KEARNEY, Neb. -- Washburn women's basketball came up short in its conference opener Thursday evening, falling 66-61 on the road to Nebraska Kearney. The Ichabods finish out the weekend roadtrip with No. 7 Fort Hays State on Saturday.
The Lopers (7-2, 1-0 MIAA) scored the first five points of the contest as Washburn (4-5, 0-1 MIAA) was held scoreless until Rebecca Snyder got free for a layup at the 7:10 mark. A pair of triples, first from Aniah Wayne then Payton Sterk, put the Ichabods in front 10-7 with 4:03 to play in the quarter. In the final minutes Nebraska Kearney finished on a 10-2 run to lead 17-12 after one.
The first four points of the second quarter came from Washburn to pull within one. They were able to tie the game up at 19 after Snyder connected on a triple. The Ichabods briefly went up in the final minute before half as Sterk scored two of her 15 first half points on a jumper. A late bucket from the Lopers tied it up at 31 going into the break.
After Washburn scored the first two points out of the break the next nine went to Nebraska Kearney. The lead reached as high as nine points as the Lopers shot 8-15 (53.3%) in the quarter. Sterk had the final seven points of the quarter for the Ichabods as they trailed 51-43 with 10 minutes to go.
Washburn was scoreless for the first two minutes of the first quarter but quickly went on a 10-2 run and tied the game at 53 after Sterk knocked down a triple with 5:48 to play. Brooke Gomez connected on a pair of free throws to tie it back up under the five-minute mark but the next five points went to the Lopers. Defense created opportunities, as UNK shot just 3-13 (23.1%) in the quarter, and Sterk drained two more 3-pointers in the final three minutes to pull within two each time. Nebraska Kearney was able to respond each time, as they held onto the lead shooting 8-12 at the line in the quarter to win 66-61.
Washburn shot 23-62 (37.1%) for the game and made eight triples in 24 attempts. On the other end the Lopers shot 23-60 (38.3%) and were just 7-27 from deep. The Ichabods lost the rebounding battle 44-35 as Nebraska Kearney created extra opportunities. Turnovers went in Washburn's favor, 17-16.
The Lopers kept the Ichabods from getting any second chance points while scoring eight themselves. The bench for UNK added 28 points while Washburn got six from reserves.
Payton Sterk came away with a Washburn career-high of 31 points on 11-21 shooting and 5-8 from deep. She added three assists, accounting for more than half of the Ichabod points. Rebecca Snyder had nine points and three steals while Brooke Gomez had six and grabbed eight rebounds.
Jillian Aschoff led a balanced attack for Nebraska Kearney with four players in double figure scoring. She had 13 to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
