always going to be another game.

If the Griffons win out in the regular season and have a good showing in the MIAA tournament, they will host the regional playoff for the NCAA tournament. They are the
No.1 seed in their region and as long as they don’t have a catastrophic breakdown they will get it. The next home game is against Northwest on Wednesday.

“I’m really happy with the way we played tonight,” said Josh Keister head coach of the Griffons.

The Griffons never trailed and the score was never tied other than at zero on the opening tipoff.

They beat up Fort Hays inside and when the Tigers doubled forward Jill Johnson and center Inga Buzoka, the perimeter players for the Griffons hit shots or cut to the basket for easy lay-ups.

On the defensive end, the Griffons held Fort Hays to 21.9 percent shooting in the first half and 9.1 percent from 3-point range.

“I thought our defense was great in the first half,” said Keister. “We made it tough for Fort Hays to get good looks on the offensive end.”

The halftime score was 36-19 Griffons. In the half they displayed a dominance they hadn’t showed all this year. Even when t the Griffons won, they didn’t go out blow some one away.

They let the other teams hang around but would pull it out in the end.

Saturday they showed a killer instinct, for the first time this season. When the Griffons got ahead, they stepped on the throat of the opponent and put Fort Hays away early. They established right from the start of the game who was the better team and didn’t let Fort Hays think any differently.

Jill Johnson led the Griffons in the first half scoring 16 points and grabbing five rebounds in 18 minutes of work.

“Jill is having a great year and had another one again for us tonight,” said Keister. “She just works harder than everyone.”

The second half was more of the same as the Griffons kept their lead steady at around 20 points the rest of the game.

The closest Fort Hays got in the second half was 15 points but when they did, Western answered with a 5-0 run to put the lead back to 20.

“That’s back-to-back games that we have played well,” said Keister. “Now we just have to keep it going for us.”

Western came out strong with a 15-8 run within the first six minutes of the game. Ashleigh Curry was on fire for Western leading with 12 of her 20 team high points in the first half, and a shooting percentage of 78 percent.

This was Curry’s first start of the year due to the injury of Tera Petersen on Feb. 5 in Western’s game against Morningside.

“Tera Petersen was out with an ankle injury, and Ashleigh really stepped it up coming off the bench,” Coach Josh Keister said. “We moved the ball well offensively and got some great shots.”

Western’s man-to-man defense shut down most of Pitt State’s players, but one player snuck through. Janelle Klein scored 12 of the first 14 points for Pitt State in the first half, shooting 9-13 from the field.

Pitt State shot 41.7 percent from the field against Western’s 53.4 percent. Western’s shooting percentage and teamwork is what really helped keep their lead to 10 most of the second half. The women really hit each other with some great passes as guard Tiffany Davis lead with seven assists.

Johnson thought Western’s teamwork was great tonight and a real confidence booster after their first season loss to Emporia State on Feb. 3.

“Our loss from Emporia had us down, but we knew we needed to just come out and play hard,” Johnson said. “We got everybody involved. I think four out of five people were in double digits.”

Yanique Javois also felt that after Emporia there was a weight that was lifted.

“Emporia killed everyone’s confidence. I think everyone’s back, and we’re playing unselfish,” Javois said.

Western continued to keep their solid lead. Their offense was running smoothly as four out of their five starters scored in doubled digits. They also controlled the boards, both offensive and defensive, with 37 total rebounds against Pitt State’s 30. Inga Buzoka led Western’s team with 10 rebounds.

Then the 4:00 marker hit. Six three-pointers in a row from Pitt State led to an upset Western coach and timeout. Keister felt he needed to remind his women to communicate.

“We had a little confusion on our team, coming out of a few timeouts whether we were in man or zone; that was a communication issue,” Keister said.

With less than a minute to go, Pitt State started to come back in the game with a 9-0 run. Then Pitt State’s fouling began. Western’s Johnson stepped it up for a 1-1 and sank both free throws.

Then Pitt State took possession with 14 seconds left to play, only to have it stolen away by Tiffany Davis for a fast break to finish the game with a lay-up.

Keister felt that the girls played a solid game, and he was happy to add on another win.

“It felt good to get back on the win column, and play well tonight,” Keister said. “Hopefully we can keep it going now.”

