Box Score | Season Stats

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The 16th-ranked Lady Blues rallied in the second half to beat Southwest Baptist 64-57 on Saturday afternoon at the Meyer Sports Center. Washburn ended the game on an 18-6 run after trailing by five with under nine minutes to play in the game.

The Bearcats (8-13, 5-12 MIAA) jumped out to a 6-0 lead on back-to-back threes from Whitney Malone. The Lady Blues (17-4, 13-4 MIAA) responded with an 8-0 run, including two threes from Laura Kinderknecht, to grab the lead 8-6 with 15:37 to play in the half. After Southwest Baptist tied the game at 8-8 Washburn went on a 19-7 run to grab a 27-15 lead with just under nine minutes remaining in the stanza.

Consecutive buckets from Cassie Lombardino and Dana Channel pushed the Lady Blues to their largest lead of the half at 31-17 with 6:39 to play. The Bearcats, however, ended the half on a 10-4 run and Washburn went into the intermission with a 35-27 lead.

Both teams struggled shooting the ball to start the second half. Stevi Schultz buried a three to start the period to push the WU lead to 38-27, but neither team would make a field goal for the next five plus minutes. SBU made four free throws during that stretch then got a trey from Courtney Heady to cut the Washburn lead to four at 38-34. That's when the Bearcats started to heat things up.

Heady's three ignited a 21-6 run to give the Bearcats a 48-44 lead with 10:05 to play in the game. Raychel Boling hit a pair from the charity stripe to cut the lead to two, only to see Heady bury another three to push the lead to 51-46 with 8:52 to play.

Washburn responded with a 10-0 run to grab a 56-51 lead with 6:17 to play in the game, but the Bearcats scored four quick points to pull back to within one at 56-55 at the 4:49 mark. Back-to-back buckets from Lombardino pushed the lead to five with 3:43 to play in the game.

SBU cut the lead to three with 3:06 left, but would not score the rest of the way. A layup from Megan Lassley pushed the lead to 62-57 with 36 seconds left and Kinderknecht hit a pair of free throws with nine ticks remaining to secure the victory.

Lombardino and Schultz led Washburn with 17 points apiece and Schultz added 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Kinderknecht chipped in 11 points and Alyssa Mullen pulled down a game-high 11 boards.

Schultz made 5-of-12 three-point field goals to give her 115 for her career moving into seventh place on Washburn's career list.

The Lady Blues shot 44 percent (22-of-50) from the field and were 33.3 percent (9-of-27) from behind the three-point line. WU shot 11-of-14 from the free throw line for 78.6 percent and out-rebounded the Bearcats 40-30.

Ashleigh Gallio led Southwest Baptist with 13 points, while Heady and Malone chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bearcats shot 33.3 percent (20-of-60) from the floor and 37 percent (10-of-27) from beyond the arc. SBU was 7-of-8 from the foul line for 87.5 percent and the Bearcats forced Washburn into 16 turnovers.

The Lady Blues have a quick turnaround as they host Truman on Monday night at 5:30 p.m. at Lee Arena. The game was originally scheduled to be played on February 2, but had to be postponed due to the winter storm that swept through the Midwest that week.