Warrensburg, Mo. (Nov. 21, 2000) -- Central Missouri State University's women's basketball team will have a weekend of firsts when the Jennies compete in the Metropolitan State College Tournament in Denver, Colo., on Friday and Saturday. It will be the first time they have played in Denver and the first meeting with any of their opponents.

Coach Scott Ballard's Jennies (1-1) will open the tournament Friday at 2 p.m. (CST) against the University of West Florida (1-1). Host Metro State (1-1) then takes on Fort Lewis College (0-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday's third-place game will be at 2 p.m., followed by the championship at 4 p.m. The Jennies' games will be broadcast on KLRQ-FM (96.1 or www.klrq.com) in Clinton, Mo., with Bob Jackson calling the play-by-play.

The Jennies opened their season last weekend with a split of two games in their own University Inn Jennies Classic. After cruising past Lincoln University (Mo.) 86-46, they came up short in the championship game, falling 74-71 to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Junior guard Lori Nichols is the Jennies' top scorer, averaging 18.5 points per game. Nichols and sophomore Carlonda Pettiford were CMSU's representatives on the all-tournament team. Pettiford scored 23 points off the bench in the two games.

Like the Jennies, West Florida has split its first two games, beating Tuskegee University 83-56 in its season opener in its own Tip-Off Classic, then losing to Florida Southern College 86-70. The Lady Argonauts, 17-10 last year, are in their first campaign under coach Shannon Wilkey, who moved up after three years as an assistant on the West Florida staff. Brooke Crawford is West Florida's top scorer after the first two games, averaging 15.0 points. Also averaging in double figures are Karly Geller (14.5), Kelly Barrett (13.5) and Heather Morris (10.0).

Metro State played in the University Inn Jennies Classic last weekend in Warrensburg, but did not face the Jennies. MSC captured third place with a 50-30 win over Lincoln, after dropping its season opener to SIU-Edwardsville 63-52. In their third season under coach Mike Power, the Roadrunners have been led by newcomer Natasha Zacharova from Russia. She averaged 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in the two games last weekend and was named to the all-tournament team.

Fort Lewis is hoping new head coach Patty Patton Shearer can improve on a 3-23 record from last season. She has been a successful high school coach in Tucson, Ariz., the past seven years and won a state championship in 1997. The Skyhawks have no seniors on this year's squad. They dropped their season opener on the road at Westminster College (Utah) 56-41.