Game #13
Washburn Ichabods (5-6, 5-6 MIAA) at Newman Jets (3-9, 3-9 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 28 • 5:30 P.M. Wichita, Kan. • Fugate Gymnasium
Series Record: WU leads series 8-4 Last Meeting: Dec. 5, 2020 NU 56 WU 52 in Topeka, Kan.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: vs Emporia State • Sat. Jan 30 • 1:30 P.M. • Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME OUT
Rogers State (4-8, 4-8) would score the first 11 points of the contest as they would hold Newman scoreless until the 1:33 mark in the opening period. The Hillcats would carry a 14-5 lead into the second quarter of play. RSU would start the quarter similarly to the first, this time scoring 17 points while holding the Jets scoreless to jump out to a 31-5 lead with a little over three minutes left to play before the intermission. Newman would outscore Rogers State 6-5 in the final three minutes to go into the half trailing 36-11.  The Jets would outscore the Hillcats 15-13 in the third quarter behind 8 points from Jr. forward Faith Mason-Vestal. Newman would trail Rogers State 49-26 heading into the final quarter of play. The fourth quarter would be pretty even as the Hillcats would score 13 points to the Jets' 11 points in the quarter. Rogers State would lead from tip-off to the final whistle on their way to a 62-37 win over Newman.

THE COACHES
Darin Spence begins his ninth season as the Jets head coach, leading the Jets to a 3-9, 3-9 in the MIAA record so far in the 2020-21 season. Spence has compiled a 593 wins as a head women's basketball coach over a 29-year span across NCAA Division I and Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA schools. His eight years with the Jets have seen him amass a record of 120-112 overall and a 59-53 mark in Heartland Conference play. Under Spence's tenure, the Jets reached the Heartland Conference tournament in six of his seven seasons. Before coming to Newman, Spence spent one season at Barton Community College and eight seasons at Division I New Mexico State.
Ron McHenry will begin his 21st season at Washburn in 2020-21 looking to continue to build on his impressive resume and return the Ichabods to the top of the MIAA and region.  McHenry, a national champion in 2004-05, has gone 464-152 (.753) in his first 20 years, all at Washburn since 2000-01. He's 272-106 (.720) in his career in MIAA games and 234-56 (.807) coaching in Lee Arena.  McHenry has won eight MIAA titles and seven MIAA tournament titles at Washburn. He's a four-time MIAA Coach of the Year and a two-time region coach of the year.

ABOUT THE JETS
Newman is 3-9 on the season, 3-9 in the MIAA. Newman is led in scoring by Senior Guard Brooke Haney at 11.5 points per game.  Madison Birnbaum leads the Jets in rebounding at 5.4 rebounds per game.

ABOUT THE ICHABODS
Washburn is 5-6 on the season, 5-6 in the MIAA. The Ichabods are led in scoring by Hunter Bentley at 15.5 points per game. Nuria Barrientos leads the Ichabods in rebounding at 8.5 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 13th all-time meeting between these two schools with the Ichabods leading the series 8-4 but the Jets have won three of the last four between these two schools.

LAST TIME VS WASHBURN
The Ichabods would jump out to an early lead in the first quarter behind hot shooting as they would make five three point baskets. After trailing by ten, 24-14, at the end of the first quarter, Newman would settle into their offense and defense in the second quarter as they would score eleven points while holding Washburn to just four. The Jets would trail by just three points heading into halftime.  To start the third quarter, Washburn was able to build their lead back up to nine points early in the quarter. As the quarter went on, the Jets were able to chip away at the lead getting the score as close as one point before the Ichabods would close the quarter out on an 8-0 run to take a nine point lead into the final quarter of play. The past would repeat itself for the Jets on the backend of this half much like it did in the first half as Newman's offense would catch fire and their defense would shut down the Ichabods. The Jets would score 21 points in the quarter led by Brooke Haney 7 points, and Madison Birnbaum and Braxtyn Stewart who had 5 points apiece in the quarter. Stewart would knock down a jumper with 32 seconds left to give the Jets their first lead before Haney would ice the game with a pair of free throws.

UP NEXT
The Jets will host Emporia State on Saturday, Jan. 30th for another MIAA conference matchup with tip-off at 1:30 PM.

LISTEN, WATCH & FOLLOW LIVE
Video streams for all of Newman's regular season contests are available on a pay per view basis on the MIAA Network. Events are available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing at the conclusion of the event at www.themiaanetwork.com/newman and on the MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. Listen along to all of the Newman Jets games on The Jets Audio Network with Blake Cripps on the call at newmanjets.com/listen. You can find all things Newman in the Newman Jets Athletics app available in both the App Store and on Google Play.