By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn women's basketball made a splashing debut inside the new Lee Arena on Friday night, cruising to a 70-47 win over Southwest Baptist in the opening day of the Washburn Classic.
Washburn senior Yibari Nwidadah led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds as the Ichabods rolled to a 23-point win over Southwest Baptist Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will wrap up the tournament on Saturday, facing Metropolitan State of Denver at 4 p.m.
The first seven points in Friday game came from 2-1 Washburn, starting with a 3-pointer by Payton Sterk on the first possession.
Washburn held the Bearcats (1-2) scoreless until the 5:49 mark in the first quarter.
After Southwest Baptist got within five Washburn scored 10 points in a row, going up 22-7 after Aniah Wayne knocked down a trey. Behind an 8 of 14 shooting effort the Ichabods built a 22-10 lead after one.
A layup by senior Yibari Nwidadah with 2:29 to go before half put Washburn up 37-18, its largest lead of the game to that point. The Bearcats finished the half on a 7-2 run to go into the break down by 14.
Out of the break the Ichabods quickly pushed the lead back up to 19 with Britany Kogbara scoring on the inside. Washburn's defense stepped up in the third, holding Southwest Baptist to just 4 of 14 shooting in the quarter. Nwidadah got a buzzer-beating and-one conversion to go, wrapping up the quarter by extending the Ichabod lead to 20 at 54-34 with her free throw.
The first nine points in the fourth came by Washburn, with the lead reaching 30 points after Gabi Giovannetti drilled a 3-pointer on an assist by Brooke Gomez with 5:50 to play.
All 14 Ichabods logged action on the night as the Ichabods eased into the 23-point win.
Washburn finished the game shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and 40.9 percent from deep with nine makes while holding the Bearcats to 35.4 percent shooting overall and just two triples on 13 attempts.
Rebounding went 38-28 in favor of Washburn, along with a 19-10 assist advantage.
Points in the paint also went big to the Ichabods 32-20 while they also had advantages in bench scoring and points off turnovers.
Nwidadah led the way with an efficient 19 points on 8 of 9 shooting along with a team-high eight rebounds. Giovannetti scored 13 points with seven rebounds and three steals while Wayne and Sterk both scored eight while Gomez passed out a team-high six assists.
Ida Lusadisu N'Gonda led Southwest Baptist with 16 points on the night.
