ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Washburn Women's Basketball's halftime lead on No. 7 Missouri Western didn't hold up after a third quarter rally as the Ichabods fell, 67-57, on Wednesday, Feb. 24 on the road.
 
WU (15-12, 11-10 MIAA) shot over 50 percent for the fourth time in five games, finishing 21-of-41 from the field, but MWSU (which clinched at least a tie for the MIAA regular season championship with the win) scored 36 second half points in the win.
 
For Washburn, Erika Lane finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists to lead the team and Haley Pfau just missed double-digits, finishing with nine.  Alyxis Bowens added seven points and six rebounds as part of a balanced scoring effort for WU that saw seven of eight players who logged minutes score at least five points.
 
Spurts of unanswered points throughout the opening two quarters told the story in the first half, as Missouri Western had two 7-0 runs and a string of six straight, while Washburn had a 9-0 run, a 7-0 run and two bursts of five straight. 
 
WU trailed by five (9-4) early on, but responded with that 9-0 rally to lead 13-9 soon after.  MWSU, however, closed the quarter with a 11-5 scoring average over the final four minutes of play to lead by two, 20-18.
 
Washburn outscored MWSU, 17-5, in the first nine minutes of the quarter to lead by 10 (35-25), but the Griffons scored six in the 30 seconds to cut the lead to four (35-31), at the half.
 
MWSU opened the third on a tear, and including the final 30 seconds of the second, outscored WU 18-4 in a stretch that lasted until 4:14 in the third when Haley Pfau hit a layup off a backdoor assist from Felisha Gibbs that made it 46-41.  Still, the 23-8 advantage for MWSU put the Ichabods in a hole, 54-43, at the end of the third. That double-digit deficit held up the rest of the way, as WU couldn't pull off the comeback in the fourth.
 
WU is now tied with Missouri Southern for fifth in the conference standings with one game to go, though Central Oklahoma and Nebraska-Kearney (who play each other) are each one-half game back (10-10).  Southwest Baptist defeated Lincoln on Wednesday night and is one full-game back of WU at 10-11 in the conference.
 
The Ichabods wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Emporia State.  Tipoff from White Auditorium in Emporia, Kan., is 1 p.m.