KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn women's basketball team opened MIAA postseason play with a 59-53 first round victory over the No. 8 seed Pittsburg State on Wednesday afternoon. The No. 9 seed Ichabods will now face No. 1 seed Missouri Southern in the quarterfinal at noon on Thursday.
Pittsburg State's season comes to an end with a record of 16-13 and Washburn improves to 14-15.
The game was back-and-forth to start with three tie scores until
Shae Sanchez drained a three-pointer with just under three minutes left in the opening quarter to give the Ichabods a 12-10 lead. Washburn would never trail again in the contest and held a 16-15 advantage at the end of the first period.
The Ichabods started the second quarter on a 11-2 scoring burst to go up 27-17 with
Hunter Bentley scoring nine of those points. The Gorillas answered with a 9-2 run of their own to trim Washburn's lead to 29-26 at the break.
For the second-consecutive quarter, Washburn outscored Pittsburg State 13-11 to lead by five heading into the final period. Just before the buzzer at the end of the third,
Macy Doebele was fouled and successfully made both free throws to make it 42-37 in favor of Washburn.
Holding a four point lead midway through the fourth quarter, Sanchez added a spark on both ends of the floor for Washburn. Defensively, Sanchez made a block and then hit a jumper with 5:26 on the clock. Ninety seconds later, she snatched the ball away for a steal and then made a fast break layup. On the ensuing possession, she hit a three-pointer and then a jumper to put Washburn in front, 53-44. The Ichabods closed out the game going 4-4 at the free throw line to seal the 59-53 win.
The Ichabods shot 39.3 percent from the field while holding the Gorillas to a 30.5 field goal percentage. From three-point distance, Washburn was 5-of-12 and Pittsburg State made 3-of-17 from deep. Both teams grabbed 39 rebounds and the Ichabods totaled 18 fast break points.
Bentley led all scorers with 20 points after making 7-of-9 from the field. Sanchez tallied 13 points with 10 of those coming in the final quarter.
Nuria Barrientos notched her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Jenna Shipley paced the Gorillas with 12 points.
NOTES
- Washburn is 0-2 against Missouri Southern this season, losing 69-50 in Joplin on Jan. 13 and 55-50 in Lee Arena on Feb. 24.
- WU is 4-1 against MSSU in the MIAA Tournament.
- These two programs last faced in the MIAA Tournament on March 4, 2020 in the first round. Washburn came away with a 66-52 win.
- After Wednesday's win over PSU, Washburn is now 42-22 all-time in the MIAA Tournament.
- WU has played the tournament No. 1 seed six times and is an even 3-3.
- Washburn's last win over the top-seeded team was against Emporia State in the championship game on March 8, 2009.
