Lady Blues improve home winning streak versus Northwest Missouri to 25 games

The Lady Blues have been perfect in every way this season, starting 7-0, including a 2-0 MIAA record. The team has won 25 consectutive home games versus Northwest Missouri. The team plays at Truman State Saturday before wrapping up the non-conference schedule against Barry and Nova Southeastern in the Cruzin Classic.

Eric Smith

The Washburn Lady Blues basketball team picked up two more wins last week with the help of some stellar defense. However, it’s the other side of the ball that coach Ron McHenry is still worried about.

“I think sometimes when you play defense as hard as we’re trying to, it may take away a little bit of your offense,” said McHenry. “I thought there were times when we got some steals and rebounds and we were kind of almost too tired to run down the floor offensively because we had a good set defensively.”

The Lady Blues began the week Wednesday in Lee Arena with a 61-52 win against Nebraska-Omaha in the MIAA opener.

Senior forward Stanecia Graham led Washburn with 20 points on eight of 12 shooting from the field, while senior Kalee Silovsky had a career-high 10 points. UNO’s Alyssa Green had a team-high 18 points.

The second win of the week for the Lady Blues came Saturday night at home, beating Northwest Missouri 67-48. The game was close early on, but after senior Jessica Mainz broke a 14-14 tie with a jumper inside, the Lady Blues never looked back. That basket was part of a 14-2 run that put the Lady Blues in control for good, leading by at least five points for the remainder of the game.

The Washburn victory was the 25th in a row at home against the Bearcats and made the all-time series versus the two teams 39-9 in favor of the Lady Blues. It also moved Washburn to 2-0 in the MIAA.

“If we can hold teams under 50, we’re probably going to have a pretty good chance to win,” said McHenry.

Although 50 points is a nice number to shoot for, the Lady Blues do a good job holding opponents under 60, as well moving to 154-14 when doing just that.

While the defensive numbers are nice, McHenry continued to emphasize the need for a better all-around game.

“Defensively, I like where we’re at,” said McHenry. “I’ll take a defensive team over an offensive team any night. Offensively, I like the direction we’re heading. We just got to get some kids into rhythm.”

But it’s still early and the Lady Blues have time to make their whole game something they’re proud to show off.

“I like what we got,” said McHenry. “I like our inside game. I think we have enough shooters. I think we have enough drivers. I think we have enough. We just got to get it all put together. It’s hard to complain when you’re 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country.”

The Lady Blues will look to continue that undefeated record at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in Kirksville, Mo. against Truman State. Next week, Washburn will head to Florida to take part in the Cruzin Classic on Dec. 18 and 19 versus Barry University and Nova Southeastern University.