TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Washburn never trailed en route to its fourth straight win, taking down Northeastern State, 56-46, on the road on Thursday, Jan. 7.
 
WU improves to 10-4 overall and 6-2 in the MIAA after shooting 33.9 percent from the field in the game while hitting nine-of-10 from the free throw line.  Washburn once again won the rebounding battle, outmuscling the RiverHawks on the boards, 46-29.
 
Erika Lane and Haley Pfau hit three-pointers on the first two Washburn possessions, giving the Ichabods a 6-0 lead just 1:10 into the game before opening up a 12-3 lead with another six-point burst, ending on Jayna Smith's jumper at 3:25.  From there, NSU hit a field goal at 3:10 to bring the lead back to seven (12-5), where it stayed for the rest of the quarter.
 
NSU cut the lead to two with a 7-2 run in the first four minutes of the second before WU responded with a 9-2 run of its own, stretching the lead back to nine (23-14) after a jumper from Alyxis Bowens with 2:18 to play in the half.  Pfau's three-pointer with 1:23 to go in the second gave WU its largest lead of the night thus far (10) before NSU's Kylie Looney responded on the other end with a three-pointer of her own, sending the teams to the break with the Ichabods ahead, 26-19.
 
Pfau led the Ichabods with 11 points at the break, hitting three three-pointers in the opening two quarters while Smith pulled down 11 rebounds in the first half, already extending her streak of double-digit rebounds to four games.
 
Washburn was forced to combat a hard charge from the RiverHawks in the third quarter as NSU climbed back to within two (30-28) at the media timeout inside six minutes to play before Bowens scored four straight for WU to put the Ichabods back in a two-possession lead near the four-minute mark.  Julie Ravn hit a three-pointer as time expired in the third to second WU to the final quarter ahead 41-33.
 
WU held Northeastern State to just one field goal in the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter while scoring six points of its own, taking its largest lead of the night (47-35) after a layup from Felisha Gibbs at 6:08.  With the Ichabods ahead seven inside three minutes to go, the game turned into a free throw contest as the Ichabods sunk seven of eight free throws attempted in that span to hang on to the win.
 
Smith finished with 20 rebounds, a career-high that fell just three boards short of the school record, set the last time an Ichabod had 20-plus rebounds, when Brenda Shaffer-Dahl grabbed 23 on Feb. 16, 1988 against Emporia State.
 
Pfau led the team in scoring, finishing the night with 13 to go with four assists, tied with Smith for the team-high.  Joining Pfau in double-digits was Gibbs and Lane, who each had 12 points, and Bowens, who finished with 10 points.  Gibbs finished 6-of-9 from the night on field goals, adding four rebounds while Lane was three rebounds short of a double-double, finishing with seven boards while hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line, playing all 40 minutes.  Bowens was a perfect 4-for-4 on free throws and grabbed five rebounds.
 
For NSU, Kate Bellamy finished with 19 points and Mary Jane Buschmann had 13 points. 
 
The Ichabods head west from here for a Saturday, Jan. 9 matchup at Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla.  Tipoff with the Bronchos is 1:30 p.m.