TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn looks to get back into the win column on Saturday as the Ichabods host No. 16 Nebraska-Kearney at 1 p.m. in Lee Arena.

OPENING TIP

• The Ichabods (7-9, 3-7 MIAA) are on a three-game losing streak after falling to Fort Hays State on Wednesday.
• The Lopers are coming off a big 86-54 at Emporia State on Wednesday to improve their record to 17-3 (10-2 MIAA).
• UNK is 6-2 on the road this season and WU is 5-6 in Lee Arena.
• These two teams faced off once last season with then-ranked No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney coming away with a 49-43 win in Lee Arena on Dec. 4, 2021.
• For the fifth-straight season, UNK and WU will only play each other once in the regular season.
• Nebraska-Kearney went 24-8 (17-5 MIAA) last season and reached the NCAA Central Region semifinals.
• The Lopers, who are currently tied for second in the MIAA standings, were picked third in the MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll and the Ichabods were voted 10th.

BODS AND ENDS

• Washburn is averaging 55.4 ppg and shoots 37.0 percent from the field.
• The Ichabods are third in the league in fewest points allowed per game as they hold opponents to 56.9 ppg.
• Washburn is up to 59-consecutive games with a three-pointer after making three against Fort Hays.
• Wednesday's game was the fourth time this season that the combined score between both teams has been 99 or fewer points.
• The Ichabods have won two of the last three Saturday games.
• Saturday's game will be the second time Washburn has played a ranked opponent this season after facing No. 7 Central Missouri earlier this month.
• Aubree Dewey is three points away from having 400 in her career.

THE WU CREW

• Dewey leads the team with 10.4 ppg, 3.6 apg, and 32.3 mpg ... she has scored at least two points in every game with seven double-digit scoring games and has also dished out at least one assist in each of the 16 contests.
• Natalia Figueroa is scoring 8.9 ppg and has made a team-high 29 three-pointers ... she has made at least one triple in 14 of the 16 games this season.
• Macy Doebele chips in 7.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, and leads the team at the charity stripe with 41 made free throws ... her 80.4 free throw percentage ranks seventh in the MIAA.
• Gabi Artis tied her season-high in scoring and rebounds on Wednesday as she finished with 16 points and seven boards. In 14 games played, she averages 6.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg.
• At forward, Emma Chapman has started 12 games this season and is averaging 5.1 rpg and 6.4 ppg.
• Mackenzie Gamble is second on the squad with 20 three-pointers this season and overall averages 5.8 ppg.
• Yiibari Nwidadah recorded Washburn's first double-double of the season on Wednesday as she grabbed a season-best 13 rebounds, seven of which were offensive, and added 11 points after shooting 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 at the free throw line.
• Nwidadah is now averaging 5.5 ppg and 5.2 rpg and has a 54.7 field goal percentage.
• Off the bench, Lauren Cassaday and Amaya Davison each average 2.0 ppg.
• Lakyn Schieferecke has played in all 16 games and started the last seven in a row ... she averages 1.8 ppg and 2.1 rpg.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

• The 2022-23 season marks the 39th season of play in Lee Arena as the facility opened in the 1983-84 season.
• Washburn is 444-121 all-time in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods went 8-7 at home last season.

HEAD COACH LORA WESTLING

• Former Washburn women's basketball student-athlete Lora Westling has returned to Topeka and is in her first season as head coach in 2022-23.
• Westling returns to her alma mater after six seasons at Western Colorado, where she compiled a record of 77-78 and led the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament selections – the first two in program history.
• Her overall victories is second on the Western all-time list and her 63 RMAC wins is tied for second in program history.
• Prior to Western Colorado, Westling spent three seasons as the head coach at the Division III program, Illinois College.
• Before accepting the head job at Illinois College, Westling was the top assistant at Truman State from 2010-13.
• Westling's first full-time position came at University of Missouri-St. Louis where she was the top assistant from 2007-10.
• She got her start in coaching at Washburn, where she served as a graduate assistant for the women's basketball and women's soccer teams.
• Westling was a standout member of Washburn's women's basketball team from 2001-05 and helped the Lady Blues to the school's first NCAA Division II national championship in 2005.
• She is currently sixth in games played (132), sixth in career three-pointers made (144), 10th in assists (299), and 14th in three-point field goal percentage (.363).
• She also played one season of soccer for the Lady Blues.

