TOPEKA, Kan. --- The Washburn women's basketball dropped its final game of a two-game home stand Saturday as it fell to No. 3-ranked Pittsburg State, 81-54 and slipped to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in league play.
 
With two ties and seven lead changes, the opening 10 minutes was the most competitive period of the night.
 
After trading baskets in the first 45 seconds, Pittsburg State (17-2, 9-1 MIAA) took a 3-2 early. PSU's top scorer of the night, Mikaela Burgess then chipped in three of game-high 35 points when she was sent to the line to make it 6-2.
 
WU's Erika Lane and Reagan Phelan then combined for a five-point burst to take the lead, 7-6, with 6:46 remaining. Possession then went back-and-forth till the score was pushed to 12-11 in favor of the Ichabods with 3:27 left in period.
 
The Ichabod advantage though was short-lived as Pittsburg State regained the lead for the final time with a 4-0 sprint to make it 15-12 with 1:47 on clock. Washburn twice trimmed the margin to one but was unable to overcome a hot shooting PSU team.
 
During the second stanza the Gorillas continued to hit their mark to take a 45-29 advantage into halftime.
 
Washburn started to see their shots fall in the third as they converted 50 percent of attempts from the field and tied the Gorillas for the period at 18-18. However the effort was not enough to erase the PSU advantage as WU trailed 63-47 to start the fourth before eventually closing the game a 13-2 run.
 
Washburn scoring was led by freshman Reagan Phelan who finished with 14 points, while seniors Erika Lane and Alyxis Bowens followed with 13 and 11 respectively. It was the 13^th consecutive time the Ichabods had multiple double-figure contributions this season and the seventh time with three players.
 
Bowens feel a rebound short of a double-double though set a new career mark with six blocks.
 
Collectively, the Ichabods shot well as they converted 42.2 percent from the field though were limited to 2-of-10 from 3-point distance whereas PSU shot .459 from the floor and 10-of-20 from behind the arc. The Gorillas also held an advantage in rebounding (35-27) and second chance points (20-2). The lone category in favor of WU were blocks (8-1).
 
The Ichabods will look to bounce back on Thursday when they travel to take on Southwest Baptist. The game is slated for a 5 p.m. start.