Game 6:  Newman (1-4, 0-0 MIAA) vs. Manhattan Christian (1-4, 0-0 MCCC)
Saturday, November 27, 2021 | 1:00 p.m. | Wichita, Kan. (Fugate Gymnasium)
Audio:  Newman Jets Audio Network | Video:  MIAA Network
 
FINAL TUNE UP
The Newman Jets return to Fugate Gymnasium for their last nonconference match up of the year Saturday.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Jets started the game on a 15-0 run and never trailed picking up their first win of the year in an 80-42 victory over Cottey College Tuesday, November 23.  The Comets answered the early run with a 7-1 run of their own to cut the lead to 16-7 with just over 2 minutes to play in the first, but the Navy & Red scored the last two buckets of the frame to jumpstart a 21-5 run over a nearly 10-minute span.  NU led 40-14 at halftime and never led by less than 34 points in the fourth quarter.  Faith Mason-Vestal led the Jets with 12 points while Laura Bello collected her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Full Recap | Box Score
 
SCOUTING THE SQUADRON
Newman ended last year's pandemic-abbreviated season 4-18 while playing all 22 games within the MIAA.  The Jets return six players from a year ago, including two of their top three scorers from that team.  The Jets will suit up two seniors this season, but both are eligible to return for an additional year due to eligibility granted by the NCAA in response to the 2019-20 Coronavirus pandemic.  The Jets welcome six freshmen to the program and they are joined by one redshirt freshman, Elise Kaiser, a Hesston product who missed last season with a preseason knee injury.  Rounding out the NU roster are five juniors and two sophomores.  Transferring to join the new coaching staff are former Towanda High School Thunderbird Carissa Beck (Butler County), Russell High School product Tiffany Dortland (Barton County), Bishop Carroll Golden Eagle multi-sport star and Wichita native Britney Ho (Northeastern State), and former Goddard Lion Torri Vang (Cowley County).
 
TOP RETURNERS
Faith Mason-Vestal is the Jets' leading returning scorer after tallying 10.2 ppg a season ago.  She is also the top-returning rebounder for NU after grabbing 4.7 rpg last season.  Mason-Vestal was also a steady scorer at the free throw line, logging the second-most makes last year while shooting 80% from the line.  She also turned into a defensive presence inside and led the Jet block party last season with a team-high 20 rejections.  Sydney Nilles returns at point guard to orchestrate the Jet offense after leading the Navy & Red with 64 assists last season as a freshman against just 58 turnovers.  She's also one of Newman's top returning defenders, logging the second-most steals for the Jets last year with 22 takeaways.  Makayla Hayes is the leading returning 3-point shooter off last year's squad after connecting 15 times on 63 attempts (24%) last season, though Nilles has the highest returning percentage after drilling 13 of 35 shots to shoot a team-high 37% from the arc last year.
 
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Manhattan Christian College finished last season with a 5-12 record.  The Lady Thunder had to play much of the year with only five players on the bench.  MCC started the year 1-5 and never got back to .500 on the season.  The five wins were an improvement over a 3-20 season in 2018-19.  MCC is seeking its first winning season since 2017-18 when the Lady Thunder went 20-6 and went a perfect 9-0 in the Midwest Christian College Conference while also claiming the MCCC Conference Tournament title and making an appearance in the National Christian College Athletic Association Southwest Region Tournament.  MCC is seeking to break a streak of back-to-back losing seasons following a 10-10 year in 2018-19.
 
The Lady Thunder haven't played a non-exhibition game since defeating Union College 57-29 on November 15.  MCC was last in action on November 19 in a 134-27 exhibition defeat at Northwestern Oklahoma.  The Rangers led 41-6 at the end of the first quarter and 74-13 at the half.  Jordan Lewis led the Lady Thunder with 9 points.
 
THE SERIES
The Jets calmed the Lady Thunder in their only matchup against Manhattan Christian to lead the series 1-0.
 
PREVIOUS MATCHUP
The Jets outscored the Lady Thunder 27-4 in the first quarter and crushed MCC 92-31 November 15, 2017.  It was NU's 14^th consecutive nonconference victory at the time.  Freshman forward Haley Albers led the Jets with 18 points and also collected 10 rebounds for a double-double.  Monica Hanna also went for a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.  It is the last time two Jets have collected double-figure rebounds in the same game and also the last time two Jets went for a double-double in the same contest.
Full Recap | Box Score
 
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
Newman begins a new era in 2021 as the Jets welcome Drew Johnson and Nicole Ohlde-Johnson to Wichita as the new leaders of Jets Women's Basketball.  The husband and wife team didn't have to travel far to Wichita, moving from just minutes up the road after spending four seasons at Bethel College where Drew was the head coach and Nicole was his associate head coach.  Drew Johnson compiled a 64-53 record in North Newton, while going 51-41 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play.  Under their leadership, the Johnsons helped Bethel to its first ever 20-win season as the Threshers went 20-10 and hosted their first KCAC Tournament game inside Thresher Gym in 8 years.  In their final year at the helm, the Johnson led the Threshers to a 16-10 season while going 16-6 in the KCAC, delivering the program's first ever NAIA National Tournament appearance.
 
The Johnsons bring with them a wealth of basketball experience both on and off the court.  Ohlde-Johnson, a Clay Center, Kan. native, played collegiately at Kansas State University where she was a two-time first-team All-American and departed as the school's all-time leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker.  Ohlde-Johnson was drafted in the first round of the 2004 WNBA draft and played seven years in the league and helped the Phoenix Mercury win the 2009 WNBA title.  After playing in Europe, Ohlde-Johnson founded the Nicole Ohlde Basketball Academy with Drew serving as a player trainer and coach for the club competing on the AAU circuit.
 
