Warrensburg, Mo. (Feb. 27, 2000) -- It's tournament time for the basketball Jennies of Central Missouri State University as they begin play in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-Season Tournament with a first-round game at home on Monday against Washburn University at 7 p.m.

The Jennies, 21-5 overall, are the No. 2 seed for the eight-team event based upon their second-place finish in the regular-season conference standings. Should they win on Monday, they will host the winner of the contest between third-seeded Missouri Western State College (19-7) and No. 6 Pittsburg State University (17-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m., while the title game will take place on Friday at the site of highest surviving seeded team at 7 p.m. The tourney winner earns the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Monday's other first-round games include top-seeded Emporia State University (23-3), which has won the last two league tournaments, hosting No. 8 University of Missouri-Rolla (7-19) and No. 4 Truman State University (17-8) hosting No. 5 Southwest Baptist University (18-8).

All of the Jennies' post-season contests will be broadcast on KLRQ Radio of Clinton, Mo. (96.1 FM), with air time slated for 15 minutes prior to tipoff. The broadcasts can also be heard via the Internet on KLRQ's web site at http://www.klrq.com or on TEAMLINE (dial 1-800-846-4700, use access code 3946 and a credit card).

CMSU is making its 18th straight MIAA Tournament appearance and is the only school to play in every one of the events. Although the Jennies had a five-game win streak halted with a 96-62 road loss to eighth-rated Emporia State University on Saturday and had to settle for a runner-up conference finish at 14-4, they have won seven of their last nine games, 13 of their last 16, 20 of their last 24 and 29 of their last 36 overall dating back to the final month of the '98-99 season. They were second in the South Central Region ratings of Feb. 23, but moved up to 20th in the Feb. 20 USA TODAY/WBCA Division II Coaches Top 25 poll.

Washburn will enter Monday's game with a 12-17 overall record. Beginning with a 66-50 home loss to CMSU on Feb. 16, the Lady Blues dropped three of their final four outings to finish seventh in the final MIAA standings with a 6-12 league mark. They are coming off a 68-65 overtime loss at home to Missouri-Rolla on Saturday. WU is without the services of starting center Jodi Rausch, who sustained a season-ending knee injury in the WU's 64-57 home loss to Missouri Western on Feb. 19.

The Jennies claimed both meetings with Washburn this season as they also won 65-47 in Warrensburg back on Jan. 19. Although CMSU has won the last three meetings overall, the Lady Blues still lead the all-time series by a 13-8 margin, making them the only MIAA foe to own such an advantage over the Jennies.

The Jennies ran their win streak to five in a row with their victory over Washburn on Feb. 16 and by beating Missouri Southern State College 64-49 in Joplin on Feb. 19 and 25th-rated Southwest Baptist 51-47

at home on Feb. 23 before falling to Emporia State in the regular-season finale on Feb. 26. In that contest, CMSU trailed only 20-13 at the 12:06 mark of the first half, but fell behind 45-30 at intermission and could get no closer than 14 the rest of the way as the 36-point loss was the Jennies' third-worst in school history. Guard Lori Nichols (So., Nevada, Mo., NHS) was CMSU's only player in double-figures with 14 points.

Against SBU, the Jennies trailed 41-40 with 8:37 to play, but scored six straight points to go up 46-41 with 6:12 remaining and maintained at least a two-point lead the rest of the way. Center Katie Vaske [So., Bancroft, Iowa, Bishop Garrigan H.S. (Algona, Iowa)] led the attack with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Against Missouri Southern, the Jennies led just 30-25 at the 15:46 mark of the second half, but went on a 15-2 run to go up 45-27 with 8:50 remaining and never looked back. Guards Molly Knobbe (So., Cimarron, Kan., CHS) and Marlies Ozias (Jr., Centerview, Mo., Crest Ridge H.S.) led CMSU with 13 points each.

In the Washburn game, the Jennies trailed 40-38 with 9:56 to play, but outscored the Lady Blues 28-10 the rest of the way to pull away. Knobbe led CMSU with 17 points, while Vaske had 14 and Ozias had 10.