BOLIVAR, Mo. – Washburn was dealt a heartbreaking loss on Saturday, Jan. 30 at Southwest Baptist, falling 65-64 in a back-and-forth game that saw 12 lead changes and four ties.
WU (12-8, 8-6 MIAA) had two runs of eight or more unanswered in the game and rallied back from an eight-point deficit midway through the third, taking the lead with 12 seconds to play before SBU (12-8, 7-7 MIAA) hit the winning jump shot with seven seconds left.
Four Ichabods scored in double-digits as
Cindy Demosthene led the team with 13 points and just missed a double-double, adding eight rebounds while finishing 5-of-6 from the field.
Erika Lane and
Alyxis Bowens each had 12 points and
Julie Ravn added 10 points.
Jayna Smith paced the team with 13 rebounds to go alongside her team-high five assists in addition to seven points, matching
Erin Dohnalek (who had four assists) in scoring.
The Ichabods fell behind early, 8-3, before responding with 11 straight over the next three minutes of play to lead, 14-8. Up three (16-13) at the end of the first, WU saw the Bearcats cut the lead to one twice in the first four minutes of the second, before WU went on an 9-2 run that opened with back-to-back jumpers from Ravn to grow the lead to eight, 29-21, inside three minutes to go in the half. SBU, however, hit three unanswered three-pointers over the final two minutes to take a 30-29 lead into the half.
The barrage of hot shooting by the Bearcats continued into the second half as SBU opened the third with seven more unanswered, stretching the rally to 16-0 before
Haley Pfau hit a three-pointer with 7:13 on the clock, making it 37-32 in SBU's favor. Down seven (45-38) after SBU's Megan Rosenbohm hit a layup at 2:44 in the third, Washburn woke up and ran off eight straight to regain the lead, 46-45 after Demosthene scored on a layup with two seconds left in the quarter.
Setting up for a wild fourth quarter, the teams traded baskets and saw six lead changes happen in the fnal quarter. Lane sunk a pair of free throws at 4:28 to give WU a lead for the fourth time on the day, up 56-54, but an 11-6 advantage for SBU over the final four minutes proved too much for WU to overcome. After SBU's Caylee Richardson sunk both free throws with 27 seconds on the clock, Ravn gave the Ichabods a 64-63 lead with 12 seconds on the clock with her second three-pointer of the day, but after a Bearcat timeout, Richardson hit a jump shot and WU's attempt at a buzzer-beater fell off its mark.
The Ichabods return to Lee Arena next week to open a three-game homestand, welcoming Pittsburg State on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m.
