TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn made a push late but were unable to overcome an early deficit falling 72-59 to Missouri Western State on Wednesday evening. The Ichabods play one more at home against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. before going back on the road.
Washburn (11-11, 6-10 MIAA) got the first four points of the game within the first minute but the next seven came from the Griffons (18-4, 13-3) and they would never relinquish the lead. An 8-0 run for the visitors opened the game up and the lead was pushed to double digits with 2:34 left in the quarter after a 3-pointer. The Ichabods shot just 4-17 in the quarter but scored the final four points of the quarter to trail just 20-12.
After Missouri Western's lead crept up to 12 early in the second quarter Washburn went on a 6-0 run with four points from Aubree Dewey to pull within six with 4:12 in the quarter. In the final four minutes the offense of the Griffons going, scoring 12 points as MWSU shot 58.33% in the quarter to go into halftime up 38-26.
Offense was hard to come by for both teams in the third quarter with both teams shooting a combined 9-32. Washburn got its first 3-pointer of the game to fall, with Lakyn Schieferecke knocking one down at the 5:19 mark. Missouri Western went on a 6-0 run to push the lead up to 15 points before Amaya Davison sunk a pair of free throws. The Griffons would get the final bucket of the quarter and lead 52-37 going into the fourth.
The Ichabods had their most effective offensive quarter in the fourth, shooting 8-14 from the floor with two 3-pointers and going 4-4 at the line. The visitors were able to withstand the offensive punches shooting 8-17 themselves for the quarter. After MWSU went up by 17 Washburn went on a 7-0 run to cut it to 10 and put it in single digits on a basket by Madelyn Amekporfor with 54 seconds left but it was too late with Missouri Western winning 72-59.
The Ichabods shot 32.8% for the game on 20-61 shooting and were just 3-16 from behind the arc. Missouri Western shot 25-60 (41.7%) and went 17-22 at the free throw line. Both teams turned the ball over 15 times, but the Griffons were able to net 17 points on those to Washburn's 10. The bench unit for MWSU also chipped in 31 points, a 15 point advantage over the Ichabods.
Amaya Davison led Washburn with 14 points on 4-8 shooting and was 6-6 from the line. Aubree Dewey had 10 points with four steals and Nia McKenzie had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Tiani Ellison led a balanced attack for the Griffons with 15 points off the bench. Brionna Budgetts had 14 and Connie Clarke had eight points and 15 rebounds.
