Complete Game Notes
Game #21: Lincoln (3-17, 0-11 MIAA) at Missouri Western (15-5, 7-4 MIAA)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020
Time: 5:30 p.m. CST
Site: MWSU Fieldhouse (3,750) in St. Joseph, Mo.
Tickets: Available at Site
Live Video: http://www.themiaanetwork.com/
Live Stats: https://gogriffons.com/sidearmstats/wbball/

THE TIP OFF:  The Lincoln women's basketball team plays six of its next eight games on the road, starting on Wednesday (Feb. 5) when the Blue Tigers travel to St. Joseph's, Mo. to take on Missouri Western. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. CST for the first of six rematches for LU on the 2019-20 docket. The teams previously met on Dec. 7 in Jefferson City, with the Griffons claiming a 66-47 win over the Blue Tigers. Lincoln will try to rebound from a 67-58 home loss to Emporia State on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1) while the Griffons are coming off a 70-59 road victory over Newman that snapped a two-game skid. Missouri Western enters the week 15-5 overall and 7-4 in MIAA play while Lincoln is seeking its first conference win of the season.

FAST BREAKS
- Lincoln and Missouri Western will meet for the 44th time on Wednesday evening, with the Griffons leading the all-time series, 38-5.

- Missouri Western has won the last three games of the series, including handing Lincoln its first loss of 2018-19 with a 62-61 win the last time the teams met in St. Joseph.

- LU's last win over MWSU came in 2017-18, when the Blue Tigers beat the Griffons in Jefferson City, 73-62.

- A win on Wednesday would be Lincoln's first inside MWSU Fieldhouse.

PREVIEWING THE BLUE TIGERS:  With 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per night, Vivian Chigbu is averaging close to a double-double and leads LU on the glass. Kaloni Pryear is scoring a team-high 16.3 points per game, and Kyessence Collins leads Lincoln with 2.9 assists per contest and averages 6.9 points. Alecia Gulledge, meanwhile, has been an all-around asset to the Blue Tigers with 6.4 ppg., 4.4 rpg., 31 steals and 10 blocks.

HEAD COACH AYANA McWILLIAMS:  A five-year veteran of the Division I ranks, McWilliams is in her fourth year as the head coach at Lincoln. Last season, McWilliams led the Blue Tigers to a 7-0 start, the best in program history. McWilliams previously worked as an assistant at South Carolina Upstate, a Division I program, and also was an assistant at Elizabeth City.

LAST TIME OUT:  Lincoln held Emporia State to .362 shooting overall and .167 from three-point land, but the Lady Hornets went 20-22 at the free throw line to secure a 67-58 win on Saturday (Feb. 1). Vivian Chigbu came one rebound short of a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine boards, while Kaloni Pryear tallied 16 points, six assists and seven rebounds. Natasha Dolinsky also dished six assists while scoring eight points.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFONS:  Missouri Western is out-scoring opponents by an average of 72.4-59.4 and has forced 356 turnovers. Both Chris Wilson and Corbyn Cunningham are averaging 8.3 boards per game, with Wilson, who averages 14.6 points, additionally leading MWSU with 10 blocks. Three other Griffons average at least 10 points, including Katrina Roenfeldt (10.7), who has 53 steals.

MWSU HEAD COACH CANDI WHITAKER:  In her first year with Missouri Western, Whitaker has the Griffons off to a 15-5 start. Whitaker previously spent nine years as a head coach at the Division I level, most recently at Texas Tech, where she led the Lady Raiders to four-straight appearances in the Big 12 tournament.

DOUBLE THE FUN:  Vivian Chigbu has reached double figures in both scoring and rebounding in six games in 2019-20 and averages 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Chigbu, who twice has eclipsed 20 points in a game, is tied with Fort Hays State's Belle Barbieri for the second-most double-doubles in the MIAA behind only Nija Collier of Central Missouri, who has eight.

...AND ONE:  Virja Lewis also has recorded a double-double this season, as she grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 24 points against Rogers State. Lewis, who also had a 10-rebound night vs. Washburn, had 10 points and eight boards against Central Missouri.

ON THE REBOUND:  The Blue Tigers have established themselves as one of the MIAA's best rebounding teams, as Lincoln is second in the league in total rebounds per game (40.1) and leads the conference in offensive boards (15.8). Nationally, LU is 24th in DII in offensive boards.

KY'S THE KEY:  Kyessence Collins has given LU an immediate impact since joining the lineup on Dec. 14, including dishing 23 assists for a 2.9 apg. average that leads the team. Collins had nine points, five assists and five rebounds in her debut performance against Hannibal-LaGrange, and is averaging 6.9 points & 3.0 boards for the season.

A GLOBAL TEAM:  The 2019-20 Blue Tigers are representing six countries: Australia (Natasha Elliott and assistant coach Graham McFall); Spain (Anna Munoz Vidueira); Nigeria (Vivian Chigbu); Uruguay (Natasha Dolinsky); Bosnia & Herzegovina (Vedrana Radosavljevic); and, of course, the United States of America.

GOOD ON THE GLASS:  Vivian Chigbu reached double figures in rebounding in each of the first four games and currently is third in the MIAA while rating 90th in the nation in rebounds per game with 8.4. Her total of 168 rebounds is the third-most in the MIAA.

PRYEAR SUCCESS:  Kaloni Pryear, who started 14 games and made 19 total appearances a year ago, is Lincoln's scoring leader in 2019-20. Pryear opened the year with 18 points against Southern Arkansas and has reached double digits 17 times this year. That includes four 20-point performances, highlighted by scoring a career-high 26 vs. Maryville.

TO THE TENS:  Kaloni Pryear is having an outstanding season offensively, averaging 16.3 points per game to lead LU and rank fifth in the MIAA. In 18 of the 19 games she's played, Pryear has scored at least 10 points, and she has reached the 20-point plateau four times. Pryear has made 120 field goals, the fourth-most in the MIAA, while her .455 field goal percentage is eighth in the league.

STEAL-GULL:  Alecia Gulledge leads Lincoln with 31 steals, with her 1.7 takeaways per game ranking 13th in the MIAA. Gulledge, who joins Natasha Dolinsky and Vivian Chigbu in the top-20 of the MIAA rankings for steals per game, has helped Lincoln post the league's fifth-best team average of 9.0 takeaways per contest.

BOTH SIDES OF THE GLASS:  Whether she's on offense or defense, very few players rebound as well as Vivian Chigbu. Her 3.8 offensive rebounds per game are second in the MIAA and 25th nationally while her 4.7 defensive boards per game are 11th in the conference.

THE ROTATION KEEPS SPINNING:  Lincoln has changed up its lineup in nearly every game, using 15 different starting fives in 20 games in 2019-20. Ten Blue Tigers have made at least three starts, with only Vivian Chigbu having made as many as 18.

DOLING SOME HELP:  Natasha Dolinsky leads the Blue Tigers with 45 total assists for 2.3 per game. She also has 31 steals, tied for the 16th-most in the MIAA, and four blocks on the year, and Dolinsky is scoring 6.6 points per night while averaging 3.1 rebounds.

GEAR UP FOR THE GAME:  Get your Blue Tiger jerseys, apparel, accessories, office supplies and much, much more at www.BlueTigersStore.com, the official online store of LU athletics. You can get everything you will need for basketball season, with a portion of all sales going directly to support all 12 LU athletic programs.

NEXT UP:  The Blue Tigers head to Maryville, Mo. on Saturday (Feb. 8) to take on Northwest Missouri at 1:30 p.m. CST.