Pitt State will play its first MIAA road games this week. The Gorillas will load up on on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff in Warrensburg, Mo. against the Jennies. After returning home for Friday classes, the team will head north again early Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff against Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo.
    The Jennies are 10-3 overall and 4-1 in MIAA play. They are tied for fourth in the league standings with Central Oklahoma. Missouri Western is 6-5 overall and 1-4 in the conference. The Griffons are 11th in the league. Pitt State is 13-1 and 3-0 in the MIAA and currently on a six game win streak. The Gorillas are third in the MIAA standings.

Scouting Central Missouri
Central Missouri is 10-3 overall and 4-1 in MIAA play. They are receiving votes in the most recent WBCA Division II Poll. The Jennies have earned MIAA wins over Northeastern State, Nebraska-Kearney, Central Oklahoma and Washburn. Their one conference loss was to Fort Hays State. Central has also played Drury (73-70 loss) and William Jewell (78-64 win).
    The Jennies average 68.1 ppg, 7.2 ppg more than their opponents 60.9 ppg. The team pulls down 36.2 rebounds per game and has a +2.0 rebounding margin over opponents. UCM hits .416 of its shots overall and .303 from three-point range, making 4.5 threes a game. It turns the ball over 14.8 times a game and has a 0.7 assist/turnover ratio.
    Four Jennies average double figures, led by Shelby Winelmann with 17.0 ppg. She leads the team with a .520 shooting percentage. She also has 27 assists and 22 steals on the season. Jasmine Thompson adds 13.3 ppg and Justina Prairie Chief scores 12.8 ppg. Prairie Chief leads the team in assists with 30. Revonnia Howard adds 12.2 ppg and leads the team with 9.3 rebounds per game along with 23 blocks. Tayler Weiks is the team's leading three-point shooter, having made 21 on the season with a .429 three-point shooting percentage.

Scouting Missouri Western
MIssouri Western will play Emporia State before the Gorillas head to St. Joseph on Saturday. The Griffons enter Thursday's game on a three-game losing streak, having lost the last three games to conference foes, Nebraksa-Kearney, Washburn and Central Oklahoma. The team's one conference win was over Northeastern State. The Griffs opened the league portion of the season with a loss at Fort Hays State. They are 5-1 at home and 0-4 on the road.
    The Griffons have a 8.1 point scoring margin over opponents, 74.3 to 66.2. The team shoots .450 from the floor overall and .330 from three-point range. They make almost six threes a game. They grab 39.6 rebounds per game, while allowing opponents only 32.7 rpg. MIssouri Western commits just over 15 turnovers a game, while snatching 9.6 steals a game.
    LaQuinta Jefferson averages 21.7 ppg. Sarafina Handy is the only other player averaging double figures with 13.5 ppg. She is the team's leading three-point shooter, ahving made 34 on the season. Chelsey Dewey leads the team with 44 assists and 18 steals on the season. Mhykeah Baez is the leading rebounder with 5.8 rebounds per game and also has eight blocked shots.  

Scouting Pittsburg State
    Pitt State has had a great start to the 2014-15 season with a 13-1 overall record and a 3-0 MIAA record. The Gorillas won their first seven games, dropped a game to Rockhurst, and have now won six since.
    Pitt State averages 79.3 points per game, while holding opponents to 56.9 ppg, a difference of 22.4 points per game. The Gorillas shoot almost .500 from the floor, at .466, while hitting .335 from long range. Pitt State outrebounds opponents 38.2 to 34.2. The Gorillas only average 12.4 turnovers a game, while opponents turn the ball over 18.3 times a game.
    First-team All-American Lizzy Jeronimus leads three Gorillas in double figures with 20.4 points per game, the third leading scorer in the MIAA. She has led the Gorillas in scoring in 10 of the first 13 games. She pulls down 6.8 rebounds per game and leads the team in assists with 37. Kylie Gafford adds 12.3 points per game and is also second on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game. The 6-2 junior also leads the team in blocks with  22 and steals with 20. Cathy Brugman adds 10.8 points per game. She has been the team's leading scorer three times this season. She adds 4.3 rpg and has blocked 20 shots.
    Mikaela Burgess comes off the bench to add 8.4 ppg for the Gorillas. She led the team with 19 in the first game of the season against No. 10 Concordia and shared the lead with Jeronimus with 21 against Lindenwood. She is just behind Gafford with 17 steals. She and senior Morgan Westhoff are the team's leading three-point shooters. Burgess has made 20-of-50, while Westhoff has made 17-of-48. Hadyn Herlocker is quickly earning the nickname "Swiper" as she comes off the bench tto grab 19 steals, while averaging only 14 minutes a game. She has gotten 12 of those 19 steals in just two games.

PSU vs. Central Missouri
Central Missouri leads the series between the two teams, 27-21. Each team leads on its home court, with Pitt State holding an 14-8 advantage in Pittsburg and UCM leading 19-5 in Warrensburg. Neutral meetings are tied at one game a piece.
    For the first time since the 2006-07 season, the two teams did not split the regular season series in 2011-12. Pitt State won all three meetings between the two teams, including a win in the NCAA Regional Tournament in Topeka. That is the longest streak of wins by the Gorillas.
    The largest margin of victory by either team was a 25-point UCM win    (78-53) on Jan. 3, 2000 in Pittsburg. The largest PSU win was 17 points, three different times, Jan. 12, 1998 (70-53), Jan. 13, 1999 (71- 54) and Jan. 23, 1999 (65-48).
    Central Missouri had a streak of five consecutive wins two times, from Jan. 3, 2000 to Feb. 28, 2001 and Dec. 30, 2004 to Dec. 9, 2006.
    Central Missouri has won each of the last two meetings, including a two-point overtime win in PIttsburg last season. Five of the last six meetings have been decided by an average of four points.

