Game 26: Northeastern State (10-15, 6-12 MIAA) vs. Washburn (18-9, 10-8 MIAA) at 1:30 p.m. | February 24, 2018
Tahlequah, Okla. | NSU Event Center
Clinched
Northeastern State is already locked in for the MIAA Tournament and cannot fall down further than their current position of 11th place. With a win on Saturday over Washburn and a loss by Southwest Baptist at Nebraska-Kearney, the RiverHawks could climb up a spot in the standings. Lindenwood is in the mix as well but a loss earlier in the season would give the Lions the tiebreaker.
The Matchup
Northeastern State trails the overall series 7-5 when facing Washburn. In five meetings with the Ichabods in Tahlequah, the RiverHawks have won twice, with its most recent being in the 2014-15 season (58-54). Northeastern State's 67-58 win at Washburn this season snapped a four game skid against the Ichabods and a win on Saturday would give NSU its first season sweep over WU. Northeastern State won the first meeting between the two programs in 2010 (56-56) which was in the NCAA Tournament.
The Coaches
Fala Bullock is in her first season as head coach and was named to lead her alma mater on April 1, 2017 to replace Randy Gipson who retired after 18 years. With six years of head coaching experience, Bullock is 108-89 overall and within conference play she is 67-64. She has spent the last four seasons (2013-17) as head coach at NCAA Division II Armstrong State University, where she recorded a career mark of 60-52. In her first season at Armstrong State, she led the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history, and reached the Sweet 16.
Bullock played for Gipson for two seasons, and was a graduate assistant under Gipson from 2004 to 2006. As student-athlete, Bullock played in 57 games and NSU went 36-19, winning the 2003 Lone Star Conference Tournament, and made the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. As a member of Gipson's coaching staff, NSU reached the Sweet 16 in 2004, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2006.
Ron McHenry (425-129) is in his 18th season as head coach at Washburn and was the quickest in NCAA Division II women's basketball to reach 400 wins. McHenry won his 400th game last season when Washburn faced the RiverHawks in Tahlequah one year ago. In 2005, he led the program to the school's first and only NCAA title and won a then-record consecutive 51-games that was just surpassed this season by Ashland.
Last Time Out for NSU
Bailee Eldred's career night sparked Northeastern State to a 75-67 win over Emporia State on Thursday at the NSU Event Center. Eldred had her fourth double-double of the season for NSU with a career high 19 points and ten rebounds to take down the Lady Hornets. The double-double was the second consecutive for Eldred who also added three steals and had a block.
Cailyn Long had 13 points off the bench and
Miranda Griffin added ten. From the field NSU took their second fewest shots of the season at 48 and landed half of them, while holding Emporia State to 36.5-percent (23-63). The RiverHawks had a season high 12 takeaways and
Alexis Hill had six assists, which was her personal season mark.
Last Time Out for Washburn
A tough first quarter spelled disaster early for the Washburn women's basketball team on Thursday, as it fell into a hole and was unable to dig itself out, dropping a 77-47 decision to Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The early struggles for the Ichabods largely resulted in 11 first quarter turnovers and were compounded by 2 of 11 shooting. In spite of the final tally, Washburn won the rebound battle, 45-36, and was led by freshman Hunter Bentley who pulled down a career-high nine boards.
MIAA Defense
Northeastern State is third in MIAA play in field goal defense 37.8 percent. When facing MIAA programs, NSU is averaging nearly five blocks a game which is fourth best with
Joi Bertrand third in league blocks at 1.7 per game.
Coming Up
The RiverHawks will play in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament on Monday, Feb. 26, location and times will be released on Saturday evening.
