MIAA MAILBAG EXTRA: My Midseason Women’s Basketball Rankings

DISCLAIMER: The opinions that I have in this blog post are not reflective of my various employers, one of which is the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

With Fort Hays defeating Emporia State 77-68 earlier this afternoon, we’ve reached the midway point for the MIAA Womens Basketball season!

Currently, here are the standings for all teams.

The league office also announced that tickets are now on sale for the 2023 MIAA Basketball Championships presented by Southern Bank. Tickets can be purchases at all 14 MIAA campus box offices and on Ticketmaster. If you’d like to buy on Ticketmaster, here is the link.

My men’s midseason rankings can be found here.

1. Central Missouri (16-1, 12-1 MIAA)

Dave Slifer has it cooking in Warrensburg. After a “down” year at 19-11 and not reaching the postseason, the Jennies are red hot at 16-1 on the season, despite the undefeated streak going down in St Joseph yesterday. Not only a lock for MIAA Madness, but also for the NCAA tournament. With three scorers over 10ppg, including Brooke Littrell at 20ppg/9rpg/2apg, Central Missouri will play deep into March.

2. UNK (18-3, 11-2 MIAA)

Longevity is something now seldom thought of in college basketball nowadays, with the transfer portal meaning that you are guaranteed to start the season with a team but can move on whenever.

But for UNK’s Brooke Carlson, Elisa Backes, Maegan Holt, Klaire Kirsch, and Shiloh McCool, they’ve stuck together since 2018. If you haven’t read the AP article that was written about their unusual stat, heres the link.

Alas, it’s the final journey for the group this year, with their only losses going into the midway point against Central Missouri and Missouri Western. The case to extend their playing time into the NCAA tournament is strong.

3. Missouri Western (17-4, 11-2 MIAA)

The back half of Missouri Western’s season was more like a blossoming. Even with graduations and transfers, the Griffons are in high contention for the MIAA regular season title and tournament championship.

4. Pitt State (15-4, 10-3 MIAA)

It’s the Tristan Gegg swansong. The Fifth year guard is going through the MIAA one last time terrorizing defenses, going for 15ppg/2rpg/2apg and rewriting the Gorillas record books in the process. What’s even scarier, however, is the fact that the Gorillas will only lose seven other points due to graduation this spring.

Karenna Gerber (14.9ppg/7rpg/1bpg) and Grace Pyle (14.0ppg/6rpg/2spg), the second and third leading scorers for the Gorillas?

Sophomores.

A young Gorilla team will continue to rise, and will continue to demand recognition from the league and consideration in both polls and the NCAA tournament.

5. Missouri Southern (16-4, 8-4 MIAA)

Lacy Stokes dominated the league last year, sweeping player of the year and Freshman of the year honors. Just in one year, the accomplishments that the guard from nearby Mount Vernon won is one long laundry list. That has also given every coach the perfect game plan to shut her down. Defenses have kept her under 10 points in five contests this season. Last year that only happened twice. The Lions will look for vengeance on the road after Pitt State defeated their rivals in Joplin in the middle of three tough opponents, all losses (Central Missouri, Fort Hays, UNK). Still a contender for postseason action.

6. Fort Hays (15-6, 10-3 MIAA)

Pretty close to business as usual for Tony Hobson and the Fort Hays Tigers. A challenging non-conference slate with losses to West Texas A&M, Augustana, and Minnesota State-Mankato and regular season losses to still undefeated Central Missouri, an upstart Pitt State squad, and UNK might keep Fort Hays out of contention, but when you’re replacing 26 points from last year’s 30-4 squad, it’ll be tough to get back at it. The good news? None of the Tigers three seniors (Jaden Hobbs, Whitney Randall, and Cydney Bergmann) lead the team in scoring. Instead, it was a pair of second year players in Katie Wagner and Olivia Hollenbeck. The future is bright at Hays, even if a return trip to the Central Regional isn’t in the cards.

