By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team captured its first MIAA victory of the season on Saturday afternoon, taking a 55-45 road decision at Rogers State.
Washburn (4-4 overall, 1-2 MIAA) led 4-0 to start the game and a layup from Yibari Nwidadah pushed the lead to 6-3 with 4:19 left in the first quarter.
Emma Chapman scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Washburn'ss 55-45 MIAA win at Rogers State on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
On the next possession, Rogers State (2-8, 0-4 MIAA) hit a 3-pointer to start a 12-2 scoring run to end the first quarter with a 15-8 advantage.
The Hillcats shot 50 percent in the first period, making 6 of 12 shots from the floor and 2 of 3 from 3-point rangewhile the Ichabods made just 25 percent from the floor.
In the second quarter, Rogers State made a layup at the 5:18 mark to go up 22-16, but that would be its final points of the frame as the Washburn defense locked in and held the Hillcats to just five shot attempts in the final five minutes.
The Ichabods scored five points during that time to trim the deficit to one, 22-21, at halftime.
After the break, the Ichabods quickly jumped ahead 32-26 as they began the second half on an 11-4 run.
The Hillcats scored four of the final five points in the quarter to pull within three, 33-30, heading into the fourth quarter.
The Hillcats carried their momentum into the fourth and reclaimed the lead with a 7-2 rally in the first two minutes of play.
Washburn's Macy Doebele made a layup to level the score at 37 and after the Hillcatss went one for two at the free throw line on the ensuing possession, Aubree Dewey hit a jumper to start a 9-0 scoring burst and give the Ichabods a lead they would hold for the remainder of the game.
The closest the Hillcats would get was five points with just over two minutes left before the Ichabods scored the last five points of the afternoon, all on free throws.
The Ichabods made a season-high 21 trips to the free throw line and made 15 of those attempts while the Washburn defense committed a season-low 11 fouls for the game and Rogers State was just 2 of 6 at the charity stripe.
The Ichabods grabbed one more rebound than the Hillcats, 28-27, and forced 16 turnovers and turned those into 19 points.
Eight of the nine Ichabods who attempted a shot scored at least two points with three finishing in double-figures.
Emma Chapman scored a career-high 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, to go with a team-best nine rebounds.
Doebele also totaled 13 points and was 9 for12 at the free throw line while Natalia Figueroa scored 10 points and was 4 for 7 from the field.
The Hillcats were led by Jordan Lewis' 16 points and Lewis tied for the team-high in rebounds with five boards.
Thirty-eight of Rogers State's 45 points were scored from players off the bench.
The Ichabods will return to Lee Arena next Saturday to host Missouri Western.
ROGERS STATE MEN 88, WASHBURN 81
The Washburn Ichabods scored a season-high 54 points in the first half to take a 17-point lead into the break but let the lead slip away in an 88-81 loss at Rogers State.
After shooing 57 percent in the first half (20 of 35 shots and 7 of 13 from the 3-point line), the Ichabods cooled to 6 of 22 shooting in the second half for a 27 percent clip and hit 3 of 8 from 3-point range in the loss.
The Hillcats, meanwhile, were 14 of 25 from the field in the opening half and heated up in the final 20 minutes, hitting 16 of 25 shots for a blistering 64 percent.
With the Ichabods leading 54-37 at the break, the Hillcats came out on an 11-5 run over the first 5:19 of the second half, but after a 3-pointer by Jaden Monday and a layup by Andrew Orr, Washburn pushed the lead back to 16 at 64-48 with 13:33 to go.
An 8-0 by the Hillcats trimmed Washburn's lead to 64-56 with 11:43 to go.
A jumper by Tyler Nelson with 8:25 to go pushed the WU lead back to 10 at 75-65, but from that point the Hillcats outscored the Ichabods 23-6, including an 11-0 run over the final 4:13 of the game to send Washburn to its third straight loss.
Orr led the Ichabods with 23 points while Tyler Nelson scored 15 while making his first start of the season. Monday had 13 points and Connor Deffebaugh had 10.
Washburn finished 19 of 24 from the free throw line with Orr going 7 of 9 while the Hillcats were 24 of 31.
Joey Saracco had 22 points to lead the Hillcats.
Washburn returns to action hosting Missouri Western on Dec. 17 in Lee Arena.
