Pitt State at the MIAA Tournament

Pitt State is 9-24 in its MIAA Tournament appearances. The Gorillas have only missed the tournament two times since joining the conference, the first season (1989-90) and in 2008. PSU was one and done in its last nine tournament appearances prior to the 2009 season. The Gorillas had lost 10 games straight before earning the 81-79 win over Nebraska-Omaha in the 2009 opening round. The only time Pitt State won back-to-back games in the tournament was in 1992, when the Gorillas finished as the tournament runners up. 

    Pitt State has lost five of the last six games in the MIAA Tournament. Eight of the last nine games have been decided by single digits. In their last MIAA Tournament outing, the Gorillas defeated Central Oklahoma in the 2015 Quarterfinals before falling to Emporia State in the Senifinals. Pitt State's largest win in the MIAA Tournament was a 26-point, 79-53, win over Missouri St-Louis in 1992, the year the team finished as the runner-up. The team's largest losses were back-to-back 20-point losses to Missouri Western and Emporia State in 2006 and 2007.

Scouting Central Missouri

Central Missouri enters the MIAA tournament carrying 11-17 overall and 9-13 records. The Jennies concluded their season on Saturday with a loss to No. 6 Missouri Southern, but redeemed themselves two days after sealing a bid to Kansas City with a 4-point victory over Washburn, 74-70. The team holds the tenth seed in the MIAA tournament.

    Two seniors have made noteworthy contributions to the Central Missouri effort this season. Shelby Winkelmann scores nearly 20 points per game, which second in the MIAA behind LaQuinta Jefferson's 21.9 ppg from Missouri Western. The guard is shooting .491 from field goal range and has 42 steals on the season. Ashley Jones is also averaging double digits with 12.1 ppg and is shooting .560 from the field. Her defensive efforts have been essential this season, pulling down a second-best 8.8 ppg in the conference. Additionally, Tayler Welks scores 8.6 ppg and Ashley Duffy adds 8.5 ppg with a conference-high 56 steals. Paige Redmond is .442 from three-point and contributes 6.1 ppg.

    Central Missouri is collectively shooting .429 (702-1636) from the field, .318 (159-500) from long range, and .736 (326-443) from the foul line. In addition, the Jennies average 67.5 ppg, 33.3 rpg, 13.1 apg, 8.4 spg and 1.9 bpg.

Scouting Pittsburg State

The Gorillas are 24-4 overall and 18-4 in MIAA play and have won each of their last 13 games, including upset wins over No. 16 Emporia State on Feb. 6 and No. 5 Fort Hays State on Feb. 11. The Gorillas ring in at No. 16 this week in the WBCA/NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. Pitt State is currently second in the MIAA standings behind Missouri Western. The top three teams, as well as Emporia State, Central Oklahoma and Missouri Southern have all secured spots in the MIAA Tournament. 

    Pitt State averages 74.6 points per game, while allowing opponents 63.1 ppg. The Gorillas shoot .438 from the floor overall and .364 from long range, hitting 7.5 threes per game. The team pulls down 35.3 rebounds per game, 2.3 more per game than their opponents. The team commits only 11.5 turnovers per game and has a 1.2 assists to turnover ratio.

    Mikaela Burgess continues to lead the Gorillas with 18.1 ppg. She is the team's top three-point shooter, having made 83-of-202 threes on the season for a .411 three-point shooting percentage. She hits 3.0 threes a game. Burgess was named the MIAA player of the Week after averaging 28 ppg on the road against Washburn and Emporia State. Kylie Gafford is the team's second leading scorer with 13.7 ppg and is the team's leading rebounder with 5.8 rpg. She also leads the team with 50 blocks on the season. Gafford was named last week's MIAA Player of the Week after averaging 19.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg in the team's two wins over No. 5 Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney. She was also named the week's MIAA Player of the Week after scoring 20.0 points per game against Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri. Cathy Brugman adds 12.4 ppg to the PSU cause. She was named MIAA Player of the Week after averaging 21 points per game on the road against Lindenwood and Lincoln. 

    Hadyn Herlocker leads the team with 125 assists for 4.6 assists per game. She has only turned the ball over 35 times on the season. Her 3.37 assists/turnover ratio is second in the nation. She scores 7.5 ppg. Herlocker makes 40 percent of her shots from three-point range. Paige Lungwitz adds 6.7 ppg. Shelby Lopez and Paige Imhoff come off the bench to each contribute 4.3 and 3.8 ppg, respectively. 

    There is quite a difference in the team's play between wins and losses. In its wins, the Gorillas score 77.1 points. They commit only 10.9 turnovers per game in wins and outrebound opponents by 5.5 rpg. In losses, the Gorillas score only 67.5 ppg, are outrebounded by 4.2 and commit 16.0.

PSU vs. Central Missouri

Pitt State and MSSU has met twice a year since the 1974-75 season. The teams met once during the regular season last year, then again in the MIAA Tournament. Pitt State has a four-game lead in the series, 45-41. Each team leads in its home arena, the Gorillas lead 26-17 in Pittsburg, while the Lions lead 23-16 in Joplin. The 2012 victory in the NCAA Tournament was the last neutral site meeting between the two teams.

