MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Washburn women's basketball team came up just short in a 76-75 overtime loss at Northwest Missouri on Saturday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth battle that saw 13 lead changes, 15 tie scores, and nine points scored in the final five seconds of regulation to send the game to extra time. The Ichabods will close out their three-game road swing at Newman on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
 
Washburn (9-12, 5-10 MIAA) held a 12-4 advantage with 4:25 to go in the opening quarter, but Northwest Missouri (11-11, 6-10 MIAA) used an 8-4 run to cut the Ichabod lead to four. Yiibari Nwidadah was responsible for 10 of Washburn's 16 points in the frame.
 
The Bearcats carried their momentum into the second quarter and scored seven unanswered points to go in front, 19-16. A three-pointer by Gabi Artis leveled the score at 25 and then a minute later she hit a pair of free throws to tie up the score at 25-all. The Bearcats regained the lead with a layup and a jumper, but Aubree Dewey trimmed the deficit to 29-28 after hitting jumper at the buzzer just before the break.
 
Emma Chapman scored the first seven points for the Ichabods in the third quarter to give them a 35-34 advantage. Washburn led 40-38 with 3:51 to go in the period when Northwest went on a 10-2 tear to retake the lead. Natalia Figueroa buried a triple in the waning seconds of the quarter to get the Ichabods back within one, 48-47, heading into the fourth.
 
Chapman made a layup 10 seconds into the fourth quarter to spark an 10-4 run to lead 57-52 with 5:42 left in regulation. The Bearcats got right back into it with a three-pointer and a jumper. Back-and-forth scoring ensued, but the Ichabods broke a 62-all tie with a 3-0 mini run. After a pair of missed Washburn free throws, Northest Missouri hit a three-pointer with five seconds remaining to tie the game at 65. The Ichabods called a timeout to advance the ball and Macy Doebele made the go-ahead layup with 1.4 seconds left. Then the Bearcats called a timeout, inbounded the ball and were fouled attempted a three-pointer. Molly Hartnett made all three foul shots to give the Bearcats a one-point advantage, 68-67, with :01 on the clock.
 
The Bearcats were called for a foul before the ball was inbounded which put Doebele at the line, where she made one of two attempts to send the game into overtime.
 
The Ichabods scored five unanswered points to begin overtime and led 73-68 with 1:20 to go. The Bearcats made it a one-point game, 75-74, after a 6-2 run with 44 seconds left. With six seconds on the clock, Hartnett made a layup to give Northwest Missouri its first lead in overtime. The Ichabods called a timeout, but missed their last two shot attempts to fall short.
 
Both teams finished the afternoon shooting an identical 41.3 percent from the field. The Bearcats made 6-of-20 from three-point distance while the Ichabods were 3-for-11 from deep. At the free throw line, Washburn was 20-of-29 and Northwest Missouri was 18-for-20. NWMSU had a 41-37 advantage in rebounds.
 
Chapman led the Ichabods in scoring, going 8-of-11 from the field en route to a career-high 18 points. Nwidadah was a rebound shy of a double-double as she finished with a season-best 17 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-9 at the free throw line. Dewey rounded out the double-digit scorers with 16 points to go with seven assists in 44 minutes of playing time.
 
Harnett led all scorers with 24 points and had six rebounds and three steals. Emma Atwood chipped in 11 points and eight boards.