Games 15 & 16:
Newman (6-8, 3-6 MIAA) vs. Missouri Western (13-4, 7-2 MIAA)
Thursday, January 12, 2023 | 5:30 p.m. | Wichita, Kan. (Fugate, Gymnasium)
Audio:  Newman Jets Audio Network (Play-by-Play:  Blake Cripps) | Video:  MIAA Network | Live Stats:  NU Athletics
 
vs. Northwest Missouri (7-7, 2-6 MIAA)
Saturday, January 14, 2023 | 1:30 p.m. | Wichita, Kan. (Fugate Gymnasium)
Audio:  Newman Jets Audio Network (Play-by-Play:  Blake Cripps) | Video:  MIAA Network | Live Stats:  NU Athletics
 
LET'S GET ROLLING
The Navy & Red are at home for the final time in January this week.
 
LAST TIME OUT
NU picked up its first ever win at the NSU Event Center with a come-from-behind 66-61 victory Saturday Jan. 7 in Tahlequah, Okla.  NSU appeared poised to take control of the game in the first half when NU used an 11-4 run to get back into the game.  A Britney Ho layup gave the Jets a six-point lead with 3:49 to go.  NSU cut it to two with under two minutes to go but could never tie the game.  Ho picked up her third double-double of the year with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Full Recap | Box Score
 
The Jets fell earlier last week at Rogers State 78-68 in double overtime.
 
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Following Week 8, the Griffons are in fourth place in the conference standings.  Missouri Western returned to the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 2016 and finished with a 24-10 overall record with a 14-8 mark in MIAA play.  The Griffons had posted losing records in three of the previous four years.  The Griffons started 9-0 and won 10 of 11 to begin the year.  After flaming out in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament, Western received an at large berth to March Madness and the Griffons didn't waste the opportunity.  Missouri Western swept through the Central Region Championships with upset wins over #10 Southwestern Oklahoma State, Nebraska-Kearney, and host #4 Fort Hays State on the Tigers' home floor to advance to the Elite Eight.  The Cinderella run came to an end in a 67-44 defeat to #6 Grand Valley State.  The Griffons last won the MIAA in 2016 following a 27-4 campaign that set a program record for MIAA wins with a sparkling 20-2 record inside 'The Association.'  The Griffons are seeking their 14^th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023.  Missouri Western hasn't made consecutive tournament appearances since participating in eight-straight Big Dances in the Dave Slifer era from 1997-2004.
 
The Griffons lead the league in scoring overall, but are fourth in MIAA action at 71.0 ppg.  Western is also fourth defensively allowing 59.7 ppg.  The Griffons are paced by Brionna Budgetts whose 16.6 ppg ranks 4^th in the league and Connie Clarke who leads the league in rebounding at 9.5 rpg.  Both Budgetts and Clarke are in the top five in the league in field goal percentage while Budgetts is second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage.
 
Northwest enters the week a game back of the Jets in the MIAA standings at 11^th place.  The Bearcats showed huge improvement a season ago finishing with the most wins for a Northwest Missouri team since 2011.  Northwest ended a streak of eight-straight losing seasons overall and in conference by finishing 17-12 with a 12-10 MIAA record last year.  The 17 wins was 10 more than Northwest had the season before and is the most for the program since a magical 29-5 team won the MIAA with an 18-4 conference record in 2010-11.  Those Bearcats won the regular season and tournament conference titles and advanced in the NCAA Tournament all the way to the Final Four before falling to Michigan Tech.  The Bearcats had finished with a losing record in nine of the last ten seasons prior to last year.  The Bearcats advanced to MIAA Madness a season ago and played postseason basketball for the first time since 2017.  Northwest is looking for its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and first since its 2011 Final Four run.
 
Northwest has struggled offensively and is last in the league in scoring at 52.4 ppg in league play.  The Bearcats are sixth defensively at 61.4 ppg in MIAA contests.  Molly Hartnett is Northwest's scoring leader at 12.4 ppg while Kelsey Fields is tied with Western's Clarke for the league rebounding lead at 9.5 rpg.  Hartnett is in the top 10 in the league in assist to turnover ratio while Evelyn Vazquez is tied for fifth in steals at 2.6 spg.
 
