TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn battled with No. 16-ranked Nebraska-Kearney and held an eight-point advantage at halftime, but the Lopers took the lead late in the third quarter and held on for the 55-51 win over the Ichabods Saturday afternoon. The Ichabods will continue their homestand next week with games against Rogers State (Jan. 26) and Northeastern State (Jan. 28).
Washburn (7-10, 3-8 MIAA) jumped out to a 12-3 lead at the 4:39 mark in the opening quarter with five different Ichabods contributing points.
Gabi Artis banked in a shot at the buzzer to put the Ichabods up, 16-7, at the end of the first period.
In the second quarter,
Emma Chapman put together a 5-0 scoring run herself to push the Washburn lead to double-figures, 21-9, with 7:23 on the clock. The Lopers (18-3, 11-2 MIAA) used a 13-2 tear to pull within one, 23-22, with 3:20 left in the first half.
Natalia Figueroa stopped the run with a three-pointer that started a 9-2 Washburn run to end the quarter in front, 32-24. The Ichabods shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and held the Lopers to shooting 32 percent.
Aubree Dewey scored a basket on the first possession of the second half to put the Ichabods back up by double-digits, 34-24, when Nebraska-Kearney started to chip away at the deficit. The Lopers ripped off a 14-4 rally in six and a half minutes of action to take their first lead since two minutes into the game at 3-2. UNK extended its lead to 41-38 with 20 seconds left before Dewey buried a triple in the waning seconds to level the score at 41 heading into the fourth.
The Lopers started the scoring in the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and never trailed in the final nine and a half minutes.
Yiibari Nwidadah made a layup at the 8:13 mark to tie the game at 45-all, but Washburn did not regain the lead again. The Ichabods trailed 54-51 with 14 seconds remaining and called a timeout, but committed a traveling violation shortly after inbounding the ball and did not get another shot off.
The Ichabods finished with a 43.2 field goal percentage and held the Lopers to a 35.3 clip. Nebraska-Kearney had one more three-pointer attempt and made one more triple than Washburn, going 5-of-15. At the free throw line, UNK was 14-of-22 and WU was 9-for-16. The Lopers outrebounded Washburn, 37-28, and forced 15 Washburn turnovers that they turned into 17 points.
Chapman made 6-of-10 from the field and tied a career-high in scoring with 13 points. Dewey added 10 points and Artis had eight.
Lakyn Schieferecke grabbed a career-best seven rebounds.
Three Lopers finished in double-figures, led by Klaire Kirsch and Shiloh McCool who finished with 14 points apiece.
