[Women's Basketball] WBB Gameday Preview: Falcons host Kansas Wesleyan in regular season finale ...

The Lowdown: Kansas Wesleyan University at Friends University

Location: Garvey Center

When: Saturday, Feb. 19 @ 5 pm

Broadcast: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/   

What's at Stake: A win over Kansas Wesleyan would clinch at least the fourth seed for the Falcons in the KCAC postseason tournament.  A win and a loss by Avila University at Bethel College would move the Falcons into the third spot in the league and a bye into the tourney quarterfinal round.  

Flying with the Falcons: After winning 12 out of 14 games, the Friends University Falcons have now dropped three straight games and are 20-9 overall and tied for the fourth seed in the KCAC at 15-8 in the league.  

Taylor Jackson (FR/Houston, Texas) leads the Falcons in scoring (12.4 ppg), rebounding (11.1 rpg) and blocks (3.1 bpg). Jackson's rebounds and blocks both rank second in the KCAC. Carrie Lacy (JR/Victoria, Texas) is right behind Jackson with 12.2 ppg and Bridget Busbee (JR/Grand Prairie, Texas) has recorded a team-best 2.4 assists on the season. LaShawn Sweet (SR/Omaha, Neb.) has come on as a perimeter threat and leads the Falcons and ranks third in the league in three-point percentage (38.5 percent).  

Scouting the Coyotes: The Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes have won three of their last four games to come in with a 19-9 overall mark and an identical 15-8 KCAC record.

The Coyotes are anchored by the duo of Amanda Hill and Kelcey Hinz. Hill is pacing KWU in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (2.3 apg) while ranking fourth in the league in three-point percentage (37.1 percent). Hinz leads the Coyotes and is third in the league in rebounding (10.5 rpg) and is tops on the team and the KCAC in blocks per game (4.1 bpg).         

The Series: The Falcons defeated the Coyotes 73-66 in the first meeting this season in Salina, Kan. to snap a six-game losing streak in the series. Prior to the Coyotes six straight wins, the Falcons had managed seven consecutive victories in the series.   

Quoting Head Coach Dean Jaderston:  

"Every senior night is so bittersweet. It is great to be able to honor the student-athletes who have worked so hard in pursuit of excellence. It's also very difficult to realize that their athletic careers are drawing to a close and I won't get to coach them anymore. Add to that the significance of this game.  We can finish anywhere from 3rd to 6th in the KCAC regular season standings. So can our opponent. Everything is on the line. We have to put our last few games behind us and get focused on what made us so successful in January, fierce defense and ball movement. We have to make some shots against their zone and compete with everything we have. It should be exciting!"

Inside Scoop: Two of the very best interior players in the KCAC will take center stage in this matchup between the Falcons and Coyotes. Both strong candidates for the league's Defensive Player of the Year, the Falcons' Taylor Jackson is second in the conference in both rebounding (11.1 rpg) and blocks (3.1 bpg), while the Coyotes' Kelcey Hinz is right behind Jackson in rebounding (10.5 rpg) and tops in the KCAC in blocks per game (4.1 bpg).

Three-Point Shootout: A pair of top three-point shooters will be on display in the Falcons' meeting with Kansas Wesleyan. The Falcons' LaShawn Sweet (38.5 percent) is third in the KCAC in three-point percentage, followed closely by Amanda Hill of KWU (37.1 percent).

Top of the Mountain: With three blocks in the Falcons' 76-64 win at Ottawa (Feb. 8), Taylor Jackson set the modern statistical era record for blocks in a season with 77 swats. She's since added 10 more blocks and now has 87 for the season. Jackson has also twice broken the modern era single-game blocks record (nine) this season.

Check out Taylor in the Student-Athlete Spotlight

Sponsor Alerts: Friends University Athletics is excited to have Home2 Suites by Hilton back as an official athletic sponsor this season! For more on what they can offer, click HERE to visit their official webpage.

Friends University Athletics also welcomes Phoenix Home Care and Hospice as a sponsor this season! For more info on what they can provide, click HERE.

Tickets: Fans are able to tickets all home basketball games by clicking HERE.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall record: 20-9

KCAC: 15-8

Home: 8-5

Road: 12-4

Neutral: 0-0

When scoring:                                           

Under 50 points: 0-3

50-59 points: 0-3

60-69 points: 8-1

70-79 points: 9-2

80-89 points: 1-0

90+ points:  1-0

When allowing:

Under 50 points: 2-0

50-59 points: 7-1

60-69 points: 8-3

70-79 points: 2-3

80-89 points: 0-1

90+ points: 0-1

When leading at halftime: 11-1

When trailing at halftime: 8-7

When tied at halftime: 0-1

When committing more turnovers: 8-8

When committing fewer turnovers: 9-1

When turnovers are even: 2-0

When leading in field-goal percentage: 16-2

When trailing in field-goal percentage: 2-7

When field-goal percentage is even: 1-0

When leading in three-point percentage: 11-3

When trailing in three-point percentage: 8-6

When leading in rebounding: 15-2

When trailing in rebounding: 4-7

When leading in assists: 11-0

When trailing in assists: 7-8

When assists are even: 1-1

In OT: 0-0

The Coaches:

Dean Jaderston is in his third season at the helm of the Friends University women's basketball program and has things clicking with a 20-9 overall record thus far in 2021-22, marking the Falcons' first 20-win season since 2017-18.

Jaderston brings a wealth of experience to Friends University, with over 30 years of coaching high school and college basketball (12 years high school, 19 years of college). A two-time KCAC Coach of the Year, Jaderston coached six NAIA All-America performers during his tenure at Sterling College and won two KCAC championships and one KCAC tournament championship.  Off the hardwood, Jaderston also made a significant impact, overseeing a team GPA of at least 3.0 for 11 of the past 13 years. He also led three basketball mission trips to Panama.

Prior to taking over at Sterling, Jaderston served in the dual role of head men's basketball coach and assistant athletic director at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL for five seasons.

He also spent eight seasons as both the head girls' basketball and head girls' and boys' tennis coach at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, MN, and 4 years as the head boys' basketball coach at Eastview High School.

Before venturing into the coaching profession, Jaderston was a successful college basketball player at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn.  He was a four-time all-conference selection while helping the team advance to four national tournaments. He also earned All-America and Academic All-America honors at Crown College.

He also competed in tennis for three years at Crown and was a two-time conference singles and three-time conference doubles champion.

Jaderston and his wife Julie have been married for 34 years and are active in youth and camping ministries. They currently serve as executive directors of a premier summer Christian family conference called Northern Pines of Minnesota.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History/Secondary Education from Crown College in 1989 and then completed a Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy from Adler Graduate School in 1998.

Ryan Showman has been the head women's basketball coach at Kansas Wesleyan since September 2012 and is now the program's all-time winningest coach.

In the 2019-20 season, Showman guided the Coyotes to their first outright KCAC regular season championship in school history. The conference title resulted in an NAIA National Tournament berth, with KWU winning their opening round game before the tourney was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Up Next: The KCAC Tournament will begin next week for the Falcons, with seeding, opponent and game time still TBA. Click HERE for the current KCAC standings.