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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball scored 94 points Wednesday night against Northwest Missouri State, had four players crack double figures and shot 54.4 percent from the field.

But it was the Ichabods' defense that stole the show as Washburn improved to 19-0 overall and 9-0 in the MIAA with a 94-44 home MIAA win over the Bearcats in Lee Arena.

Junior Jeremiah Jones tied a Washburn school record with nine steals in Wednesday's 94-44 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior Jeremiah Jones tied a school record with nine steals, seven in the first half, while the Ichabods limited Northwest Missouri (9-11, 2-7) to a meager 14 first-half points as Washburn took command, 40-14. 

"Defense was great,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I think JJ had more steals in this game than I had in my entire college career. He was great and I thought we were really connected on that end.

"I thought we did a good job of keeping everything in front and really challenging everything. Just really a team effort and we forced a lot of turnovers (26) as well. From the last time we played them we definitely played a better, more complete game.''

"We came out and we knew if we pressured them early and we trapped them and we contained the ball and kept them out of the paint we knew they weren't going to be able to score,'' Jones said. "Their point guard, No. 4 (Royce Williams) is really, really good and me putting pressure on him throughout the whole game and taking him out of his game, he wasn't confident at all.'' 

The Ichabods controlled the game from the opening tip and never looked back en route to its 24th straight win at home, tying for the second-longest streak in program history, and Washburn now owns the longest winning streak in the nation at 19 with Daemen's 79-61 loss to Gannon.

Washburn jumped out to a 20-8 lead at the midway point of the first half and would turn a 24-12 advantage into a 26-point halftime lead, closing the final seven minutes of the half on an 18-2 run while holding the Bearcats to one of 10 shooting, including zero of seven from 3-point range.

Overall, the Ichabods shot 50 percent (15 of 30) in the opening half while the Bearcats were limited to six of 24 from the field.

In the second half, Washburn doubled up the Bearcats at 56-28 with 13:38 to go and then went on a 20-3 run over the next 5:06 of the game, moving the lead to 74-31 with 8:53 to play.

From that point on, the Ichabods outscored Northwest Missouri 20-13, rolling to the 50-point win.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored a game-high 18 points, going 10 of 10 at the free throw line, in Wednesday's 94-44 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Sophomore Dillon Claussen paced Washburn with a game-high 18 points on a 4-of-5 shooting night from the field while going a perfect 10 for 10 at the free-throw line.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University women's basketball didn't have a great offensive night Wednesday against Northwest Missouri, shooting 31.5 percent while scoring just 45 points.

But thanks to an outstanding defensive effort, that was enough for the Ichabods to stretch their winning streak to three games with a 45-38 MIAA win over the Bearcats at Lee Arena.

Senior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 16 points in Wednesday's 45-38 Washburn home MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

"I think that's a credit to both teams,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said of the low-scoring contest. "Both teams are just not going to give you what you want. We both have a couple of things we do really well and we're both not going to give it to the other one, so you just hope that you get enough breaks and enough toughness plays to find a way and that's why I'm proud of my players because they did tonight.'' 

Playing at home for the first time in almost two weeks, Washburn improved to 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA while avenging an earlier double-overtime loss to Northwest.

"You don't ever want to get swept in league and they're a good team and they're going to get some people, so we really needed to get this one back to make sure we didn't get swept and we're thankful for home court,'' Westling said.

Washburn trailed Northwest Missouri (10-9, 3-6) 16-9 at the end of the opening quarter.   

The Bearcats still held a 21-15 advantage with 6:27 left in the opening half, but the Ichabods held Northwest scorelss for the remainder of the second quarter and finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room at the break.  

Northwest Missouri scored five points in the first two minutes of the second half to go in front, but were held to just four points the rest of the quarter.

A pair of jumpers by senior Payton Sterk put Washburn in front by four points before the Bearcats scored the final four to tie the game at 30 going to the fourth.  

A pair of 3-pointers from seniors Aniah Wayne and Gavi Giovannetti opened the fourth quarter for Washburn, with the second trey putting the Ichabods in front, 36-35. 

Northwest Missouri knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 38 with 5:51 left but once again the Bearcats were held scoreless for more than five minutes.

Sterk knocked down what would be the go-ahead bucket with 3:18 remaining to start a 7-0 finish that finished off Washburn's seven-point win.  