Prior to becoming the Bethel head coach, Drew Johnson previously served on the high school girls basketball coaching staff at Valley Center, Derby, and Clay Center High Schools in Kansas.  Johnson is a Wichita native and Friends University graduate.  Johnson was a two-year captain and four-year starter for the Falcons football program and earned All-KCAC honors as a punter.  As part of Ohlde Basketball Academy and Ohlde Elite, the Johnsons coached players that went on to play at all levels of basketball including the Big 12, Big East, Missouri Valley, MIAA, and KCAC.
 
ROLLING WITH THE THUNDER
Mindy Eckert is entering her second season leading the Lady Thunder women's basketball program.  Eckert led MCC to a 5-12 record in her 2020-21 debut.  Eckert also serves as assistant athletic director for MCC.  She previously served as an assistant coach at MacMurray College (NCAA DIII) in Illinois prior to the college's closure at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year.  Eckert is no stranger to the Sunflower State.  An Effingham, Kan. native, Eckert graduated from Atchison County Community High School and went on to play basketball at Bethel College and the University of Saint Mary in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.  After college, she served as assistant girls basketball and softball coach for Immaculate High School in Leavenworth, Kan.  The joined the ranks of collegiate coaching in 2015 when she joined the staff at John Wood Community College.
 
MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH
Newman found themselves on the wrong side of close games last year.  NU played eight games decided by 10 or fewer points a season ago.  After starting the year 2-0 in those contests, the Jets lost their last six.
 
MADE IN THE MIDWEST
The Jets didn't have to acquire any frequent-flyer miles to arrive on campus.  All 16 Jets hail from the Central Time Zone and represent just three different states.  Nine Jets stayed home in Kansas to play for NU, five made the trip north from Texas, and two came west from Missouri.
 
NAIA DOMINANCE
Newman is 36-2 against NAIA-level competition since joining the ranks of the NCAA in the 2007-08 season.  The Jets have won 30 straight against teams from the NAIA or equivalent classifications.  The Jets last suffered defeat against an NAIA squad in a 69-66 decision on the road at Peru State December 11, 2010.  The only other team to knock off the Jets from this level is Kansas Wesleyan from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.  The Coyotes grounded the Jets in overtime during the 2009-10 season.
 
BRINGING THEIR 'A' GAME

• Sydney Nilles tied for 10^th in the MIAA averaging 2.9 apg a year ago.
• Nilles was also 10^th in the league in Assist/Turnover Ratio at 1.1
• Madison Birnbaum tied for seventh last year in steals averaging 1.7 per game.
• Newman was one of five MIAA teams to shoot 100% from the free throw line in a game last year, going 3-for-3 at the line in a 71-54 loss at Missouri Western.
• The Jets struggled to slow down Emporia State behind the arc a season ago.  The Lady Hornets stroked in 17 trifectas against the Jets in a 85-65 decision in Wichita, tied for the most three-balls allowed in the conference last year.

 
NU STATS N' STREAKS

• Newman ranked 14^th in the MIAA in scoring last season at 54 ppg and finished sixth defensively giving up 63.6 ppg.
• The Jets look to end a six-game losing streak by taking care of business at home.
• Senior forward Faith Mason-Vestal has scored in double-figures in all five of NU's games to open up the year.
• Freshman center Laura Bello collected her first career double-double by grabbing a career high 11 rebounds to go along with 10 points in a Jet victory over Cottey College.
• Junior guard Tiffany Dortland matched a career high with five assists in NU's Cottey College victory.  She also registered a personal best of two blocks against the Comets.
• Bello also erupted for a career-high 19 points in just 11 minutes in the Jets' loss to Cameron.
• Junior forward Britney Ho tallied an NU career-high 11 points in the Jets' defeat to St. Cloud State.
• Junior forward Britney Ho grabbed an NU career-high nine rebounds in the Navy & Red's loss versus Cameron.
• Transfer guard Tiffany Dortland set a program record for most points in their Newman Jets debut when she scored 27 in the season-opener against Wayne State College.  The record was previously held by Satoria Bell, who tallied 22 points in her NU debut on November 11, 2011 in a 65-58 win against Emporia State.  It was also the second-most points scored in a home or season-opening game behind only Alexandra Ciabattoni's 30-point outburst to open the 2013-14 campaign in a 66-64 victory against Rockhurst on November 9, 2013.  Ciabattoni went on to receive First Team All-Heartland Conference honors and was named the 2014 Heartland Conference Player of the Year.
• Sophomore point guard Sydney Nilles set a new career high with seven assists in a loss to Wayne State College to open up the season.
• The Jets are vying for their first winning season since 2018-19 when head coach Darin Spence led the Navy & Red to a 21-10 record while finishing second in the Heartland Conference.
• NU also seeks its first 10+ win season since 2019-20 when NU finished 11-17 while going 6-13 in its first year in the MIAA.
• Newman looks to return to the postseason for the first time since 2019 when NU ended a six-game postseason losing streak with two wins in the Heartland Conference Tournament.  The Jets lost in the championship game to #25 Lubbock Christian.  The top-seeded Lady Chapparals went on to win the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship.

 
YOU'RE NEXT!
The Jets enter play inside 'The Association' and travel to MIAA foe Pittsburg State for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff Wednesday, December 1.  NU continues the road trip on Saturday at Missouri Southern.