By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team will be looking to extend its six-game home winning streak on Tuesday when the Ichabods host No. 25 Missouri Western in a 5:30 p.m. makeup game at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods are on a four-game winning streak overall and will take a record of 9-9 (7-5 MIAA) into Tuesday's game after winning a 98-93 overtime shootout against Central Oklahoma on Saturday.
Missouri Western is 16-3 overall and 10-3 in the MIAA.
The Washburn-Missouri Western game was originally scheduled to be played on Jan. 8, but was postponed to COVID-19 protocols.
The Griffons have also won four in a row and are coming off an 84-53 victory against Lincoln.
Washburn senior Hunter Bentley ranks 14th in the MIAA with a team-high 12.8 scoring average for the Ichabods. She scored 20 points for the third time this season on Saturday.
Abby Oliver ranks second on WU in scoring with and 8.4 average and adds 4.2 rebounds off the bench. Oliver has scored in double-digits in four of her last five games.
Macy Doebele scored a career-high 18 points in Washburn's win over Central Oklahoma and went 10 of 12 at the free throw line.
Doebele scored Washburn's final nine points in regulation against the Bronchos, including the game-tying layup with 0.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Shae Sanchez scored 14 points in Washburn's two wins last week while Nuria Barrientos averages 6.3 points and leads the team with 5.5 rebounds per game. She tallied 10 points and four rebounds against UCO.
Washburn attempted a season-high 35 free throws against the Bronchos and successfully made 29 of those while also tying a season-high with nine 3-pointers.
Bentley is No. 8 on Washburn's all-time scoring list with 1,431 career points. She needs 37 more to pass former teammate Reagan Phelan.
Bentley has played the second-most minutes of any Washburn player with 3,914 in her career and is 65 minutes away from moving up to No. 1. Shelley Foster (1991-95) is the all-time leader with 3,978 minutes played.
After going just 6-16 in the conference-only 2020-21 schedule, Missouri Western opened the new season on a nine-game winning streak.
Three players from Missouri Western rank in the top 20 in the MIAA in scoring, led by Brionna Budgetts' 13.4 scoring average.
Connie Clarke (12.8) and Corbyn Cunningham (11.9) also average double-figures for Western. Clarke leads the team in rebounds (8.6 average), steals (1.9) and blocks (0.9).
Washburn hits the road for games this week at Rogers State Thursday and Northeastern State Saturday.