Pitt State walked out of the game with a 4-9 MIAA record, and a 9-12 overall. This was their second loss to Western this season.

Western women are to take on Fort Hays State on Feb. 10. Tip-off from MWSU Fieldhouse is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

The Griffons held the lead 6-7 at the 16:37 mark in the first half of the game, and then all of the good fortune the women have had this season flipped on them. Emporia State played great basketball for the rest of the game and dismantled the Griffons in blowout fashion 63-83.

”This will give us an attitude adjustment,” forward Jill Johnson said. “It’ll give us a reason to get back to work. We aren’t unbeatable.”

The Griffons struggled to put the ball in the basket all game long, turned the ball over and hurried shots. When the Griffons got down, things got worse. The ladies pressed harder to core, but the harder they tried to force a comeback, the further they fell behind.

“We were sluggish tonight,” Johnson said. “We’ll need to settle down.”

The Griffons were held to 19-of-58 from the field — that’s 32 percent for the game — were out rebounded 34-to-45 and seemed to miss any key free throw that could have gotten them back into the game.

“I was a little disappointed that we didn’t keep our composure,” head coach Josh Kiester said. “They just played harder than we did.”

Center Inga Buzoka and forward Tera Petersen both had sensational games for the Griffons in an otherwise lackluster performance by Griffons.

Like Johnson said, one bad game in 22 isn’t bad at all, and the Griffons will have the chance to get back on the right track against Morningside on Monday.

Buzoka had 16 points and seven rebounds but only made 3-of-8 from the free throw line. Petersen also had 16 points on the game. She was 5-10 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from 3-point land.

Without these two women on the team Saturday night, the game could have been worse than a 20-point loss.

The bench for Emporia made a huge difference as well, scoring 32 points to Missouri Western’s seven. Guard Ashleigh Curry, the leader off the bench for the Griffons, was 0-of-9 and was out of rhythm the whole night.

Many fans from Missouri Western made the trip to Emporia to cheer on the Griffons and were really loud. For most of the game, the Missouri Western fans were louder than the Emporia State fans.

“We had tremendous support tonight,” Kiester said. “They’ve been behind us all season.”

The capacity crowd was so silent you could hear a pin drop as center, Inga Buzoka stepped up to the line for the two biggest free throws of the season.

The Griffons were only up by one point 57-56 with less than a minute left. These two free throws, if she made them would make it a three-point game. The Washburn Lady Blues would only have one chance to hit an improbable three-point shot and send the game into overtime.

Buzoka went through her free throw routine as she got ready to shoot one-of-two. She took a couple of dribbles, lined up the shot then let it go. The crowd bursted into boisterous joy when the ball went into the small hoop 10 feet high and 13.2 feet away from Buzoka.

Missouri Western was now up by two, which meant that any two-point shot that Washburn hit wouldn’t beat the Griffons. A three would though as Inga stepped back to the line. As she walked up to receive the ball from the referee the crowd quieted once again in anxious anticipation.

“I’ve never heard that place so quiet during those free throws,” Jill Johnson, a forward for the Griffons said.

Once again Buzoka went through her routine at the free throw line. As the ball went up the crowd starts to stand…

It goes in! The crowd goes wild! But there is one more possession for the Lady Blues. They run down the court, fire up a crazy shot, there is a scramble for the ball, a foul is called as a shot goes up… It rims out and there is no three point play.

The crowd takes a sigh of relief. If that shot goes in, the game is totally different and the game could have been tied with one free throw. She makes only the second free throw. All the Griffons have to do now is throw the ball in and they win. They meet no resistance, get the ball in bounds and win the biggest game of their season so far.

The crowd went wild as the girls pushed their record to 20-0 and 10-0 in the MIAA. They are ranked no. 2 in the nation. They have beaten Washburn twice this season, once when the Lady Blues were no. 1 in the nation and, coming into this game Washburn was no. 3.

“Washburn is a powerhouse in the MIAA,” Jill Johnson, a forward for the Griffons said. “Its nice to prove we belong in that category.”

