Box Score | Season Stats | Photos
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The 10th-ranked Washburn Lady Blues rolled into the MIAA tournament semfinals with an 80-60 win over Southwest Baptist on Thursday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium. The Lady Blues will play Northwest Missouri on Saturday at noon.
Washburn (24-3) took an early 2-0 lead on a
Cassie Lombardino lay-in. After the Bearcats (10-18) took a 3-2 lead the Lady Blues ran off 10 straight points and never looked back. Back-to-back lay-ins by
Dayna Rodriguez and
Rose Hammond started the run and a lay-in by
Brette Ulsaker made it 12-3 with just over 13 minutes to play in the first half. Southwest Baptist cut the lead to four with a quick 4-0 run, but a 13-2 run by the Lady Blues opened up a 15-point advantage at 25-10 with 7:51 to play in the half.
The Bearcats cut the lead to nine with an 11-5 spurt, but a 10-2 run by Washburn to close the half gave WU a 40-23 advantage at the intermission.
The second half got off to a slow start with each team making one free throw in the first three and a half minutes of play. A 13-4 run by the Lady Blues gave them a 54-28 lead with 13:09 to play in the game. Washburn extended the lead to as many as 29 on two separate occasions before the Bearcats closed the game on a 15-6 run, but the outcome was never in doubt as the Lady Blues cruised into the semifinals with the 20-point win.
Lombardino led Washburn with a career-high 15 points making her first start of the season. Rodriguez added 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench. 12 different players scored for the Lady Blues, who shot 54 percent for the game, 29-of-54, including 8-of-19 for 42 percent from three-point range.
Washburn held SBU to 30 percent from the floor, 20-of-67, and 8-of-29 from behind the arc for 28 percent. Freddie Sims led three Bearcats in double figures with 14 points. Ashleigh Gallio and Rachel Graves chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Lady Blues out-rebounded Southwest Baptist 49-27 and dished out 23 assists to 10 for SBU. Washburn, however, committed 25 turnovers to just 13 for the Bearcats. WU was 14-of-17 from the free throw line compared to 12-of-20 for SBU.
