Washburn University women's basketball is in Oklahoma for its final regular-season road trip of the 2025-2026 season, beginning with a 5:30 p.m. Thursday game at Central Oklahoma.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti scored a game-high 17 points to lead Washburn in a 72-64 MIAA win over Northeastern State last Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn improved to 17-7 overall and 10-5 in the MIAA with a 72-64 win over Northeastern State last Saturday in Lee Arena.
Washburn is one win away from equaling its win total in an 18-13 season in 2024-25 with a minimum of five games remaining.
Central Oklahoma improved to 9-15 overall and 4-11 in the MIAA with a 64-61 win over Rogers State at home last time out.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah averages team-highs of 11.9 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Ichabods while also shooting a team-high 56.7 percent from the floor.
With 286 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah ranks third in program history and she is fifth with 790 career boards.
Her career field goal percentage of .578 is the second best in program history. In scoring she ranks 13th among all Ichabods with 1,265 career points and is 11th in program history with 69 career blocked shots.
Senior Payton Sterk is second on the team with an 11.7 scoring average while hitting a team-high 38 3-pointers.
Sterk currently sits 17th in program history with 100 3-pointers made in just 55 career games with Washburn.
Sterk's career free throw percentage of 86.5 percent is the best for any Ichabod.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti scored 10.7 points per game and is second on the team with 33 3-pointers. She also is swiping a team-high 1.8 steals per game, ranking seventh in the MIAA in steals.
Giovannetti is tied for sixth in program history with 145 career 3-pointers made. She is 19th among all Ichabods with 57 blocked shots and she ranks 31st in program history with 948 career points.
Holding opponents to 57.7 points per game, Washburn ranks first in the MIAA in scoring defense.
Forcing 18.21 turnovers per game, the Ichabods lead the conference.
Five players scored in double figures for the Ichabods in Saturday's win over Northeastern State, led by 17 points from Giovannetti. Sterk had 11 points with five assists and junior Britany Kogbara came off the bench to score 11 points with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Senior Aniah Wayne and sophomore Brooke Gomez scored 10 points apiece.
Nykaiya Dillard is scoring a team-high 12.4 points per game for Central Oklahoma while Kaitlyn McCarn is averaging 11.2 points.
Jerney Bennett is averaging 8.5 points with team-highs of 4.0 blocks and 8.0 rebounds per game. She is fourth in the nation and first in the MIAA in blocks while ranking seventh in the conference in rebounds.
Washburn leads the all-time series between the two teams 16-12.
Washburn plays its final regular season road game of the year on Saturday against Rogers State in Claremore, Okla.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti scored a game-high 17 points to lead Washburn in a 72-64 MIAA win over Northeastern State last Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN] 