If the Griffons get two more wins they will have the record for most consecutive wins in Missouri Western history with 22. The game will be at Emporia State but that is the game Max Experience bus is going to take fans to that game. if anyone would like to go cheer on the no. 2 team in the nation as the try to break a Missouri Western record reserve your seat this week.

The Emporia State v. Missouri Western girls game will be Saturday, Feb. 3rd.

Curry transferred to Western last year and sat out a semester due to transfer reasons, but she has come in this year and made a positive impact on team chemistry.

When Curry played for Grayson Junior College in Texas her freshman year, she was voted freshman of the year in her conference and had a great season. Curry then had to sit out a semester when she transferred to Western due to athletic rules.

“It was hard to sit and watch,” Curry said. “But still I wanted to support my team.”

Even though it was hard, Curry benefited greatly from sitting out and watching the team play.

“I was not used to sitting on the bench and there was so much for me to contribute, but I learned the team chemistry and the way they play,” Curry said.

The time out has caused Curry to have a great start to the 2007 season. Good bench players are a very important part of any basketball team.

“One of our team’s strengths is our bench play,” said head coach Josh Keister. “Along with Ashleigh, there are several other players who make a difference in the team.”

In the ten games Curry has played this season, she has averaged 16.2 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. When the Western women played BYU-Hawaii, Curry came off the bench and scored forty points. It was the best scoring game for a single Western player this season and one of the best in recent Griffon history.

“One great thing about Ashleigh is she just wants to play whether she starts or comes off the bench,” Keister said.

It seems obvious that the time she spent on the bench last year has really helped her in the long run. Keister believes Curry is a great addition to a talented team.

“She is very athletic and can score in many different ways,” said Keister. “She also has a personality that fits our team very well.”

Keister believes Curry could be one of the final pieces that get Western over the hump to win a national title. As the season continues, Curry is excited to play and help the team as much as she possible. The hopes are high for the women this year and Curry’s expectations are clear.

“Hopefully we can win a ring and be part of something that has never happened at Western,” said Curry.

The women’s basketball team held onto their undefeated status when they faced Truman on Saturday, Jan. 6.

Western beat Truman 81-73 and keep their 14-0 record.

They are also nationally ranked no. 8 in NCAA Division II Coach’s Poll.

Truman fell in ranking 6-6 and 0-4 in league play.

The game against the Bulldogs was no nail-biter. The Griffons started out with a 14- point lead and by halftime they were trailing the Bulldogs. Western fought back in the second half with a 13-2 run against the Bulldogs sealing the deal.

Ashleigh Curry led the Griffons with a team-high of 19 points. Curry went 8-of-19 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Inga Buzoka added 19 points and seven rebounds.

Junior forward Jill Johnson led he Griffons on the boards with 13 points.

Truman was led in scoring by Georgia Mueller with a game-high 29 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Griffons will face the University of Central Missouri Wednesday evening in the Multipurpose Building on the campus of UCM. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.

———–

Western men taken by Truman

Western men’s basketball team was no match for the Truman Bulldog’s team. They were overtaken in Saturday night’s game with the end score bing 74-60 in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The loss dropped Western in ranking to 8-5 overall and 3-1 in the MIAA.

The first half of the game, the Western and Truman men toggled back and forth with neither team gaining more than 5 points on the other. But in the second half Truman gained a lead that Western couldn’t break.

Western had four players with double figure scoring, junior guard Joe Manthe led the team with 14 points. Junior center Jay McFarland and senior guard Rickey Quarels each had 10 points. Western will travel to the University of Central Missouri on Jan. 10 to take on the Mules.

These were the words of Head Coach Josh Keister after Tuesday nights match up. The Missouri Western Women’s Basketball team took a trip to Norman, Ok., to play the D-1 Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners are ranked No.3 in the nation. The exhibition game ended in blowout fashion 93-55, but the experience is what mattered.

“Anytime you get the chance to play a D-1 school you take the opportunity,” Keister said.

The Griffons took advantage of the opportunity. Even though the score looks bad, the Griffons played pretty well. Keister said that it was a great environment to play in. The crowd was great, and the gym was three quarters full. The Griffons played in front of 7,481 fans.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Keister said.

Two of the Griffons stood out in the game. Senior Center Inga Buzoka scored 17 points and had seven rebounds.

