TOPEKA, Kan. — Fueled by four in double-figures, Washburn women's basketball opened its home schedule Friday afternoon with a 67-59 victory over Montevallo, as it hosted the Parrish Hotels Thanksgiving Classic at Lee Arena.
Mackenzie Loe led the scoring with a team-best 15 points while Reagan Phelan directed the offense with a season-high seven assists to accompany her 13 points.Hunter Bentley netted a season-best 13 points with Shelbe Piggie adding 12.
Loe fell a rebound short of a double-double as she pulled down nine, while Alexis McAfee registered eight boards and five steals.
A sloppy first quarter as both teams combined for 10 teams with six steals. Washburn (2-2) trailed after the opening period, 13-10, as it completed 4-of-15 attempts from the floor including an icy 1-of-9 from the three-point distance.
A nip-and-tuck second period saw the Ichabod offense starting flow late as they closed on an 8-3 run including a Hunter Bentley buzzer-beating to send Washburn into the locker with a slim, 31-30 advantage.
In the opening half, Washburn shot 13 of 31 from the field, with 3 for 13 shooting from long range.
In the third, the Ichabods surged early behind a 10-2 run widening the margin 41-32 during the opening 2:16. Bentley led the charge with four points with Loe, Shelbe Piggie and Alexis McAfee splitting the balance as the Ichabods went 5-for-5 from the field. Loe then added to cause with an old-fashioned three-point play, as she converted on her attempt from the line after being fouled on the layup giving Washburn a double-digit lead, 44-34 with 5:27.
The margin however was quickly trimmed back to single-figures as the Falcons strung together six unanswered points in roughly a 30 second span. Montevallo through then shot 0-for-1 over the next 1:16 allowing the Washburn to rattle off six unanswered points of its own, pushing the score to 50-40 with 2:41 left in the period. The Falcons though controlled the momentum late as they closing the stanza with 7-3 exchange.
Leading 53-47 to begin the fourth, Washburn saw its margin dwindle to four as it surrendered an early foul allowing Montevallo's Kourtnie Smith to net two of her 12 points. The Ichabods answered back with back-to-back layups from Phelan and Piggie but a 5-0 spurt from the Falcons saw the Washburn advantage cut to 57-54 with 7:02 remaining.
A scoreless two minute drought midway through was halted as Phelan found Loe for an easy layup to spark a 7-2 run that pushed the score to 64-56. The Ichabods went 3-for-3 from he field during the exchange including a three-pointer from Phelan at the 4:30 mark.
A three-pointer from Nautika Philpot pulled the Falcons within five with 1:33 remaining but the effort was not enough as Phelan and McAfee secured the victory from the charity stripe. Philpot finished with 20 points.
Washburn dominated Montevallo with points in the paint, 40-28, while netting a 24-12 margin with points from turnovers. The Falcons edged out a 24-20 advantage in bench points, but were out rebounded, 39-35.
The Ichabods return to action at Lee Arena tomorrow as they close the Parrish Hotels Thanksgiving Classic with a 4 pm tipoff against Maryville.
