Just like a good parking spot on campus, a close Lady Blues game is hard to come by. But this last week’s wins were about as difficult as parallel parking, as the Lady Blues escaped both games extending their win streak to 41, with victories over Missouri Western 84-71 Wednesday and Missouri Southern 66-64 Saturday.

“We have kids that have all been in big games already in their career. Everybody asks about pressure. I don’t think there is any pressure. We’re a veteran team that knows what it takes to win, especially at home, and can dig themselves out of a hole and out of tough situations,” said Ron McHenry, head coach.

The Lady Blues had to deal with a situation last Wednesday they have not dealt with all season – a 41-41 tie at halftime. The Lady Blues have led at halftime in all their games so far this year, except one against Emporia State, where they trailed at halftime 29-37. On Wednesday though, the Lady Blues opposition wore black and gold, and it was not the Lady Hornets that looked to knock off the No. 1 Lady Blues, but the Lady Griffons of Missouri Western.

“The first half they shot 58 percent from the floor. We couldn’t stop them on the inside. We got down five in that first half. I like how we fought our way back before halftime to give us a chance in the second half,” said McHenry.

A chance is all the Lady Blues need, especially when they have their star player, senior guard Jennifer Harris scoring 22.3 points a game.

“The second half we got them to miss a little bit more. We got more transition and Jennifer kind of took over the situation, which she’s done quite a bit of all year,” said McHenry.

Harris who already had 16 points before the first half ended, racked up another 19 points in the second half, to total 35 for the game leading the Lady Blues in the 84-71 victory.

“We’re really smart on offense, get the ball to Jennifer. I know it’s kind of silly game and you want to be more rounded. But when you got a kid like her and she’s playing like she is, it doesn’t do us any good to give someone else the shots. This team rallies on really Jennifer’s scoring and passing the ball, she’s in a lot of our sets. So we’re going to use her a lot. But she won’t be around next year, so I’d like to use her while she’s here,” said McHenry.

Harris was also the leading scorer in Saturday’s 66-64 overtime win over Missouri Southern with 28 points that pushed her over the 1,000 career points mark. But junior forward Brooke Ubelaker is always close behind Harris on the score board. Ubelaker had 18 points on Wednesday and 13 points on Saturday.

“I don’t think we were nervous. But we were just a little bit frustrated. We knew what we wanted to do and we couldn’t execute like we wanted to. I think once we calmed down and relaxed, things started to flow better, especially on offense,” said Ubelaker.

The Lady Blues will look to make it 42 in a row on Wednesday when they travel to Pittsburg State to take on the Lady Gorillas. The Lady Blues played the Lady Gorillas earlier this season on Jan. 18 winning 74-54.

“I think we just need to come to practice every day. Practice hard, what we’ve done all year long. Why change now? We’ve had as much success as anyone could hope for. The team is full of competitors and nobody wants to lose. Everyone comes out hard every night and give it their best, and that’s what keeps us going,” said Ubelaker.