ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- After a blistering start Washburn saw a four-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night falling 75-67 to Missouri Western on the road. The Ichabods return to action on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. facing Northwest Missouri in Maryville, Mo.
The game opened quickly for Washburn (10-4, 3-2 MIAA) with a 7-2 run in the first 72 seconds after Payton Sterk drilled a jumper. The Griffons (5-9, 1-4 MIAA) battled back and would go in front 9-7 before extending the lead to eight points after a 9-0 run. The Ichabods answered with a run of their own in a high-scoring first quarter. Brooke Gomez and Aniah Wayne each knocked down triples before going in front on a Gabi Giovannetti 3-pointer. Shooting 52.6% from the floor and 4-7 from deep the visitors led 28-26 after ten.
After scores from Sterk and Yiibari Nwidadah to open the second quarter Washburn remained in front by two. The next ten points came from Missouri Western to go in front by eight. The Ichabods went into the break trailing by six at 44-38 after Nwidadah scored the final six points of the half for Washburn in a quarter that saw them shoot 2-10 from the field.
The Griffon offense stayed hot out of halftime, pushing the lead into double figures and up to as high as 15 points at 55-40 at the 6:02 mark. Washburn worked to chip away at the lead, with Nwidadah getting it into single digits on a layup with 1:01 in the quarter. Missouri Western pushed it back out to 11 and led 63-52 going into the fourth.
Twice early in the fourth the Ichabods shrunk the deficit back down to nine but both times were answered by buckets by the Griffons. Washburn got to the line and shot 9-10 in the frame but were held to just 3-13 shooting in the quarter and 0-4 from deep. They scored the final six points of the game before falling 75-67.
Slow second and fourth quarters left the Ichabods shooting 37.0% for the game and 5-15 from deep, while they were efficient at the line shooting 22-24. Missouri Western's offense registered a 50.9% shooting clip overall and 8-24 from 3-point range.
Washburn won the rebounding battle 34-3, but turned the ball over 26 times to 21 for the home squad. Eight assists for the Ichabods were doubled by 16 from Mo West.
Yiibari Nwidadah was consistent throughout, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 7-10 shooting along with grabbing 13 rebounds for a second straight double-double. Aniah Wayne had nine off the bench while Madelyn Amekporfor and Brooke Gomez had eight.
Five scored in double figures for the Griffons led by 16 each from Nakiya Harris and Ana Oliveira Dias.
