TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn Women's Basketball took down Central Oklahoma, 69-62, on Saturday, Feb. 20 for its third consecutive win, closing the home portion of its regular season in style on Senior Night.
 
The Ichabods (15-11, 11-9 MIAA) are now alone in fifth place in the MIAA standings with two games to go before tournament play, one-half game ahead of Missouri Southern and one full game ahead of Central Oklahoma and Nebraska-Kearney. 
 
Seniors Haley Pfau and Jayna Smith had standout nights in their final regular season game at Lee Arena, as Pfau finished with a team-high (tied) 17 points while hitting five three-pointers, and Jayna Smith notched her third career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Alyxis Bowens tied Pfau for the team lead in scoring (17), just missing a double-double of her own with eight rebounds. 
 
Erin Dohnalek pulled down 10 rebounds and matched her career-high in assists, dishing out seven for the second straight game. 
 
Jharian Bowen was also in double figures for the Ichabods, adding 13 points in the winning effort.
 
WU opened the game on a 10-2 run before UCO responded with a 9-2 run of its own over the next three minutes of play, putting the Ichabods ahead one (12-11) with 2:37 to go in the first.  WU closed the opening period with five unanswered and led 17-11 at the pause. 
 
The Ichabods maintained that two-possession lead for a majority of the second frame until the 1:38 mark, when a UCO three-pointer brought the lead back to one and closed out a string of six unanswered for the Bronchos. Dohnalek hit a jumper to stop the run and WU took a 32-30 lead into the half.
 
The teams played relatively even through the first seven minutes of the third quarter beore a 5-0 run by UCO saw the Bronchos take their only lead of the night, but six points for the Ichabods inside the final minute of the third put the home team back in the lead for good.
 
WU closed the fourth quarter strong to hold off a UCO comeback effort.  Facing a free throw shooting contest as UCO attempted to extend the game at the charity stripe, Bowens came through in the clutch on the defensive end with a steal and breakaway layup to seal the win with 23 seconds to go.