By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball played the entire fourth quarter without senior star Yibari Nwidadah as Central Missouri pulled away down the stretch for a 67-56 MIAA win over the Ichabods Saturday in Lee Arena.
Junior Madelyn Amekporfor led Washburn with 16 points, including three 3-pointers, in Saturday's 67-56 loss to Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Nwidadah, Washburn's leading scorer and rebounder, did not return after hitting her head on the floor after a collision late in the third quarter, but Ichabod coach Lora Westling refused to use Nwidadah's injury as an excuse as WU suffered its first conference loss.
"They're a big team, we knew that, and I think I'm most frustrated by just our lack of awareness,'' Westling said. "We knew what they were going to do and we let them to do it, and I think that's just poor execution of our game plan because we had some counters to their size, we didn't execute it.
"I thought we were really selfish tonight and trying to do a lot on our own. We've been doing a good job of getting into 17, 18 assists a game and we were back to eight tonight because we were trying to do too much. We just didn't have enough juice and energy and we can make all the execuses we want, but at the end of the day we didn't show up tonight and you're not going to beat anybody like that, let alone a really good team like Central.''
The Jennies (6-3 overall, 2-1 MIAA) opened the game with the first five points, but Washburn (6-3, 2-1) was able to get going offensively, pulling ahead at 10-9 after a layup by Gabi Giovannetti at the 2:46 mark. Central Missouri kept connecting from outside, hitting 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range in the quarter to lead 18-12 after 10 minutes.
Both sides traded baskets to begin the second quarter, the Ichabods pulled within three points after a steal and score by Nwidadah at the 5:02 mark. The Washburn offense bounced back after a slow first quarter to shoot 50.0 percent in the second.
The Ichabods went in front briefly in the final minute of the half after Payton Sterk hit a pair of free throws. The Jennies hit a free throw on the other end to forge a 29-29 tie at halftime.
Washburn got five straight points from Aniah Wayne to go up 39-35 with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter, but the next six points came from the Jennies, who would lead by 45-42 heading to the fourth quarter.
Sterk hit a jumper with 7:29 to go in regulation that tied the game up at 45, but the Ichabod offense slowed down while Central Missouri scored the next 10 points to lead by double figures inside of five minutes remaining.
Washburn got back-to-back 3-pointers from Madelyn Amekporfor but was unable to cut the lead lower than eight as the Jennies closed out the 11-point victory.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting 39.6 percent from the floor and went 4 of 16 from 3-point range. Central Missouri shot 45.8 percent but was 8 of 20 (40.0) from beyond the arc. A 37-27 rebounding advantage aided the Jennies.
Amekporfor led Washburn in scoring with 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting, including three treys and grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Sterk added 10 points for the Ichabods while Giovannetti had nine.
Reese Schaaf and Taylor Weishaar both scored 24 points to lead Central Missouri.
The Ichabods will wrap up a four-game homestand at 6 p.m. Tuesday, hosting Truman State in a non-conference contest.
CENTRAL MISSOURI 67, WASHBURN 56
Central Missouri 18 11 16 22-- 67
Washburn 12 17 13 14 -- 56
Central Missouri (6-3, 2-1) -- Weishaar 8-17 6-9 24, Farmer 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, R. Schaaf 7-10 7-8 24, N. Schaaf 2-6 1-2 6, Heim 2-5 1-4 6, Musick 0-1 0-0 0, Griffith 1-3 0-0 3, Bonderer 0-0 0-0 0, Vierthaler 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 22-48 15-23 67.
Washburn (6-3, 2-1) -- Amekporfor 5-11 3-4 16, Nwidadah 2-3 0-0 4, Gomez 1-2 1-2 3, Giovannetti 4-13 1-3 9, Sterk 4-10 2-2 10, Wayne 3-5 1-2 8, Kogbara 0-3 0-0 0, Shipman 2-5 0-0 4, McKenzie 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 21-53 10-15 56.
3-point shots -- Central Missouri 8-20 (R. Schaaf 3-4, Weishaar 2-6, N. Schaaf 1-3, Griffith 1-3, Heim 1-2, Farmer 0-1, Smith 0-1), Washburn 4-16 (Amekporfor 3-4, Wayne 1-1, Giovannetti 0-5, Sterk 0-4, Shipman 0-2). Rebounds -- Central Missouri 37 (R. Schaaf 12), Washburn 27 (Amekporfor 5, McKenzie 5). Assists -- Central Missouri 17 (N. Schaaf 7), Washburn 8 (Gomez 3). Turnovers -- Central Missouri 19, Washburn 15. Total fouls -- Central Missouri 16, Washburn 16. Fouled out -- none.
