ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Washburn went back and forth with Missouri Western for 40 minutes on Saturday afternoon but came up short, falling __ on the road. The Ichabods return home next week hosting Fort Hays State at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30.
To begin the game Washburn (11-9, 5-5 MIAA) was stingy on defense as they held the Griffons (12-6, 7-3 MIAA) without a field goal until the 4:12 mark of the first quarter. In that time they built a 9-1 lead after a driving layup by Payton Sterk. Missouri Western began hitting from outside, knocking down four 3-pointers in the first quarter to erase the Ichabod lead. A 3-pointer by Sterk in the final seconds of the quarter made it a one-point game after the first.
Missouri Western pushed its lead to four points early in the second before a 5-0 Washburn run was capped by a 3-pointer by Gabi Giovannetti to go back in front 19-18 with 7:28 left. From there on in the quarter the Griffon offense heated up, shooting 8-13 (61.5%) in the quarter, pushing the lead up to nine points with 1:34 to go before the half. Washburn kept pace by getting to the free throw line, shooting 10-13 from the charity stripe in the quarter. They finished the half on a 6-0 run in the final 69 seconds capped off by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Brooke Gomez to make it 37-34 going to the break.
Coming out of the half neither team put points on the board in the first two minutes. After a layup from Madelyn Amekporfor with 6:59 to go Washburn was unable to score until the 2:08 mark on a pair of free throws by Gabi Giovannetti. After a hot-shooting second quarter it was the defense for the Ichabods that kept the game close, holding the home team to 4-18 (22.2%) shooting in the quarter. Washburn closed the quarter trailing by just three after Aniah Wayne hit a floater in the final seconds.
Twice in the opening minutes of the final quarter the Ichabods pulled within one point on a pair of jumpers from Sterk. After a third Sterk jumper with 5:02 left the Washburn offense went cold and the Griffons were able to go on a 9-0 run over the next 4:02 on three made triples. In the final minute of the game Sterk got two 3-pointers of her own to fall but it was not enough as Missouri Western held on for a 62-56 win.
Washburn ended the game shooting 18-56 (32.1%) from the floor and was14-26 in its opportunities at the line. The Griffons shot similar numbers, going 20-65 (30.8%) from the floor but connected on 11 3-pointers compared to six for the Ichabods.
The rebounding battle went in Washburn's favor 52-37, but Missouri Western made up for the differential by winning the turnover battle 24-13. The reserves for the Griffons added 30 points while the Ichabod bench scored 13 for the game.
Payton Sterk led Washburn with 21 points on 8-16 shooting. Gabi Giovannetti had 12 points with four rebounds. Madelyn Amekporfor led the Ichabods on the glass with 10 rebounds.
Matilda Soderlund had 21 points with five 3-pointers off the bench to lead Missouri Western. Alyssa Bonilla had 19 points with six assists and was 9-12 at the line.
