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Washburn Wins MIAA Women's Tournament
By David Boyce
More than 12 minutes remained in the game. Washburn led the Central Missouri women by five when junior Hope Gregory dashed some hope from the Jennies.
Gregory dribbled the ball at the top of the key and then between her legs, stepped back before dropping in a long, three-pointer for Washburn.
"That was definitely a pick-up move that I put in the bag for the season. I never pull stuff like that," said Gregory, who was selected Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
"She (Central Missouri defender) was running at me and I was going to drive. They had great help on the wing so I pulled it back out. I said, ‘shoot it Hope. If I get yanked, I get yanked.'"
From that point on, the Lady Blues never allowed Central Missouri to get closer than six the rest of the way.
Washburn played up to its No. 1 seed, beating Central Missouri 68-56 Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the MIAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.
It's the sixth time in eight years Washburn has won the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City.
"It was one of those games I wouldn't call pretty, but it was definitely our type of game," Washburn coach Ron McHenry said. "I thought Central played well. We played decent most of the game."
The Lady Blues are heading to the South Central Regional filled with confidence. They have won 13 straight and are now 26-3. Washburn won all three games in the MIAA Tournament by double digits.
"Our confidence is pretty high," Gregory said. "Most importantly, we are having fun as a team. We enjoy being around each other. That helps. When it's time to play we are there, every single one of us is there for each other."
Central Missouri, which dropped to 19-11, gave the Lady Blues the toughest game of the tournament.
"This was a typical Washburn win," Central Missouri coach Dave Slifer said. "It was close for a half and then they pulled away in the second half. They are defensively good enough to hold teams off, and that's what they did today.
"They held us off and they made enough threes. The great thing about this is we are pretty sure our season is not over."
Washburn finished 12-for-24 from three-point range.
"They are a hard team to guard when they are hitting threes because every single one of them can hit them," said Central Missouri guard Kara Fleming, who made the all-tournament team along with teammate Becca Roberts.
But early on it was Central Missouri having success on the long-range shots.
The Jennies jumped to a 10-3 lead after a three-pointer by Brittney Slifer. They led most of the first half.
But Washburn came on strong the last five minutes. The Lady Blues took a 26-24 lead on a three-pointer by Amanda Fessenden. The lead grew to five when Brette Ulsaker drilled a three-pointer.
Ulsaker and Dayna Rodriguez made the all-tournament team along with Emporia State's Cassondra Boston.
Central Missouri made a late push in the last minute and went into halftime down 33-31.
Throughout the second half, Washburn proved it has too many offensive weapons.
The Jennies got within one in the opening minute on a Deidra Dace three-pointer that made it 35-34.
Back-to-back buckets by Rodriguez and Gregory gave Washburn a 39-34 lead. It was 41-36 when Gregory made the fancy three-pointer for a 44-36 lead.
"We start every game looking into the post," Gregory said. "When Dayna gets going it opens up everybody's game. It took her little bit to get going in the first half. She got it going in the second half and it opened up everything else."
The Lady Blues stretched their advantage to 50-40. The icing came with a 1:36 left when Gregory drilled her last three-pointer, giving Washburn an insurmountable 62-51 lead.
Washburn's stellar defense finished the job. Central Missouri shot just 32 percent in the second half.
"The most telling thing is the second half we had two assists," Slifer said. "We didn't move the ball well."
Dace led all scorers with 22 points for Central. Fleming scored 11 and Roberts added 10.
For Washburn, Gregory finished with 14 followed by 13 from Rodriguez and 12 from Ulsaker.
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