Senior Forward Tera Petersen scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds also.

The Griffons used this exhibition game to get the rhythm of their team.

“We got a gage of where the team is at,” Keister said.

Keister said that he has two goals in these exhibition games: One is to win, and the second is to find out what needs to be worked on. He said he knows now what the team needs.

The Griffons feel confident about their team this year. They had some success against Oklahoma.

“If you do things against them, then you can do it against anybody,” Keister said.

This is by far going to be their toughest match of the year. The Griffons won’t see this size and level of play in their future games.

The Griffons next opponent will be Lincoln University at the Quincy University Tournament in Neb., on Nov. 17.

Tiffany Davis, Inga Buzoka, Jill Johnson and Tera Petersen will all be returning for the Griffons this season.

Coach Josh Keister said that the Griffons will not change much from last season.

“We will be more athletic,” Keister said. “We will be more experienced.”

Keister said that he looks for more than just Buzoka, who scored 14.2 points per game, and Davis, who played 32 minutes per game, to step up. He said he looks for Petersen, three year starter, to play well and for Johnson, who scored 13.2 points per game, to have another good year.

Johnson said that throughout this season each individual will have to find their role. They have an idea, but the team will have to find the leader, the scorer, and the defensive play-maker.

Along with these returning players, will be some new faces. Ashleigh Curry and Yanique Javois will play major roles for the Griffons. Keister is depending on them to contribute.

“They will be two of our better scorers,” Keister said.

Johnson said that the new comers adjusted very well to coach Keister and the team.

Everybody should get their fare share of shots with Davis distributing the ball.

The point guard showed her assisting talent last season. She had 6.8 assists per game last season. This is a trend that Keister likes. In fact, he thinks this is one of the team’s best strengths.

Keister said that the best quality that his team had was their unselfish play.

“We play together,” Keister said.

The team has a strong group returning. “The nucleus coming back is strong. We know our strengths and our weaknesses, and we mesh together,” Johnson said.

The Griffons will look to build on last season where they went 19-10. They were 11-2 at home.

“We need to be more consistent than last year,” Keister said. “We played up and down, and it cost us in the end.”

The Griffons have big goals in their sites for this season.

“We look to compete for the MIAA Championship and to make it to the NCAA Tournament,” Keister said. “But the MIAA Championship is our initial goal. It’s what we talk about the most.”

The Griffon’s first exhibition game will be Nov. 7. The regular season starts on Nov. 17 against Lincoln. The Griffons home opener will be Nov. 21 against Northeastern State.

Josh Keister, the head basketball coach for the Griffon women, know that he can count on these two every night to do what is needed to get a win.

“Jill and Tiffany bring consistency to the team,” Keister said. “They are the two players I can count on night in and night out to play well.”

Both players had an outstanding season last year. Both Davis and Johnson were among the MIAA leaders in scoring.

Davis led the MIAA in assists with 6.8 a game, was second in steals with 2.7 per game and was third in assist to turnover ratio. Johnson was among the leaders in free throw percentage (she shot 74 percent for the season); defensive rebounding which she averaged 4.8 a game; and overall rebounding in which she grabbed 6.6 a game.

“I expect both of us to come out and ready to play every day and work hard to be able to achieve our goals for the season.” Johnson said.

Coach Keister knows these two women are going to be important to the success of this season.

“They are the leaders of the team and bring experience to the court,” Keister said. “Teammates look up to them.”

Not only are they leaders on the team, but they also help each other out.

“We have a relationship where we can tell each other to calm down or it’s time to step it up in certain situations,” Johnson said.

These two are ready to step it up after just missing the playoffs last year, to make a run in the NCAA tournament at the end of the season.

“To get our goals we need to stay positive, play together and work hard.” Johnson said.

Keister is looking forward to what Johnson and Davis have to offer during the season.

“I expect both of them to have great years.” Keister said. “They are our most consistent players.”

Johnson and Davis will have to get the younger players involved as well for the team to be successful. The younger players can learn a lot by how these two work.

“Tiffany and Jill lead by example.” Keister said. “They are hard workers and it is contagious to the other players on the team.”

This fits their personalities so they are ready to take this role head on and lead the team to a conference championship and the MIAA tournament.