MARYVILLE, Mo. --- Propelled by five double-figure contributions and a second half surge the Washburn Ichabod women's basketball team overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to drop Northwest Missouri, 87-77, on Saturday at Bearcat Arena.
 
Trailing 41-32, Washburn (16-8, 9-6 MIAA) opened the second half with a 10-2 run cutting the Bearcat advantage to one (43-42) with 6:35 left in the third period. Alyxis Bowens was the biggest contributor to the surge as she accounted eight points with the balance coming from Erika Lane. 
 
After Northwest Missouri (8-14, 3-12 MIAA) moved the margin back up to four, WU responded with an 8-2 spurt to claim its first lead (50-48) of the second half. The advantage was however short-lived as Mallory McAndrews knocked down one of her seven 3-pointers of the day to regain a lead for the Bearcats.
 
WU eventually took the lead for good at the 1:45 mark of the third as a result of a layup from Bowens, who accounted for 16 of the Ichabods' 27 third quarter points The bucket was part of a 7-0 sprint that helped WU close out the period with a 59-53 lead.
 
Northwest Missouri threatened to retake the lead early in the final stanza as a 9-2 run trimmed the WU advantage to 63-62. That however was the closest the Bearcats came as Jharian Bowen, Reagan Phelan and Lane combined for eight unanswered points pushing WU out front, 71-62. 
 
The Bearcats tried to get back into the ballgame late by fouling the Ichabods, but that proved to be detrimental for NWMSU as WU converted 8-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe during the final 56 seconds of play.
 
The Bearcats enjoyed an early advantage leading by as much as 13 during the second quarter, thanks in large part to its 9-of-19 shooting from three-point distance during the opening half.
 
With a stellar second half shooting 20-of-32, Washburn went 31-for-62 for the game to reach 50 percent shooting edging out NWMSU's mark of 49.1. Lead by a career-best nine boards from Bowen, the Ichabods held a narrow, 35-30, rebounding advantage.
 
Fueled by 11 fourth quarter points, Phelan led WU in scoring with a career-high outing of 25. Bowens followed with 21 while Lane netted 13, Bowen had 11 and Erin Dohnalek chipped in with 10. Lane also had a career-day as she distributed eight assists. Cindy Demosthene came off the bench to pull down six boards.
 
Washburn will have a short turnaround as it faces archrival Emporia State on Tuesday, Feb. 14 with action set to tip from Lee Arena at 5:30 p.m.