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PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State women have lost three straight games and the men have lost four of their last six, not enjoying life on the road in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
The Gorillas return home Thursday against Truman State, their first home game since Jan. 19 against Fort Hays State. It has been a month since the official dedication of Whetzel Court and the national television audience. Five of the last seven regular season games are home for the Gorillas.
• Pitt State head coach Lane Lord remains on 99 career wins, needing that next win to join Steve High (296-201, .596) and Barb Crill (151-139, .521) in the 100-win club of PSU women’s basketball coaches. Lord owns a 99-65 record, 66-45 MIAA since his first season of 2007-2008.
Lord won his first five games as PSU head coach — including a 78-72 debut victory over Central Oklahoma at home. Win No. 25 came against Central Missouri in Lord’s second year, a 81-79 win as part of a seven-game winning streak and 20-win season. Win No. 50 was a 68-60 triumph at home over Emporia State on Jan. 8, 2011.
The three-game losing streak is the longest for the Pitt State women since a four-game skid in December 2010 (Central Oklahoma 71-56, Missouri Western 73-55, Truman State 55-46 and Northwest Missouri 84-72).
• Pitt State sophomore forward Lizzy Jeronimus leads the MIAA with 18.7 points per game, 2.4 points higher than the second-highest scoring average of Taylor Lewis of Northeastern State. She’s the only Pitt State scorer ranked in the top 30 of the MIAA.
• The lights might be shot out Thursday night when Truman State comes to town: Pitt State and Truman State feature the top two, three of the top four and four of the top 10 3-point shooters in the MIAA.
Truman State features MIAA leader Allie Norton (48-105, .457), No. 4 Courtney Strait (21-49, .429) and No. 7 Amy Briggs (42-105, .400). Pitt State features No. 2 Morgan Westhoff (37-82, .451).
However, both teams are in the top five of 3-point field goal percentage defense: Pitt State at No. 3 (94-331, .284) and Truman State at No. 5 (69-237, .291). Opponents have attempted and made the fewest number of 3s against Truman State this season.
• Emporia State senior guard Rachel Hanf earned MIAA Player of the Week on Monday.
She averaged 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds last week, including a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds against Nebraska-Kearney. Hanf shot 5-6 from 3-point range against the Lopers. Her streaky play includes three straight games of 20+ points and 20 straight made free throws. Hanf surpassed 1,000 points and now sits at 171 made 3s.
The Pittsburg State women have lost three straight games and the men have lost four of their last six, not enjoying life on the road in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
The Gorillas return home Thursday against Truman State, their first home game since Jan. 19 against Fort Hays State. It has been a month since the official dedication of Whetzel Court and the national television audience. Five of the last seven regular season games are home for the Gorillas.
• Pitt State head coach Lane Lord remains on 99 career wins, needing that next win to join Steve High (296-201, .596) and Barb Crill (151-139, .521) in the 100-win club of PSU women’s basketball coaches. Lord owns a 99-65 record, 66-45 MIAA since his first season of 2007-2008.
Lord won his first five games as PSU head coach — including a 78-72 debut victory over Central Oklahoma at home. Win No. 25 came against Central Missouri in Lord’s second year, a 81-79 win as part of a seven-game winning streak and 20-win season. Win No. 50 was a 68-60 triumph at home over Emporia State on Jan. 8, 2011.
The three-game losing streak is the longest for the Pitt State women since a four-game skid in December 2010 (Central Oklahoma 71-56, Missouri Western 73-55, Truman State 55-46 and Northwest Missouri 84-72).
• Pitt State sophomore forward Lizzy Jeronimus leads the MIAA with 18.7 points per game, 2.4 points higher than the second-highest scoring average of Taylor Lewis of Northeastern State. She’s the only Pitt State scorer ranked in the top 30 of the MIAA.
• The lights might be shot out Thursday night when Truman State comes to town: Pitt State and Truman State feature the top two, three of the top four and four of the top 10 3-point shooters in the MIAA.
Truman State features MIAA leader Allie Norton (48-105, .457), No. 4 Courtney Strait (21-49, .429) and No. 7 Amy Briggs (42-105, .400). Pitt State features No. 2 Morgan Westhoff (37-82, .451).
However, both teams are in the top five of 3-point field goal percentage defense: Pitt State at No. 3 (94-331, .284) and Truman State at No. 5 (69-237, .291). Opponents have attempted and made the fewest number of 3s against Truman State this season.
• Emporia State senior guard Rachel Hanf earned MIAA Player of the Week on Monday.
She averaged 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds last week, including a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds against Nebraska-Kearney. Hanf shot 5-6 from 3-point range against the Lopers. Her streaky play includes three straight games of 20+ points and 20 straight made free throws. Hanf surpassed 1,000 points and now sits at 171 made 3s.
• The Pitt State women are tied for sixth with Fort Hays State (both teams 6-5 MIAA) and Pitt State owns a tiebreaker on the Tigers. Pitt State defeated Fort Hays 51-48 during their only meeting of the season Jan. 19.
Washburn (9-1 MIAA), Central Missouri (9-2), Truman State (9-2), Northeastern State (9-3), Emporia State (7-3) and Fort Hays (6-5) all come off wins and Emporia State (five straight), Washburn (four), Central Missouri (four) and Truman State (four) all own multi-game winning streaks.
Conversely, Missouri Southern and Lindenwood have six-game losing streaks and Central Oklahoma owns a nine-game skid. The Bronchos’ lone conference win came against Pitt State in the MIAA opener in December. Since then, it’s been 10 straight conference losses for the Bronchos.
• Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Central Missouri lost its nine-game winning streak on Saturday, maintaining a game lead on second place Northwest Missouri and 1 1/2 game lead on third place Washburn. Northeastern State — a preseason selection of 14th by coaches and media — sits alone in fourth, Lindenwood and Fort Hays are tied for fifth and Pitt State and Central Oklahoma are tied for seventh. Right now, Pitt State owns a tiebreaker on Central Oklahoma but the Bronchos host the Gorillas Feb. 23.
• Senior guard Cedric Ridle of LIncoln leads the MIAA in scoring, averaging 19.3 points over 21 games this season and 21.6 points in 10 conference games. Ridle scored career point 1,000 last week against Missouri Western.
• Pitt State freshman point guard Kaleb Porter remains the leading freshman scorer in the MIAA, averaging 13.7 points, and his 41 made 3s place him in the top ranks of MIAA shooters. Ben Congiusta of Fort Hays leads the MIAA with 51 trifectas.
• Fort Hays freshman point guard Craig Nicholson earned MIAA Player of the Week on Monday. On the season, Nicholson averages 7.3 assists per game and last week the 5-foot-8 guard from Wichita posted 22 assists, 12 against Central Oklahoma and 10 against Missouri Southern. Nicholson owns 11 games of at least eight assists, including his career high of 12. After games of last Wednesday, Nicholson ranked second in NCAA-II in assists behind Dino Mallios of St. Anselm and his 7.8 assists per game.
• The Pitt State men remain the MIAA leaders in free throws made (390), free throws attempted (551) and rebounding (40.3 per game).
The Gorillas’ 390 made free throws are still more than some teams’ attempts — Nebraska-Kearney (383), Truman State (383), Southwest Baptist (325), Missouri Western (315), Lincoln (313) and Emporia State (285). The Gorillas are the lone team above 500 free throw attempts — Lindenwood (491) and Central Oklahoma (486) should reach that mark their next games.
Northeastern State pulls off a nifty trifecta by leading the conference in field goal percentage (503-1,035, .486), 3-point field goal percentage (140-346, .405) and free throw percentage (317-402, .789).
