By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball finished out its regular season with a 70-66 come-from-behind MIAA win Saturday afternoon, knocking off Missouri Southern on the road.
Yibari Nwidadah (32) scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Saturday's 70-66 MIAA road win at Missouri Southern. [File photo/TSN]
WU finished its regular season 17-12 overall and 11-8 in the MIAA and will compete in the conference tournament this week in the historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Washburn is the No. 5 seed and will open its tournament bid against No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney at 6 p.m. Friday.
Saturday's regular-season finale was a back-and-forth affair early on with four ties in the first quarter.
Washburn went fron down by three to up by three with a 6-0 run started by a Yibari Nwidadah shot inside.
The Ichabods led by five with 1:27 to play in the quarter after Aniah Wayne on a triple. The Lions (18-13, 10-9) tied things up in the next minute but the Ichabods still led 21-19 after one, with Nwidadah scoring in the final seconds.
The second quarter began much like the first with both teams trading scores.
A free throw by Gabi Giovannetti tied the game up at 29 with 3:52 to go before the half, but the next nine points would all come from the Lions as they shot 61.5% in the quarter. The run came to an end as Giovannetti ended the half with a 3-pointer to make it 38-32 Southern going into the break.
Washburn began chipping away at the lead early in the third, pulling within two at the 6:46 mark after another layup by Nwidadah.
The next six points went to Missouri Southern to go back in front by eight. The Ichabods kept it there and a triple by Wayne cut the Washburn deficit to three with 2:19 in the quarter. Neither team scored the rest of the frame, making it a 52-49 Southern lead heading into the fourth.
Twice early in the fourth quarter Washburn brought the Lion lead down to just one point.
Finally, the Ichabods pushed through and took the lead on a layup by Madelyn Amekporfor with 7:32 to play. A few minutes later she followed with a triple that began a 5-0 run to put the Ichabods up 63-58 with 4:30 to play.
They held back the Lions, going up by five with 40 second to go after Payton Sterk sunk a pair of free throws. On the other end Missouri Southern got free throws to go and forced a turnover, resulting in two more from the charity stripe and pulling within two points.
Sterk put Washburn back up by two and the Ichabods were able to force a turnover on the next possession. Giovannetti put the game away at the line for the four-point win.
The Ichabods ended the game shooting 44.1% (26-59) and 5-13 from deep. The Lions were efficient, shooting 26-53 (49.1%) overall but hit just three of 11 3-point attempts. A 37-27 rebounding advantage boosted Washburn, with 15 coming on the offensive end.
Nwidadah secured a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Amekporfor and Giovannetti both scored 15 points with Giovannetti also grabbing seven rebounds.
Ryan Franklin led Missouri Southern with a game-high 29 points on 14-18 shooting and Grace Frazier had 15 for the Lions.
