MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Ichabods trailed by six at halftime Saturday at Northwest Missouri as the Bearcats, winless in the MIAA, threatened to upset 13th-ranked Washburn. The Ichabods came back to shoot 59 percent in the second half and keep the Bearcats without a field goal the final four minutes in a 77-65 win.
 
The Ichabods improved to 12-3 overall and 4-3 in the MIAA as they opened a four-game road trip. Northwest Missouri fell to 4-12 and 0-7 in the league. The Bods will continue action next Saturday afternoon at 1:30 at Pittsburg State.
 
Casyn Buchman reached the 20-point mark for the second time this year as she was 7 of 10 from the field and 4 of 4 from 3-point range for 24 points. She shot 6 of 6 from the free throw line to move her MIAA-leading free throw percentage to .923 on the year. She's a perfect 24 of 24 from the line in MIAA games.
 
The Bods trailed 34-28 at halftime after Northwest Missouri shot 52 percent and the Bods were just 33 percent. Washburn made just 1 of 9 3-point attempts in the half.
 
The Bearcats led by as much as nine early in the second half but a 7-0 run near the midway point of the period gave Washburn its first lead since the 9:05 mark of the first half. The Bearcats later tied the score at 57-57 with 7:35 to play but Jayna Smith's layup a minute later gave Washburn the lead for good.
 
Smith ended up with a team-high seven rebounds while adding nine points. Honor Duvall grabbed six rebounds and scored 12 points while Taylor Ignoto scored 10. Ally Nikkel grabbed five rebounds and made all four of her free throw attempts off the bench.
 
Washburn ended the game 19 of 25 from the line while the Bearcats made 8 of 12 free throw attempts.
 
Northwest's last field goal of the game at 4:03 cut Washburn's lead to three points at 64-61. The Bods later made 7 of 8 free throws the final two minutes to grow their lead to double digits.
 
Washburn won the rebound battle 36-24 and had 13 turnovers while the Bearcats had 12. The Bods committed just two of those turnovers in the second half.
 
Ariel Easton led the Bearcats with 17 points as she shot 8 of 19 from the field. She grabbed a team-high six rebounds.