WASHBURN ASSISTANT COACHES

• Coach Westling brought in a new coaching staff for her first season and chose J'nae Squires-Horton and Will Marchino as her assistants.
• Squires-Horton served as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado Springs-Colorado.
• As a student-athlete, Squires-Horton was a three-year member of the MSU Denver basketball team and earned all-RMAC second team honors twice.
• Following her graduation at MSU Denver with a degree in Journalism, Squires-Horton played one season in Latvia with the Latvian Basketball League's SBK Liepaja/LSSS.
• Marchino spend the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Seward County Community College where he oversaw recruiting and scouting.
• Prior to his time in Liberal, Kansas, Marchino was an assistant coach for Grand View University.
• Before making the jump to the college ranks, Marchino was the varsity girls basketball head coach at Iowa Christian Academy.
• Marchino is a 2008 graduate from the University of Iowa where he received his degree in Health and Sports Studies.

WASHBURN'S LAST TIME OUT
Fort Hays State 53, Washburn 46 (Jan. 18, 2023)
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Ichabods started the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game, but Fort Hays State regained the lead and held on for the 53-46 win in Lee Arena on Wednesday evening.

Fort Hays State (14-6, 9-3 MIAA) broke an early 2-all tie with a 6-0 run, but went scoreless the last 3:46 of the quarter while Washburn answered with six points of its own to level the score at 8-8 at the end of the first.

The Tigers scored the first four points of the second and led for the entire frame, shooting 57 percent from the field and extending their lead to nine, 24-15, at halftime.

After the break, Washburn (7-9, 3-7 MIAA) trimmed the deficit to five at the 7:03 and 5:33 marks before Fort Hays State used a 9-3 spurt to go up by a game-high 11, 39-28. Gabi Artis drained a three-pointer just before the buzzer to make it a 39-31 game at the end of three.

The Ichabods carried that momentum into the fourth quarter and ripped off a 9-0 run over the first 3:48 to take their first lead of the contest. The Tigers reclaimed the lead with a layup on the ensuing possession and stayed in front for the remainder of the game. Washburn got within two, 46-44, on a jumper by Artis with 1:41 to go, but the Ichabods would get no closer.

The Ichabods finished the night shooting 29.3 and the Tigers shot 36.8 percent. Washburn was 3-of-19 from behind the arc and Fort Hays was 2-for-11 from deep. Both teams made nine free throws and Washburn made one more attempt, taking 14 trips to the charity stripe. The Ichabods had a 47-33 advantage in rebounds and scored 11 second chance points on 18 offensive boards.

Artis, a freshman, tied her season-high in scoring with 16 points and added seven rebounds. Fellow freshman Yiibari Nwidadah recorded the first double-double of the season for Washburn as she racked up a season-best 13 boards, seven of which were offensive, and 11 points in 23 minutes of action.

Katie Wagner was the lone Fort Hays State player in double-figures as she finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

ABOUT THE NEBRASKA-KEARNEY LOPERS

• Through 20 games, the Lopers are one of the best defensive teams in the nation.
• They hold opponents to an even 50.0 ppg, ranking first in Division II ... they are also third nationally in fewest fouls per game (13.0) and fifth in fewest turnovers per game (12.0).
• Offensively, UNK averages 68.2 ppg for an 18.2 scoring margin, the second-largest in the MIAA.
• Shiloh McCool is averaging 11.7 ppg with a 51.5 field goal percentage ... she has scored 10 or more points in eight of the last nine games with two 23+ point game efforts.
• Elisa Backes contributes 10.7 ppg and has made 35 three-pointers ... she also leads the team with 1.6 blocks per game, which ranks fifth among MIAA players.
• Klaire Kirsch averages a team-best 7.8 rpg to go with 8.1 ppg.

