SHAWNEE, Okla. -- Washburn was able to even its record on the year and pick up win number one in the 2023-24 season on Saturday night defeating Oklahoma Baptist 69-54 in the final game of the Central Region Crossover. The Ichabods return to action on Friday, Nov. 17 against McKendree University in the first game of the Quincy Classic in Quincy Ill. beginning at 5 p.m.
Washburn (1-1) was strong defensively to start and picked up the pace in the second half offensively to pull away leading for the entirety of the final three quarters to knock of the host Bison (0-2).
Oklahoma Baptist led 5-4 with 4:43 to go in the first quarter and it would be the last time they would have the lead. The Ichabods finished the quarter on a 13-4 run with three triples by senior guards, two from Mackenzie Gamble and one in the final seconds of the quarter by Aubree Dewey.
Amaya Davison got the first bucket of the second quarter to put the lead into double digits at the 9:17 mark. The lead stayed at 10 or more for the remainder of the half with the Washburn defense locking in and holding the Bison to 3-8 shooting in the quarter and forcing eight turnovers in the second alone. Liz Boyd put in a layup just before halftime to make the score 29-17.
Both teams came out of the break hot offensively with Washburn shooting a blistering 71.4% in the quarter on 10-14 shooting while the Bison were able to do their scoring at the line going 8-8. The quarter started with seven straight by the Ichabods with a layup by Dewey making it 36-17 and giving WU it's largest lead of the game.
Lakyn Schieferecke put in back-to-back layups midway through the quarter to keep the lead above 15. The lead stayed that way as Nwidadah put in two more points in the paint in the final seconds to lead 56-40 going into the fourth.
After another layup from Nwidadah with 6:29 left in the game Oklahoma Baptist was able to go on a 7-0 run and cut the lead down to nine with 2:24 left to go. That was as close as the Bison would get with Aniah Wayne sinking back-to-back triples as the only two buckets from that point on and Washburn was able to close it out defensively to win 69-54.
The Ichabods shot 28-58 overall (48.3%) and were 8-20 behind the arc (40.0%) while holding OBU to 32.1% shooting and a 1-11 performance behind the arc. Washburn dominated on the boards, winning that battle 40 to 30 and outscored Oklahoma Baptist in both second chance points and points in the paint.
Aubree Dewey did a bit of everything, scoring a team-high 20 points to tie her career high while she added seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Yiibari Nwidadah recorded her second double-double in as many games with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Aniah Wayne and Amaya Davison each added nine points with five combined 3-pointers.
Jaedyn Getman led all scorers with 27, including all nine of the points in the first quarter for the Bison, she also added seven rebounds.
