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The Ichabods are 1-1 on the season after splitting games in the Central Region Challenge in Edmond, Okla. last weekend.

After falling 73-61 to St. Cloud on Friday, Washburn picked up its first win of the season on Saturday afternoon with a late comeback to knock off No. 18-ranked Southwest Minnesota State, 63-59.

Junior Britany Kogbara led the way with 15 points for WU while senior Nwidadah scored 14 points with a block and a steal and senior Payton Sterk also had 14 points along with four steals and junior Madelyn Amekporfor had nine points with a team-high seven boards.

"Obviously we bounced back. which was very very productive of us,'' Nwidadah said. "I think we know the team we can be and I think we showed that on Saturday, especially coming off that loss on Friday. Overall, I'm just really excited.'' 

"I think our first game we did a lot of really nice things, we just didn't pay attention to the details when we needed to,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We just couldn't stack together enough quality possessions. Your biggest fear is you see stuff on film that you can't fix but everything we saw on tape we can fix and get better at and I was really proud of my team's response the second day.

"We got better from Day 1 to Day 2 and put a solid performance together with enough to work on that we're really excited moving forward.'' 

Southwest Baptist enters Friday's game with a 1-1 record while MSU Denver begins the weekend with an 0-2 record. 

The Washburn Classic will be comprised of the Ichabods' two opponents, Southwest Baptist and Metropolitan State of Denver along with Northeastern State, also from the MIAA. 

The 2025-26 season marks the 42nd season of play inside Lee Arena since the facility opened for the 1983-84 season. Washburn is 465-130 all-time inside Lee Arena. 

Nwidadah leads the Ichabods with a 14.5 scoring average in just 22.5 minutes per game on the short season and also leads the team grabbing with 6.0 rebounds per game while also shooting 60.0 percent from the floor and swatting away 1.0 blocks per game.

With 233 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah is fourth in program history and she is 13th with 635 career boards. 

Nwidadah's career field goal percentage of .581 is the second best in program history. In scoring she ranks 22nd with 1,021 career points. 

Kogbara has provided a spark off the bench in both games, averaging 12.5 points in just 16.5 minutes per game. She is shooting 61.1 percent from the floor, second best on the team, while grabbing 4.5 rebounds per game and coming up with 1.5 steals a game. The junior has scored in double figures in both games.

Sterk is averaging 12.5 points while starting both games and playing 30.5 minutes, second most on the team. Sterk averages a team-high 2.5 steals and has connected from deep three times, also tops on the team. The senior ranks fifth in the MIAA in steals per game.

Amekporfor is averaging 8.5 points and logging a team-high 31.5 mpg. She is shooting 61.5 percent from the floor, tops on the team, while averaging 4.0 points. The junior is averaging a team-high 2.5 blocks, while also making 1.5 steals per game.

Southwest Baptist lost 84-61 at home to Emporia State last time out. 

Last season Southwest Baptist went 8-18 overall and 6-14 inside the GLVC where they missed the conference tournament.

Nahia Esnaola Agaen is averaging 13.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting nearly 80.0 percent from the floor to begin the year.

Washburn leads the all-time series with Southwest Baptist 44-15, including each of the last five meetings.

The Ichabods are 24-6 against Southwest Baptist at home. 

Metropolitan State University of Denver lost 101-69 last time out.

Last season the Roadrunners went 6-22 overall and 5-15 inside of the RMAC, missing out on the conference tournament.

Maggie Teven leads MSU Denver with a 9.5 scoring average on 40.0% shooting and is averaging 4.5 rebounds.

Saturday's game will be the first ever meeting between the two programs. 

Washburn will head to the Lone Star State for the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic where they will face St. Mary's University at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, in San Antonio, Texas.