HEAD COACH CARRIE EIGHMEY

• The 2020-21 National and MIAA Coach of the Year Carrie Eighmey is in her eighth year leading the Lopers and started this season with a record of 137-69.
• The Lopers have reached the MIAA Tournament all seven seasons since Eighmey took over.
• Prior to joining UNK, Eighmey was the head coach at her alma mater, Hastings College. In three seasons (2012-15), she compiled a record of 68-31 including an NAIA Final Four and an NAIA Elite Eight appearance.
• She was also an assistant at Fort Hays State (2008-12) and started out as an assistant at Hastings (2004-08) right after she graduated.
• As a student-athlete at HC, she was named a first team All-American her senior year and finished with program records for career assists and steals. She was also a part of back-to-back NAIA National titles in 2002 and 2003.
• Eighmey is joined on the UNK bench by her husband, who has been an assistant coach since 2015.
• She is 5-5 when coaching against Washburn.

SERIES WITH NEBRASKA-KEARNEY

• Washburn won the very first meeting against Nebraska-Kearney, 64-57, on Jan. 14, 1977.
• Although the Lopers have won the last four, Washburn still leads the all-time series 29-17.
• When playing UNK in Topeka, WU is 14-7.
• Washburn's last victory over Nebraska-Kearney was in Lee Arena on Jan. 16, 2019 when the Ichabods won 62-60 in overtime.

WASHBURN'S LAST TIME AGAINST NEBRASKA-KEARNEY
Nebraska-Kearney 49, Washburn 43 (Dec. 4, 2021)
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn women's basketball team held No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney to 23 points below its scoring average, but the Ichabods came up just short on Saturday afternoon in the 49-43 loss. The Ichabods will play their first road MIAA games next week at Central Oklahoma (Dec. 9) and Newman (Dec. 11).

Both teams got off to a hot start and made each of their first three shot attempts without a miss. The Lopers (7-1, 2-0 MIAA) put together an 8-2 scoring run and ended the opening period up, 16-11.

Nebraska-Kearney drained a three-pointer to make it 19-11 at the start of the second quarter when Washburn started to slowly trim down the deficit. Trailing 24-20, a layup from Mackenzie Gamble started a 7-2 Washburn (1-6, 0-2 MIAA) scoring run over the final 2:14 of the first half to send the Ichabods into the break in front, 27-26.

It was back-and-forth scoring in the third quarter with three lead changes and two tie scores at 28 and 34. The Lopers closed out the quarter with five unanswered points all scored by Haley Simental to lead 36-34 heading into the final stanza.

Lauren Cassaday made a layup and Hunter Bentley added a free throw to give the Ichabods a 37-36 advantage while the Washburn defense held Nebraska-Kearney scoreless until 5:37 on the clock. The Lopers found their groove and reclaimed the lead with an 8-1 run to make it a 44-38 game. Washburn pulled within three points, 44-41, with 31 seconds left in regulation, but that would be as close as it got as Nebraska-Kearney closed out the game 5-for-6 at the charity stripe.

Washburn finished the game shooting 37.0 percent from the field while Nebraska-Kearney shot slightly less at 35.4 percent. The Lopers held a slight edge in rebounds, 36-30, forced 12 turnovers and turned that into 13 points.

Bentley had a team-high nine points and grabbed five rebounds. Gamble and Nuria Barrientos both chipped in seven points.

For the Lopers, Simental played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 14 points.

WASHBURN HISTORY

• Washburn women's basketball is 978-470-1 (.677) all-time and are in the 54th year of the program's history.
• Washburn claimed the 2005 NCAA National Championship over Seattle Pacific with a 70-53 win to cap off a 35-2 season.
• Washburn has made 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and is 26-16 all-time in those postseason games.
• The program has won 18 total MIAA Championships, earning nine regular season conference titles and winning nine MIAA Tournament championships.
• There have been 30 All-American awards given to Washburn players, with 11 of those coming from the WBCA.
• Washburn has finished 14 seasons with 25 wins and four seasons with 30 victories.

NEXT UP

• Washburn remains at home for two more games next week hosting Rogers State (Jan. 26) and Northeastern State (Jan. 28).