By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University women's basketball team dropped its first game of the 2022 calendar year, taking a 69-50 loss at Missouri Southern Thursday night.
Washburn saw its four-game winning streak come to an end, with the Ichabods falling to 5-8 over-all and 3-4 in the MIAA, while Missouri Southern improved to 9-5 overall and 6-3 in the conference.
Washburn senior Hunter Bentley scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Thursday night in the Ichaabods' 69-50 MIAA loss at Missouri Southern. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Senior Hunter Bentley was a bright spot for the Ichabods, notching a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
With Thursday's performance Bentley moved into the No. 8 spot on Washburn's career scoring list.
The Washburn offense got off to a slow start, making just 3 of 15 shot attempts from the field while the Lions went on an 8-0 run in the final 5:07 of the first quarter to take a 15-6 lead.
Aubree Dewey ended the Ichabods' scoring drought with a pull-up jumper at the 8:34 mark in the second quarter and Macy Doebele followed that with a pair of free throws to pull within 15-10.
Missouri Southern responded with another scoring run, adding seven unanswered points in just over four minutes to extend its lead to 22-12.
Emma Chapman made a layup to score the final points of the opening half, but the Lions went into the halftime break with a 28-19 advantage.
Both teams were held scoreless in the third quarter until Washburn's Nuria Barrientos made a jumper at the 7:01 mark. Doebele made a jumper midway through the quarter to cut Washburn's deficit 33-26, but Missouri Southern ended the quarter on an 11-4 run to push its lead back to double-digits at 44-30.
Washburn had its best quarter of the game in the fourth, shooting 42 percent and scoring 20 points, but the Lions also recorded their best period and put up 25 points to maintain their double-digit lead for the rest of the contest.
The Ichabods ended the night shooting 30.6 from the floor while the Lions shot 42.9 percent.
Missouri Southern went nine for 26 from 3-point range and Washburn made four of 19 from deep, with Bentley making all four treys.
The Ichabods out-rebounded the Lions by a 43-38 margin and scored 12 points after 10 offensive boards. Washburn made all eight of its free throw attempts while Missouri Southern made just half, going 12-of-24 at the charity stripe.
Shae Sanchez added eight points and six rebounds for Washburn. Doebele had eight boards and made all four of her free throws.
Four Lions finished in double-figures, led by Lacy Stokes' 18 points. Stokes also contributed 7 assists, 5 steals and 5 rebounds.
The Ichabods will close out their road trip on Saturday afternoon at Pittsburg State.