The Bearcats visit Central Oklahoma on Thursday. 
 
THE SERIES
Missouri Western leads the series 6-0.  The Griffons lead 3-0 in NU's NCAA era and are 3-0 against the Jets in Wichita.
 
Northwest Missouri leads Newman 3-0 with the entirety of the series occurring in the MIAA.  Northwest leads 2-0 in Wichita.
 
PREVIOUS MATCHUP
Missouri Western led early, dominated the middle two periods, and never trailed in a 70-37 victory over the Jets January 20, 2022, at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita.  The Jets were able to stay within striking distance and trailed 13-9 after 10 minutes.  Western gained separation in the second and third quarters by turning the Jets over for easy baskets and NU wasn't able to recover until the fourth.  The Griffons flew by the Jets outscoring them 46-18 in the second and third quarter.  NU turned the ball over 30 times and was outscored 29-4 in points off turnovers.  Britney Ho led NU with 13 points.
Full Recap | Box Score
 
A hot second quarter was enough to spark Northwest Missouri to a 54-42 victory over the Jets January 22, 2022, at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita.  The game was played at a snail's pace in the first ten minutes with the Bearcats leading 8-6 after one quarter.  The Bearcats maintained a multi-possession lead until late in the third quarter when the Jets spanned the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to one, but the Navy & Red never tied the game or took the lead and Northwest ended the game on a 13-2 run.  Carissa Beck, Laura Bello, and Lauryn Dubbert each led the Jets with 10 points.
Full Recap | Box Score
 
THE 800 CLUB
Britney Ho enters this week at 791 career points.  She scored 265 points in her first two seasons at Northeastern State before dropping 280 points in just one season last year as a junior at Newman.  She's already scored 246 points this season to give her 526 points as a Jet.  If she had played all four seasons at Newman, her 791 career points would rank seventh on NU's all-time list.
 
 
NOT JUST WINDOW DRESSING
The Navy & Red have dramatically turned around their fortunes on the glass over their last four games.  NU has outrebounded their opponents in four-straight contests after being outrebounded in their previous four games by an average of 15.8 rebounds per contest.  The Jets will have a tough test on the boards this week as each of NU's opponents boasts a player that is leading the league in rebounds.
 
CARISSA KNOWS IT ALL
Carissa Beck continues to move up Newman's career 3-point field goals list.  Beck most recently passed Rhea Codio's 71 treys made in just one season in 2010-11.  Codio's 71 3-pointers that season are also fourth on the NU single-season list.  Beck needs one three-ball to tie the 82 hit by Braxtyn Stewart.  Stewart accomplished the feat in 106 career games from 2017-21.
 
CAREER 3PT FIELD GOALS MADE
Rk.           Player                                      3PTM      Games    Years      
1.             Kaitlyn Potter                          196          59            2018-20
2.             Brianna Caldwell                     150          78            2012-16
3.             Bria DeGrate                           143          113          2015-19
4.             Haley Albers                            124          110          2017-21
5.             Rainey Nickel                          113          80            2007-10
5.             Cheniqwa Banks                     113          54            2012-14
7.             Hadley Freeman                     95            79            2007-10
8.             Braxtyn Stewart                      82            106          2017-21
9.             Carissa Beck                           81            42            2021-23
10.           Rhea Codio                              71            27            2010-11
 
This past week, Beck passed DeDe Johnson and Rhea Codio for ninth on NU's career 3-point field goals attempted list.  In addition, Beck is on pace to smash NU's career 3-point field goal percentage record, which she currently holds in a tie for first with Hannah Alexander at 36.7% not counting this year's games.
 
HEIGH-HO, IT'S OFF TO WORK SHE GOES
Senior forward Britney Ho enters her senior season with a chance to etch her name into the Newman record books.  Her 49.0% field goal percentage was the eighth-best recorded by a Jet in the Division II era a season ago.  The Wichita-native has an opportunity to finish in the top 10 in career field goal percentage and scoring average this season.  Ho has now passed the required 40 games of service for the Jets to be eligible for the career scoring records.
 
