[Women's Basketball] WBB Gameday Preview: Falcon back at home tonight vs. McPherson

The Lowdown: McPherson College at Friends University

Location: Garvey Center

When: Wednesday, Jan. 11 @ 6 pm

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

Live Stats: https://bit.ly/3GvpG1S

Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons grinded out a pair of road victories this past week, finishing with a hard-fought 60-57 overtime victory at Southwestern College last Saturday (Jan. 7) to improve to 11-5 overall and into a tie for the third spot in the KCAC at 7-3 in the league.

Taylor Jackson, last season's KCAC Freshman of the Year, has picked up where she left off last year with 10.1 ppg, a team-high 9.3 rebounds that is second in the KCAC along with a league-leading 2.9 blocks.

McKenzie Shippy is enjoying a breakout season offensively and is scoring 13.3 ppg and, along with Bridget Busbee and Gracie Sammons, average 2.1 assists per game to serve as the leading distributors for the Falcons.

Irie Razor has given Friends a valuable threat from beyond the arc, hitting a team-leading 42.4 percent (14-33) of her three-point attempts.

Scouting the Bulldogs: The McPherson College Bulldogs have lost four straight games and are now 7-9 overall and 4-6 in the KCAC.

Dy'Mond Mcelrath leads McPherson in both scoring (10.9 ppg) and assists (3.6 apg) while ranking second on the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. Dayjsha Fanning has pulled down a team-high 7.4 boards for the Bulldogs.         

The Series: The Falcons swept both matchups last season after the Bulldogs won both meetings the previous year. McPherson won at home in the last outing in 2018-19 to snap a 14-game winning streak in the series for Friends.    

Quoting Head Coach Dean Jaderston:  

"We're in the thick of the conference race right now and the next two games are crucial in several ways. First, we want to extend our current winning streak. Momentum is a fickle thing and we want to ride it as long as we can. Second, because of our unbalanced schedule, we only play these next two opponents once this year, so these games mean a lot when head-to-head competition gets weighed at tournament time. Finally, tomorrow is our only home game in the middle of a five game road stretch. We need to make the most of it. McPherson has some talented offensive players and has had some big wins. It should be a great game with a lot on the line."

She's always defensive: Picking up right where she left off last season, Taylor Jackson continues to be a major deterrent for the Falcons along the interior. Jackson won her second consecutive KCAC Defensive Player of the Week award and fourth overall this season yesterday (Jan. 10) after averaging 8.5 defensive rebounds per game and three blocks in two road victories. It's the seventh honor overall during the career of the Houston, Texas native, who is second in the KCAC in rebounding (9.3 rpg) and tops in the league in blocks (2.9) this season.

60 is a serious number: The Falcons are 9-1 when holding the opposition under 60 points, but are 2-4 when the opponent reaches or surpasses the 60-point mark.

Make or Miss League: The Falcons are a perfect 10-0 when leading in field-goal percentage, but are 1-5 when being outshot by the opposition.

Just take me half the way: When the Falcons carry a lead into the locker room, they've won a staggering 10 of 11 games. However, the Falcons are 1-4 in games they trailed at intermission.

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.

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

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall record: 11-5

KCAC: 7-3

Home: 7-1

Road: 3-3

Neutral: 1-1

When scoring:                                           

Under 50 points: 1-2

50-59 points: 1-1

60-69 points: 4-2

70-79 points: 2-0

80-89 points: 3-0

90+ points:  0-0

When allowing:

Under 50 points: 4-0

50-59 points: 5-1

60-69 points: 1-2

70-79 points: 1-1

80-89 points: 0-1

90+ points: 0-0

When leading at halftime: 10-1

When trailing at halftime: 1-4

When tied at halftime: 0-0

When committing fewer turnovers: 7-1

When committing more turnovers: 4-4

When turnovers are even: 0-0

When leading in field-goal percentage: 10-0

When trailing in field-goal percentage: 1-5

When field-goal percentage is even: 0-0

When leading in three-point percentage: 7-3

When trailing in three-point percentage: 4-2

When leading in rebounding: 6-3

When trailing in rebounding: 4-2

When rebounding is even: 1-0

When leading in assists: 6-0

When trailing in assists: 5-5

When assists are even: 0-0

In OT: 2-0

The Coaches:

Dean Jaderston is in his fourth season at the helm of the Friends University women's basketball program.

The program broke out under Jaderston last season, coming in fourth place in the KCAC for their best conference finish since winning the league in the 2017-18 season. The Falcons went 22-10 overall last year, marking the Falcons' first 20-win season since going 24-9 in 2017-18.

Jaderston coached a trio of All-KCAC performers last season, highlighted by KCAC Freshman of the Year Taylor Jackson.

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 men's basketball head 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 33 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.

Josh Nichols is in his fifth season as head coach at McPherson College after a three-year stint in the same position at Bacone College.  Last season was the Bulldogs' best under Nichols thus far, winning 16 games overall and finishing tied for fourth in the KCAC with a 13-8 league record.

Nichols led Bacone to 36 wins during his tenure and three SAC tournament appearances. Before taking over at Bacone, Nichols was the assistant coach for five seasons at Iowa Wesleyan University.    

Up Next: The Falcons will be at Bethany College Saturday evening (Jan. 14) for a 5 pm tip-off in Lindsborg, Kan.