    Prior to the 2001-02 season the Gorillas had won 10 straight over the Lions, the longest streak of wins by either team in the series. The series began with an eight game losing streak against the Lions, but was broken on Dec. 6, 1978 in Pittsburg by just one point. 

    The largest margin of victory in the series was a 43-point Missouri Southern win on Feb. 15, 2006. Pitt State's biggest win was a 80-45 win at home on Feb. 16, 2000, the 57th meeting between the teams. Since then things have been more evenly matched, for the most part. The most points scored in the series was a 92-90 Gorilla win on Feb. 18, 1987 in Pittsburg.

Gorillas in the MIAA

Pitt State jumped to second in the MIAA Standings just behind Missouri Western and and one game ahead of Fort Hays State. 

    The Gorillas are third in the MIAA in scoring offense and scoring margin. The team's .438 field goal percentage is also third. It makes 7.5 threes per game, which ranks second. Pitt State leads the league in free throw percentage with .782. The Gorillas have the second-best assist/turnover ratio in the league with a 1.20. They have the third-best turnover margin, only turning the ball over 11.5 times a game, while forcing opponents into 14.5 turnovers a game. The team is third in blocked shots with 4.11 blocks per game.

    Several individuals rank high in the league in several statistical categories as well. Burgess is third with 18.1 ppg, while Gafford ranks 11th and Brugman 18th. Gafford ranks 11th for rebounds with her 5.8 rpg. Gafford is fourth for field goal percentage at .528. Burgess is 13th for field goal percentage (.428). She is also second in three-point field goal percentage (.411) and first in threes per game (3.2). Brugman leads the league with her .894 free throw percentage. Burgess is second at .866. Gafford ranks 12th. Hadyn Herlocker is second in the MIAA with 4.6 assists per game. She leads the MIAA with her 3.6 assist/turnover ratio. Gafford's 50 blocks on the season are tops in the league.

We're Going Streaking

Pitt State is currently on a 13-game win streak. The school record for consecutive wins is 14, set by the 2011-12 team, the team that made the Elite Eight. Cathy Brugman is the only member of the current team that was a member of that team, as that was her redshirt freshman season. That team won its first 14 games and did not lose until Jan. 11 to Washburn. The team also had an eight-game win streak later in the season.

    Prior to that, the longest win streak in school history was 11 games from Feb. 1 to March 5, 1992. Every win in the streak was over conference foes. It started with a win over MIssouri-St. Louis in Pittsburg and included two games in the MIAA Tournament. The streak ended with a loss to Washburn in the championship game of the tournament. That team was the MIAA regular season champion, the tournament runner up and earned a berth into the NCAA-II Tournament..

She's Having a Block Party

Senior Kylie Gafford has been a significant presence down low for the Gorillas in her first three seasons. Her number of blocks has increased each season and with her team-leading 50 blocks on the season Gafford has 186 blocks for her career. She has passed Lauren Brown for second place and is two from surpassing the record of 187 set by Larissa Richards from 2008-2012.

In the Meantime ...

While waiting for Kylie Gafford to break the blocks record, she achieved a couple other career milestones. With 8:46 to go at SBU on Feb. 20, Gafford hit a layup to score the 1,000th point of her career. Gafford becomes only the 18th player in program history to score 1000 or more career points. She now has 1026 career points

    Against SBU she also pulled down the 539th rebound of her career, pushing her into the top 10 for career rebounds. She now has 541 and needs 26 more to more to ninth on the career rebounds list. 

Burgess for THREE!

Sophomore Mikaela Burgess leads the Gorillas with 83 threes on the season, an average of over three threes made per game. Last season she was second on the team with 52 threes made, so she has passed her freshman season total. She shoots .391 (135-345) from three for her career and is fifth for career threes made.  She needs to make 25 more to pass Morgan Westhoff for fourth. Her current career three-point shooting percentage ranks fourth. Her 83 threes made this season rank fourth all-time. She needs to only make two more to pass Jenni Miller's 1996 total and 10 more to pass her 1997 total for second. Miller has the school record for threes made in a season with 116, which led Division II in 1995.

Taking Care of the Rock

Junior point guard Hadyn Herlocker may not have seen a ton of court time prior to earning her starting spot this season, but the minutes she has played has made a significant impact, as she has done a superb job of taking care of the ball. Last season she dished out 65 assists with only 30 turnovers for a 2.2 assist/turnover ratio. With an even better performance this season, she is just over that for her career with 214 assists and only 82 turnovers for a 2.61 assist/turnover ratio. She has had eight games this season with no turnovers and 19 with four or more assists. This season she is at 3.57 with 125 assists and only 35 turnovers.

Closing in on 1000

Cathy Brugman is just 24 points away from her 1000th career point, with 976 points. With her 12.4 ppg, she will need two more games to reach 1000, which would be the second game of the MIAA Tournament.