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
Newman began a new era in 2021 as the Jets welcomed Drew Johnson and Nicole Ohlde-Johnson to Wichita as the new leaders of Jets Women's Basketball.  The Johnsons are in their second season at Newman and enter 2022-23 with a 3-25 record at NU while posting a 1-21 mark in MIAA play.  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 Johnsons 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.
 
The Johnsons are 0-1 against the Griffons and Bearcats.
 
GRINDING WITH THE GRIFFONS AND BRINGING UP THE BEARCATS
Candi Whitaker is in her fourth season as the head coach of the Griffons.  Whitaker's record through three seasons in St. Joseph is 51-34 with a 33-30 mark in the MIAA coming into the year.  She experienced immediate success in St. Joseph by leading the Griffons to a 21-8 record in her inaugural season with a 13-6 league record in 2019-20.  Last season, she had her best season as a head coach leading the Griffons to a 24-10 season that finished in the Elite Eight.  She came to the Griffons following a season off after a stint as head coach at Texas Tech from 2013-18.  Whitaker is now in her 15^th year as a head coach and started the year with a career record of 182-209 with an 94-156 conference mark.  While in Lubbock, the Lady Raiders went 54-82 while tallying a 13-61 Big 12 record.  She previously went 77-93 as head coach at UMKC with a 5-8 Mid-Con record and a 43-56 mark inside the Summit League.  Whitaker has also logged stops as an assistant at Valparaiso and Oklahoma State.  While at Texas Tech as a player, she helped lead the Lady Raiders to the NCAA Tournament and Sweet 16 in both of her years with the program.  She started her career in Kansas playing at Seward County Community College from 1998-2000. 
 
Whitaker is 3-0 against the Jets as Griffon head coach.
 
Austin Meyer has led the Northwest women's basketball program for the past four seasons but has been a Bearcat for far longer.  Prior to taking over the program in March of 2018, Meyer served for a decade as an assistant for Bearcat men's basketball starting in 2008.  As women's head coach, Meyer started the season with a 37-50 record as women's coach with a 26-48 MIAA mark.  Last season, Meyer engineered the biggest turnaround in win total in over a decade leading the program to its first winning record since the 2012-13 season.  While a member of the men's basketball staff, Northwest Missouri won an average of 21.5 games per year and the 2017 national title.  As lead recruiter for the men's program, Meyer was on the bench for six MIAA championships and four MIAA Tournament titles.  Meyer is one of the all-time greats at the school as a player after scoring nearly 1,300 career points for the 'Cats and graduating as the program's all-time career leader in 3-pointers after lettering all four years as a Bearcat from 2002-06.  He then spent two seasons as a graduate assistant under coach Steve Tappmeyer before starting full-time two years later. 
 
Meyer is 3-0 against the Jets in his tenure in Maryville.
 
SCOUTING THE SQUADRON
Newman finished 2021-22 with a 3-25 record while going 1-21 in MIAA play.  The Navy & Red return seven players from last year's team including top scorer Britney Ho, who averaged 10.4 ppg.  Ho also led the Jets in total rebounds averaging 5.1 rpg and was the team's best field goal shooter at 49%.  Senior Carissa Beck averaged 32 mpg last year while playing and starting in all 28 contests for the Jets.  Beck scored 6.5 ppg while leading Newman with 51 3-pointers and connecting on 36.7% of her shots from the outside.  Sophomore Lauryn Dubbert was third on the team in assists last year with 59.
 
Newman will carry three seniors on the roster this season while integrating four freshmen into the program.  The Jets welcome eight transfers to the roster in 2022-23 including four from the junior college level, three from NCAA Division II, and one from NCAA Division I.  The Jet lineup features two graduate students, four juniors, and six sophomores.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
Newman's new players arrived in Wichita from all over the country during the offseason and even around the world.  After boasting 15 Jets from just three different states a year ago, Newman women's basketball will have a much more diverse list of hometowns on this year's roster.  Five Jets are from the Sunflower State, three are from Texas with Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and South Dakota also represented.  For the first time in the Johnson era, the Jets have at least one international player on the roster with players from Latvia and Spain joining the squad for 2022-23.
 
