By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball didn't have a great offensive night Wednesday against Northwest Missouri, shooting 31.5 percent while scoring just 45 points.
But thanks to an outstanding defensive effort, that was enough for the Ichabods to stretch their winning streak to three games with a 45-38 MIAA win over the Bearcats at Lee Arena.
Senior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 16 points in Wednesday's 45-38 Washburn home MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"I think that's a credit to both teams,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said of the low-scoring contest. "Both teams are just not going to give you what you want. We both have a couple of things we do really well and we're both not going to give it to the other one, so you just hope that you get enough breaks and enough toughness plays to find a way and that's why I'm proud of my players because they did tonight.''
Playing at home for the first time in almost two weeks, Washburn improved to 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA while avenging an earlier double-overtime loss to Northwest.
"You don't ever want to get swept in league and they're a good team and they're going to get some people, so we really needed to get this one back to make sure we didn't get swept and we're thankful for home court,'' Westling said.
Washburn trailed Northwest Missouri (10-9, 3-6) 16-9 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Bearcats still held a 21-15 advantage with 6:27 left in the opening half, but the Ichabods held Northwest scorelss for the remainder of the second quarter and finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room at the break.
Northwest Missouri scored five points in the first two minutes of the second half to go in front, but were held to just four points the rest of the quarter.
A pair of jumpers by senior Payton Sterk put Washburn in front by four points before the Bearcats scored the final four to tie the game at 30 going to the fourth.
A pair of 3-pointers from seniors Aniah Wayne and Gavi Giovannetti opened the fourth quarter for Washburn, with the second trey putting the Ichabods in front, 36-35.
Northwest Missouri knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 38 with 5:51 left but once again the Bearcats were held scoreless for more than five minutes.
Sterk knocked down what would be the go-ahead bucket with 3:18 remaining to start a 7-0 finish that finished off Washburn's seven-point win.
Washburn won despite shooting hitting just 17 of 54 shots from the floor and 3 of 10 attempts from 3-point range as the Ichabod defense limited the Bearcats to 27.5 percent shooting while going 5 of 19 from behind the arc.
Rebounding also went in favor of the Ichabods, 42-33, while Washburn held the visitors to zero fast break points and just five second-chance points.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah recorded a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds in Wednesday's 45-38 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Ichabod senior Yibari Nwidadah tied her career-high with 16 rebounds while scoring 13 points.
"I just go into pursuit,'' Nwidadah said of her big rebounding night. "I feel like we had really great perimeter defense and not letting their two shooters get hot. Their shots created long rebounds so I was just going to get it.
"We learned from (the earlier loss) and we executed better and that was our goal. We talk a lot about holding teams under 60, so we did a really good job there, and we take pride (in defense) because it fuels our offense. We just put a lot of energy into our defense.''
Sterk scored a game-high 16 points on seven of 13 shooting from the field.
Normally a shooting guard, Sterk saw a lot of time Wednesday night running the WU offense from the point guard position.
"Good for Payton for stepping up,'' Westling said. "She just wants to win. That's the thing about Payton, she'd play post if I asked her to.''
Sterk said she played the point earlier in her career, so Wednesday's stint wasn't completely foreign for her.
"I haven't done it in awhile, but it was good,'' Sterk said. "It's a little nerve-wracking at first once I get back into it, but it seemed to work.''
Ella Moody had 13 points to lead Northwest Missouri while Bailey Birmingham had 11.
The Ichabods are scheduled to host Missouri Western on Saturday, but the prospect of inclement weather could necessitate a schedule change.
WASHBURN WOMEN 45, NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE 38
NW Missouri 16 5 9 8-- 38
Washburn 9 15 6 15 -- 45
NW Missouri (10-9, 3-6) -- Wand 2-7 0-2 4, Maas 2-4 0-0 4, Moody 5-15 2-2 13, Birmingham 3-10 2-2 11, Hauck 1-10 1-2 4, Stanley 0-2 0-0 0, Simmons 0-2 0-0 0, Collins 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-51 5-8 38.
Washburn (13-5, 6-3) -- Amekporfor 1-3 0-0 2, Nwidadah 6-12 1-5 13, Gomez 0-1 0-0 0, Giovannetti 1-6 2-2 5, Sterk 7-13 1-2 16, Kogbara 1-2 0-0 2, McKenzie 0-3 0-0 0, Hunter 0-4 0-0 0, Wayne 1-10 4-4 7. Totals 17-54 8-13 45.
3-point shots -- Northwest Missouri 5-19 (Birmingham 3-8, Moody 1-2, Hauck 1-6, Wand 0-1, Stanley 0-1, Simmons 0-1), Washburn 3-10 (Giovannetti 1-2, Sterk 1-4, Wayne 1-3, McKenzie 0-1). Rebounds -- Northwest Missouri 33 (Maas 10), Washburn 42 (Nwidadah 16). Assists -- Northwest Missouri 8 (Maas 4), Washburn 6 (Amekporfor 2, McKenzie 2). Turnovers -- Northwest Missouri 10, Washburn 9. Total fouls -- Northwest Missouri 17, Washburn 15. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
