KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- Washburn women's basketball dropped its season opener on Friday at Municipal Auditorium, falling to Augustana (S.D.), 75-67, in the Central Region Challenge. 

The Ichabods (0-1) were led offensively by Alexis McAfee who netted 14 points while Shelbe Piggie followed with 12. Bentley Hunter was strong on the glass pulling down a team-best nine rebounds. Reagan Phelan collected six boards as she also finished with six assists.

A quick start by the Vikings saw Washburn fall into an 11-2 hole early as AU knocked three consecutive attempts from behind the arc. Midway throught the opening period, the Ichabods rallied with an 8-4 run as Piggie landed a pair of layups but continued to trail at 15-10 with 4:41 left.

A defensive struggle then saw neither score for about a two minute span. After an AU layout broke the scoring drought, Taylor Blue answered back by draining a three at 2:29 to make it 17-13. Augie however stretched its lead to eight as it closed on 5-1 run.

After making six of 15 in the first, the Washburn offense went cold in the second, converting on four of 21 from the field and 0-for-9 from long range.

Washburn conceeded a 5-0 spurt to open, slipping into a double-digit deficit at 27-14. It trimmed the margin back to single-digits with a 5-0 spurt as Cara Donley tallied an old-fashioned three-point play before Blue knocked down a mid-range jumper. The effort however wasn't enough as the Ichabods trailed 37-26 at the break.

The Ichabods continued to struggle in the third as it went three minutes between scoring plays, while the Vikings extended the margin to 44-28.

Down by 16, Blue and McAfee put up back-to-back layups in quick succession sparking a Washburn 10-0 run, narrowing the deficit to 46-40 with 1:22 left. Augie however regained its double-figure cushion, closing with a late 7-2 spurt.

Back-and-forth scoring kept the margin within 11 until four-point spurt saw the Washburn deficit grow to 65-50 with 4:32 remaining. 

Trailing 71-56 with 1:40 on the clock, the Ichabods began to surge as McAfee scored seven points in 45 seconds, closing the gap to 71-63. Nicole Murugarren's three-point cut the difference to five with 0:25 left, but the rally was clipped short Augustana went 3-for-4 from the line in the final 20 seconds.

The Ichabods out rebounded Augustana, 53 to 47, but made 24 of 76 from the field while the Vikings converted 26 of 65.

Washburn will look to rebound on Saturday as it returns to Municipal Auditorium to face Concordia-St. Paul at 5:30 pm.