By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University junior stars Payton Sterk and Yibari Nwidadah walked out of Lee Arena last Saturday with a sense of frustration after the Ichabods dropped a 66-61 overtime MIAA decision to Northwest Missouri State.
Washburn junior Payton Sterk scored 26 points and hit 7 of 11 3-pointers in Wednesday's 88-73 MIAA win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn junior Yibari Nwidadah (32) had 23 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's 88-73 MIAA win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sterk was in foul trouble against the Bearcats for most of the game and fouled out with 3:35 remaining in regulation after scoring just six points in 19:23 of action, while Nwidadah, the national leader in field goal percentage, shot under 50 percent from the floor for the first time all season, going 5 of 16 en route to an 11-point performance, 5.6 points below her season average.
Sterk and Nwidadah were back on the court Wednesday night and took out any lingering frustrations on visiting Emporia State, combining for 49 points as the Ichabods completed a regular-season sweep over the Hornets with an 88-73 home MIAA romp.
Stert, who surpassed the 1,000-point career milestone with her first basket of the night, scored a game-high 26 points with a 7 of 11 performance from 3-point range while Nwidadah registered a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds while hitting 10 of 14 shots from the field.
"Tonight was good,'' Sterk said. "Saturday was frustrating just because I was in foul trouble so it wasn't even like I could play anymore, so it was nice to come in tonight and not even get a close win but a big win and that really helps us.''
Nwidadah agreed.
"I feel like everyone was frustrated (Saturday), everyone felt that loss and we used that as motivation,'' Nwidadah said. "We took it into practice each and every day, so we just knew we wanted to get that win (tonight).''
After scoring the first two baskets of the game Washburn (9-8 overall, 3-4 in the MIAA) found itself trailing 7-5 nearly four minutes into the game.
But back-to-back 3-pointers, first by Gabi Giovannetti and then by Aniah Wayne, put Washburn in front 11-7 at the 5:01 mark of the opening quarter.
The lead grew to nine points after Nwidadah got two of her six first-quarter points to go and led by seven points (23-16) at the end of the quarter as the Lady Hornets (7-9, 2-5) shot just 4-19 in the first quarter.
After a layup by Emporia State with 6:27 to play in the half a pair of free throws by Sterk began a 5-0 run for the Ichabods, pushing the lead to double figures at 32-21.
The Lady Hornets were contained offensively to begin the quarter but were able to shake loose for nine straight points shortly to cut their deficit to one with 2:13 remaining in the half.
But Nwidadah put an end to the run with a layup and Washburn would score the last five points heading into the half, including a Sterk trey to give WU a 41-33 lead.
Both teams came out of the locker room with quick scoring.
The first four for the Ichabods came from Nwidadah, who had a double-double in the first half alone. Emporia State kept pace, shooting 6-13 from the floor in the third quarter and 5-5 at the line. On the other side though Washburn shot 11-17 and made four 3s in the quarter.
One of those, coming from Sterk with 53 seconds left, pushed the lead to a game-high 13 which is what the margin would be heading into the fourth.
Sterk kept finding the bottom of the net to begin the fourth quarter, making two 3-pointers in the first four minutes. The second extended the lead to 20-points at 78-58 with 6:16 left.
The Lady Hornets never got the deficit back lower than 15, which came in the final seconds as the Ichabods wrapped up the 15-point win.
Washburn shot 32-69 (46.4 percent) for the game while going 12-29 (41.4) from beyond the arc. On the opposite side, Emporia State was held to 23-59 shooting but were able to connect on nine triples.
The Ichabods had a 40-36 rebounding advantage while also dishing out a season-high 24 assists to just 13 from the Lady Hornets. Paint scoring went in Washburn's favor 38-20 along with second chance points 17-9.
Giovannetti added 12 points and a career-high six assists.
"I don't think they were happy (Saturday) and we were better tonight,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said of her team. "I still wasn't super thrilled with our motor in some cases, but we put together enough good possessions and our studs were pretty big players tonight.''
Gracie Gilpin led Emporia State with 18 points on four made 3-pointers while Katie Horyna and Macey Gandee boh had 10 points.
The Ichabods will finish out their four-game homestand on Saturday, hosting Newman at 1 p.m.
WASHBURN WOMEN 88, EMPORIA STATE 73
Emporia State 16 17 22 18 -- 73
Washburn 23 18 27 20 -- 88
EMPORIA STATE (7-9, 2-5)
Alvarez 0-1 4-4 4, Gandee 5-8 0-0 10, Gilpin 6-12 2-2 18, Horyna 4-12 1-2 10, Cornelius 1-6 4-4 6, McDaniel 1-4 3-3 5, Tjaden 2-6 0-0 6, Ostermann 2-5 0-0 6, Clark 0-1 3-4 3, Kirmer 0-1 1-2 1, Noonan 1-1 0-0 2, M. Smith 1-2 0-0 2, A. Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-59 18-23 73.
WASHBURN (9-8, 3-4)
Amekporfor 1-7 2-2 4, Nwidadah 10-14 3-3 23, Gomez 2-5 1-3 5, Giovannetti 5-11 0-0 12, Sterk 8-13 3-4 26, McKenzie 1-3 0-0 2, Wayne 2-8 1-2 6, Davison 1-2 1-1 3, McCallop 0-1 0-0 0, Luebbert 0-1 0-0 0, Gideon 2-3 0-0 6, Jansky 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 32-69 12-17 88.
3-point goals -- Emporia State 9-22 (Gilpin 4-8, Tjaden 2-5, Ostermann 2-5, Horyna 1-2, Cornelius 0-1, M. Smith 0-1), Washburn 12-29 (Sterk 7-11, Giovannetti 2-6, Gideon 2-3, Wayne 1-5, Amekporfor 0-2, Gomez 0-1, McCallop 0-1). Rebounds -- Emporia State 36 (Alvarez 7), Washburn 40 (Nwidadah 12, Amekporfor 7). Assists -- Emporia State 13 (Horyna 4, Cornelius 4), Washburn 24 (Gomez 6, Giovannetti 6, Amekporfor 5). Turnovers -- Emporia State 12, Washburn 9. Total fouls -- Emporia State 20, Washburn 18. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
