By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball will begin its 2024-25 regular season with a pair of games in St. Cloud, Minn. for the Central Region Crossover.
Washburn junior transfer Payton Sterk has opened her career for the Ichabods with double-figure games against Kansas State and Kansas. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will face Southwest Minnesota State to open the season at 4 p.m. on Friday before Washburn before facing the host team, St. Cloud State, at 4 o'clock on Saturday.
Washburn wrapped up its preseason exhibition schedule with an 81-54 loss at Kansas last Friday. Junior Yibari Nwidadah was a rebound shy of a double-double against the Jayhawks, finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds while juniors Gavi Gionannetti and Payton Sterk added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Kansas game followed an 89-36 exhibition loss at nationally-ranked Kansas State, with transfer Sterk scoring a team-high 12 points for the Ichabods.
Third-year Washburn coach Lora Westling said the two Division I exhibitions should help prepare the Ichabods for anything they'll face over the upcoming season.
"We're not going to see that much talent on a roster for the rest of our season, but what we were hoping to get out of it is some highlights, which I think we did,'' Westling said. "We were able to try out kind of a new defensive system for us and create some turnovers against some really talented players.
"We wanted to make sure we had a bright light on what we need to improve on and I felt like we got that. We've got to take care of the ball better and find better spacing and flow in our offense. We wanted to be excited about the upcoming season and I think we got that accomplished as well, so overall just great experiences with our exhibition games and now we're ready to compete against teams at our level.''
Washburn is coming off a 13-16 season in 2023-24, finishing 10th in the MIAA with an 8-14 record, and advancing to the first round of the MIAA Tournament.
The Ichabods were picked to finish ninth in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll and were tabbed 10th by the coaches.
Southwest Minnesota State and St. Cloud State were picked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Washburn is 41-14 all-time in season-openers after falling 63-58 to Southwestern Oklahoma State last season.
Washburn returns eight letter-winners from last season's roster while adding seven total new faces with five incoming freshmen and two junior transfers rounding out the 15-player roster.
The five freshmen are flanked by four sophomores and a junior class that is six players deep. It is the first roster without a senior going back to the 1980s.
Among the returning group the Ichabods will have 70.7 percent of last season's rebounding return (801 rebounds) along with 61.6 percent of the scoring (1,209 points).
Nwidadah earned All-MIAA honorable mention honors as a sophomore, averaging 12.4 points while shooting a team-high 54.8 percent from the field. She also led the Ichabods with a 9.1 rebounding average, which ranked second in the MIAA. Nwidadah was fifth in the conference with 11 double-doubles.
Junior Aniah Wayne averaged 7.6 points and 2.6 rebounds last season and made a team-high 45 3-pointers.
Giovannetti shot a team-best 37.0 percent from 3-point range a season ago while contributing 6.5 points per game and connecting on 30 3-pointers.
Sterk is a transfer from Cal State East Bay and will be a junior for the Ichabods after averaging 18.5 points and making a team-high 83 3-pointers.
Other Ichabod newcomers include freshmen Brooke Gomez, Willow Gideon, Mersadie Spray, Lauren Luebbert and Cloie Jansky.
Southwest Minnesota State went 19-12 overall and 15-7 last season.
Bri Stoltzman leads the group of returners for SMSU after averaging 18.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. while Peyton Blandin averaged 8.4 points and made 56 3-pointers for the Mustangs a year ago.
St. Cloud State is coming off an 18-10 overall record and an 14-8 NSIC mark a season ago.
Jada Eggebrecht leads the returning crew for the Huskies after earning second-team All-NSIC honors last season as a sophomore. She led the team with a 12.1 scoring average and hitting 41 3-pointers.
Ashley Sawicki also returns for her junior campaign after scoring 10.9 points per game and earning All-NSIC second-team honors.
Washburn will continue tournament play next weekend at the Quincy Classic against McKendree and Quincy on Nov. 15 and 16.
The Ichabods will play inside Lee Arena for the first time at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25, against Lincoln University.