PSU vs. Missouri Western
Pitt State and Missouri Western have met almost regularly twice a year since the 1976-77 season. Missouri Western leads the overall series 50-22, including a 19-16 record in Pittsburg, a 28-6 mark in St. Joseph and a 3-0 record a neutral sites. Pitt State won last season's meeting, 74-69.
    The longest run of wins between the two teams was a seven-win streak by the Griffons from March 3, 2005 to Jan. 23, 2008. Pitt State broke the streak by winning a 73-65 decision on Feb. 13, 2008. Pitt State's longest streak of wins was four from that win on Feb. 13, 2008 to Dec. 12, 2009. The Griffons broke the streak when they won the game in St. Joseph on Jan. 23, 2009.
    The largest margin of victory in the series was a 29-point win (94-65) by the Griffons on Feb. 23, 1985 in St. Joseph. Pitt State's biggest win was last season's first meeting, an 82-57 victory in Pittsburg on November 30.
    The most points scored by a team in the series was 101 by the Gorillas in a 101-82 win on Jan. 24, 1996 in Pittsburg.

In the Polls
    Pittsburg State has made a big jump in the polls to the top 10. Pitt State appeared in the first regular season poll at No. 10. The team moved to No. 8 the next week, then No. 6. Pitt State has been No. 5 in each of the last two polls        The Gorillas opened the season ranked No. 24 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Preseason Poll.
    Four Pitt State opponents were ranked in the top 25 to start the season, No. 3 Drury, No. 7 Emporia State, No. 10 Concordia St. Paul and No. 20 Central Missouri. Three additional opponents were receiving votes, Wingate, Washburn and Truman State.
    Currently Emporia State is No. 1, Washburn, 13, and Drury, 15. Central Missouri, Missouri Southern, Fort Hays State and  Northeastern State are all receiving votes.

Up Next
The Gorillas return home to the friendly confines of John Lance Arena for one of the toughest weeks on their home slate. Wednesday brings a top five matchup to Pittsburg as the No. 1 Lady Hornets of Emporia State come for a 5:30 p.m. tip. Saturday brings the No. 13 Ichabods for a 1:30 p.m. tip.

Road Warriors
The Pitt State women are road warriors this season. The team has played only one home game in the first 11. The team will play a total of only 10 home games this season, all of them conference games. After next week's games at home, the Gorillas will play five of the next six on the road.

Record Setter
Gorilla women's basketball fans knew this season would be a record setting season for senior All-American Lizzy Jeronimus, though few probably knew exaclty how many records the Lenexa, Kan. native would break.
    Jeronimus' first record of the year came on December 16 against BYU-Hawaii, as she made her 564th career free throw to set the PSU and MIAA records for career free throws made. She added the MIAA and PSU career attempts records against Lincoln on Jan.5 with 719. Jeronimus is now 590-725 (.814) from the charity stripe. The records were previously held by Leslie Dudley who was 563-718 from 1997-2000.
    She also added another record against Lincoln on Jan. 5 as she grabbed her 706th career rebound, besting the record set by Dani Fronabarger from 1990-93.

Free Throw Queen
    Last season, Lizzy Jeronimus set a new school record for free throws made in a season. She made 217 free throws, besting the record set by Leslie Dudley in 2000, 182. She was only 10 free throws from setting a new MIAA record for free throws made in a season.         Jeronimus also set the record for free throws attempted in a season with 259 in the 2013-14 season.
 
She Shoots, She Scores
Junior Lizzy Jeronimus is one of 17 players in school history to score 1,000 points in her career. She finished her sophomore season with 1,020 points, having scored them in 60 games, second fastest to the 1,000 point mark in school history. Now with 1,885 points, Jeronimus is the second leading all-time scorer, passing Jenni Miller  with 1,809 points. She moved to second with her 21 points against BYU-Hawaii on Dec. 16.
    The Pitt State career scoring record is held by Leslie Dudley with 2,046 points. Jeronimus is just 162 points away from a new record. With her current scoring average, it will take her about six games to reach 2000 points, making her only the second player in school history to score 2000 career points. It will take her about 8 games to hit the new record. She would hit her 2,000th point at Fort Hays State on January 24 and the record at home against Central Oklahoma on January 29.
    Jeronimus has scored in double figures in all but nine games in her career. She scored 20 points or more in 16 of 31 games last season, 9-of-14 games this season, and in 44 career games.
    Jeronimus entered the season as Division II's second leading active career scorer.

Another Milestone
Lizzy Jeronimus is one of only six players in schoool history to grab more then 500 rebounds and score more than 1,000 points. She currently has 706 career rebounds, a new school record.
    Jeronimus also has 287 career assists, the sixth best total in school history. She is only the second player in school history to be in the top 10 for points, rebounds and assists. The only other was Lisa Cropper who played from 1993-96. She finished her career with 1399 points, 538 rebounds and 500 assists. Jeronimus has already passed her in points and rebounds. She needs 73 more assists to move to fifth.
    
Westhoff, Gafford Move Up Career Lists
Jeronimus isn't the only Gorilla player making their mark on the Pitt State record books, as two other players are in the top five or 10 lists as well.
    Morgan Westhoff is 6th for three pointers made with 118. She needs six more to pass Dudley and Bailey Waugh, who each made 123. Westhoff is also sixth for threes attempted with 321. She needs 16 more to move into the top five ahead of Jamie Osborn who attempted 336 threes from 1996-99.
    Kylie Gafford has 97 career blocked shots, which puts her third on that list behind prolific shot blockers Lauren Brown and Larissa Richards. She needs 46 blocks to pass Richards and move to second.