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Washburn Controls Own Destiny for MIAA Title
By David Boyce
A month ago, Washburn women's basketball coach Ron McHenry never thought his team would be in position to win a MIAA title.
The Lady Blues had just lost their third straight game, two coming at home, and fell two games behind Emporia State.
McHenry should have remembered one important fact about the players he recruits to his program.
"One thing you get recruited for is to win and bring in a winning attitude," Washburn junior Hope Gregory said. "You are expected to win. It's instilled in us to win here. Any loss hurts us. There are nights we slept poorly because we lost."
So you can only imagine what these prideful Lady Blues were going through when they lost 70-65 at home to Missouri Southern and then 58-57 in overtime at Pittsburg State and finally 54-47 at home to Emporia State.
The three-game blip in an otherwise perfect season occurred from Jan. 9 through Jan. 16.
One game, missed free throws hurt Washburn. Another game the Lady Blues lost their point guard, Rose Hammond.
"There always seemed to be something," Gregory said.
But McHenry knew one thing that had to change. He implored his team to play tougher, especially against physical teams like Pittsburg State and Missouri Southern.
"It started off we weren't playing physical enough in the Southern game," Hammond said. "They were tougher than us. We played scared, soft.
"We've been a different team since the three-game losing streak. We got to bring it to them before they bring it to us. I think we are playing better right now."
Indeed. Washburn avenged its first loss on Wednesday with an impressive 81-57 victory at Missouri Southern.
Washburn, 21-3 overall and 15-3 and tied for first in the MIAA with Emporia State, faces the second team that beat them on 5:30 p.m. Saturday at home against Pittsburg State.
The Lady Blues conclude their regular season Wednesday at Emporia State in a showdown for the conference title.
Will revenge play a factor in the minds of the Lady Blues?
"Revenge is a good word, trying to give them what they gave us," Gregory said. "Anytime we get beat it leaves a bad taste in our mouth for a long time. Losing three in a row was hard."
As big as the Emporia State game will be, Washburn is completely focused on Saturday and playing Pittsburg State.
"It's one of those deals, it is senior night," McHenry said. "It always gets the kids up. Obviously, we've been beat by Pittsburg State and we know what they are capable of."
Simply put, Washburn learned a lot about itself on the basketball court during the losing streak.
"It kind of gave us a wake-up call," Hammond said. "And now that we have won eight in a row, we have confidence. Our last three games, we know how big they are. We got a win at Missouri Southern and the next two are really important. We control our destiny."
A month ago that was hard to see, but the Lady Blues saw.
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