7. Northwest Missouri (10-8, 5-7 MIAA)

Injury might have kept Molly Hartnett from putting up the exact same MIAA Freshman of the Year numbers last year, but she’s on pace to reach that here in her sophomore year. A balanced team with Hartnett as the only scorer in double digits, the Bearcats start off the second half of the MIAA slate looking to grab a signature victory over Missouri Southern, Pitt State, UNK, or Fort Hays. That stretch of four games was not kind, with a losing stretch extending into five at Emporia State. Northwest wins one, it not two of those contests if another scorer steps up, such as Kelsey Fields or one of the Kelderman sisters (Peyton or Lindsey).

8. Washburn (7-10, 3-8 MIAA)

It was a rocky start for Lora Westling in MIAA play with a 60-53 loss to Northeastern State. It’s a very mixed bag for the Ichabods ever since. While I think the Ichabods will finish below the 14-16 record they set last year, the next year looks good, with two freshmen (Natalia Figueroa/8.6ppg and Gabi Artis/6.9ppg in 15gms) being the second and third-leading scorers, respectively. Build around those two, let Aubree Dewey ball out in her senior season, and Washburn will be above .500 for sure next year.

9. Emporia State (9-10, 4-9 MIAA)

Emporia State, with two D1 transfers in Katie Hornya (Abilene Christian) and Faith Paramore (Oral Roberts), have disappointed me going into the midway point. Riding a six game losing streak, including puzzling losses against Newman and at home against Lincoln, Toby Wynn needs to right the ship…and fast. Northeastern State and Rogers State at home to close out the month of January is the prime time to get wins and get back to their winning ways.

10. Lincoln (5-13, 3-9 MIAA)

While on a smaller scale from the mens squad, the Lincoln women have jumped their expectations from the start of the season. The Blue Tigers have met their win total from last year and tripled their league win total from last year also. Riding a two game winning streak and winning three of the past four games, hopefully the Blue Tigers continue to trend upwards towards being in the bubble for MIAA Madness.

11. Central Oklahoma (7-10, 4-9 MIAA)

A rebuild was not what I personally expected from Central Oklahoma, but a late hire at Edmond with Cameron’s Emma Andrews has the Bronchos sitting somewhere they probably didn’t expect to be at, near the bottom of conference standings. I expect a climb upwards by the end of the season as Andrews gets settled in to the MIAA. Watch out for South Dakota transfer Aspen Williston, as the senior forward has popped off to average 17 ppg in the new calendar year.

12. Newman (6-11, 3-9 MIAA)

Last year, Newman was dangerously close to putting up a goose egg on the MIAA wins category, until the Jets finally broke through in a 78-64 victory over Newman. This year, the Jets have three victories, over Lincoln in Jefferson City, Emporia State at home, and Northeastern State on the road. Maybe Drew and Nichole (Ohlde) Johnson scratch another victory or two in the back half of the season. Maybe they don’t. But any sort of improvement is improvement, and Newman is trending in the right direction. I look forward to seeing this team continue to grow and improve in the next few years into a legit contender for MIAA Madness.

13. Northeastern State (5-12, 2-11 MIAA)

The Gals from Tahlequah only have two victories in league play this year, with Washburn coming as a mild surprise and Central Oklahoma not as much in a one point contest. A victory over Rogers State is a very real possibility in early February, Central Oklahoma is a tossup in Edmond, and Newman just as much also on the road. It’s slim, but Northeastern State has a chance to match the 5 wins in MIAA play that they had last season.

14. Rogers State (4-15, 2-11 MIAA)

It’s a season to forget so far in Claremore, so far sitting at 4-13 overall and 2-9 in conference action. Their only two victories were against rival Northeastern, and Newman in double overtime. Now even though the Hillcats have two league victories, they could still squeak out a surprise win. They lost close to Northwest Missouri (3 points), Emporia State (6), and Washburn (10).