Washburn won despite shooting hitting just 17 of 54 shots from the floor and 3 of 10 attempts from 3-point range as the Ichabod defense limited the Bearcats to 27.5 percent shooting while going 5 of 19 from behind the arc.  

Rebounding also went in favor of the Ichabods, 42-33, while Washburn held the visitors to zero fast break points and just five second-chance points.

Senior Yibari Nwidadah recorded a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds in Wednesday's 45-38 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]  

Ichabod senior Yibari Nwidadah tied her career-high with 16 rebounds while scoring 13 points.

"I just go into pursuit,'' Nwidadah said of her big rebounding night. "I feel like we had really great perimeter defense and not letting their two shooters get hot. Their shots created long rebounds so I was just going to get it.

"We learned from (the earlier loss) and we executed better and that was our goal. We talk a lot about holding teams under 60, so we did a really good job there, and we take pride (in defense) because it fuels our offense. We just put a lot of energy into our defense.'' 

Sterk scored a game-high 16 points on seven of 13 shooting from the field.

Normally a shooting guard, Sterk saw a lot of time Wednesday night running the WU offense from the point guard position.

"Good for Payton for stepping up,'' Westling said. "She just wants to win. That's the thing about Payton, she'd play post if I asked her to.'' 

Sterk said she played the point earlier in her career, so Wednesday's stint wasn't completely foreign for her.

"I haven't done it in awhile, but it was good,'' Sterk said. "It's a little nerve-wracking at first once I get back into it, but it seemed to work.''

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural girls basketball didn’t have it easy against Lawrence Tuesday night at Rural, but the Junior Blues picked up their seventh victory of the season, 45-40.

 

Freshman Brynn Anderson led Washburn Rural with 20 points in Tuesday's 45-40 home win over Lawrence. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

 In the first half, it was a struggle for both teams to find a rhythm of any kind.

“I think we were a little unsure of what we were supposed to be doing on offense, but I do think our defense was pretty decent,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “That’s not the same Lawrence team that we’ve seen for several games. They were really aggressive, I thought they were solid. They had a great gameplan against us.

 

"We just weren't in sync with each other. We got out of it and hit some shots that we normally make but some didn’t fall early on.”

Both teams had trouble breaking the zone defense and they were sloppy with their possessions, turning it over several times and could not get many shots to fall, resulting in a low scoring first half.

Rural also had a problem with 6-foot-1 Lawrence junior Cami Nauholz in the paint, clogging the paint, blocking shots and making her presence felt on the other end to keep the Lions in the hunt, finishing with a team-high 19 points.

The first quarter ended with Rural up 6-5 as the Junior Blues hit a couple of shots to get things going. They led 10-5, their biggest lead of the game until Lawrence got it to within one.

Freshman Kamryn Smith drilled one from distance for Rural, making it 13-9 but then the Lions would tie it up at 13 late in the half thanks to Nauholz. After Rural freshman Brynn Anderson hit a three, Lawrence got one on the next possession, but the Junior Blues went into the break up three, 19-16.

After trading 3-point buckets to begin the third quarter, Rural senior Ella Hirschi, who finished with 12 points, drove to the paint and nailed a floater, putting Rural up 24-19, tying their biggest lead of the game.

Lawrence then went on a 9-0 run, capped by a Macyn Ramsey triple, and the Lions went up 28-24 and led 28-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, a couple of threes from senior Josie Carlgen and Hirschi, it was 32-32 all. Anderson, who finished with a game-high 20 points knocked down a deep three pushing the lead to five again, 38-33.

“Not really thrilled the way she got in foul trouble the way she did, but she’s still a freshman and still learning and nobody will take it to heart more than her,'' Bordewick said. "She’s a kid who is willing to learn and works hard to get there, but Kamryn Smith and Allie Hinck (who are also freshman) came in and gave us some great minutes.''

 

“We can’t score without getting stops on defense, so I feel like our team did a good job of getting stops and I was able to put some shots in and Josie hit some big shots and the other girls are working hard. Hallie (Walker) had 11 rebounds. It was a team effort and our defense kept us in the game,” Anderson said.

Ella Hirschi scored 12 points, including two game-clenching free throws, in Tuesday's 45-40 Washburn Rural win over Lawrence. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

The Lions brought it to within one again, 40-39 but Anderson converted an and-one opportunity with 30 seconds left and then Hirschi hit two free throws to put the icing on the cake.

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