BRINGING THEIR 'A' GAME

• Senior Britney Ho is third in the MIAA in scoring at 17.6 ppg.
• Ho's 49.8% shooting from the field is seventh in 'The Association.'
• Senior Carissa Beck leads the MIAA in 3-point field goal percentage at 46.2%.
• Beck is seventh in the conference with 2.1 3-point field goals per game.
• Graduate Maddie Spagnola is tied for fifth in the MIAA in assists averaging 4.0 apg.

 
NU STATS N' STREAKS

• Ho has now scored in double figures in five straight games and 13 of her 14 contests this year.
• Ho's double-double against Northeastern State was her third of the season which leads the Jets.  It was also her second game of the season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.  Ho's last double-double came December 16, 2022, with 14 points and 12 rebounds in an NU loss at Nebraska-Kearney.
• Valeriya Lioukina had a breakout performance at Rogers State last week.  The freshman from Latvia finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and two blocks.  The points and rebounds set new career highs while the two blocks matched a personal best.
• Newman's double overtime loss to Rogers State last week was their first since a 70-67 setback against Northwest Missouri January 30, 2020, at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita.
• In that game, Kaya Goldsby logged a double-double against NU, the first since Klaire Kirsch tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds for Nebraska-Kearney, coincidentally in the same game as NU's last double-double from Britney Ho.
• Maddie Spagnola logged 44 minutes in the double overtime loss to the Hillcats.  She's the first player to log 40 minutes since three Jets (Beck, Spagnola, and Dubbert) all played at least 40 in NU's overtime win at Lincoln December 1, 2022.  Goldsby and Bailey Kliewer were the first opponents to play 40 minutes in a game against the Jets since Tre'Zure Jobe and Karsen Schultz played all 40 minutes for Emporia State against the Jets January 30, 2021.
• In MIAA action, NU is 13^th offensively scoring 53.8 ppg.
• The Jets rank in a tie for 12^th defensively allowing 72.2 ppg against MIAA competition.
• 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 Chaparrals went on to win the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship.
• With a win against Missouri Western, the Jets will earn consecutive conference victories for the first time since February of 2020.  In a must-win situation, the Jets knocked off Emporia State 68-67 February 20, 2020, at home and backed it up with buzzer-beater win over Nebraska-Kearney 66-65 on February 27, 2020, also at Fugate Gymnasium.  The Jets had to win both games to keep their MIAA Tournament hopes alive.

 
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The Jets have a light schedule next week with a Saturday road trip to Central Oklahoma serving as NU's only contest on the calendar.
 
2022-23 MIAA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Week 1:  Lacy Stokes – Missouri Southern
Week 2:  Alayzha Knapp – Central Oklahoma
Week 3:  Connie Clarke – Missouri Western
Week 4:  Katie Wagner – Fort Hays State
Week 5:  Lacy Stokes (2) – Missouri Southern (2)
Week 6:  Brooke Littrell – Central Missouri
Week 7:  Brooke Littrell (2) – Central Missouri (2)
Week 8:  Brooke Littrell (3) – Central Missouri (3)
 
2022 MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLLS
Coaches
1.  Missouri Southern (6) – 159 Points
2.  Fort Hays State (3) – 151 Points
3.  Nebraska-Kearney (2) – 144 Points
4.  Missouri Western (3) – 139 Points
5.  Central Missouri – 127 Points
6.  Emporia State – 106 Points
7.  Northwest Missouri – 100 Points
8.  Pittsburg State – 85 Points
9.  Central Oklahoma – 74 Points
10.  Washburn – 62 Points
11.  Rogers State – 50 Points
12.  Northeastern State – 31 Points
13.  Newman – 28 Points
14.  Lincoln – 18 Points
 
Media
1.  Missouri Southern (13) – 249 Points
2.  Fort Hays State (4) – 234 Points
3.  Central Missouri (3) – 218 Points
4.  Nebraska-Kearney – 216 Points
5.  Missouri Western – 211 Points
6.  Northwest Missouri – 164 Points
7.  Emporia State – 145 Points
8.  Pittsburg State – 129 Points
9.  Central Oklahoma – 127 Points
10.  Washburn – 108 Points
11.  Rogers State – 74 Points
12.  Northeastern State – 57 Points
T13.  Newman – 31 Points
T13.  Lincoln – 31 Points