By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team got thrown for a bit of a loop hours before Monday's MIAA makeup tilt against Northwest Missouri State when the Ichabods found out that veteran head coach Ron McHenry would be unavailable for the game due to COVID-19 protocols.
But dealing with the unexpected is nothing for the Ichabods, who went out and ended a two-game losing streak with a 58-52 win over the Bearcats at Lee Arena.
Washburn veteran assistant Brette Herber took over the Ichabods in McHenry's absence and sophomore Macy Doebele said it was a smooth transition.
"I feel like our team has hit a lot of bumps in the road, one thing after another, but I think we've just tried to come together this whole time and especially at the end of this game,'' Doebele said. "We were like, 'We need to come together, we need to get this big win and we need to start getting these wins and keep it going.'
"Even with all the bumps we've just got to keep fighting through it and I think that kind of showed in this game.''
Hunter Bentley
Macy Doebele
Herber said she was very happy with how the Ichabods responded to her and the effort they showed against the Bearcats.
"They were used to my voice and they're used to my style, how I'm going to coach and how I'm going to talk to them and I think they responded well,'' said Herber, a nine-year WU assistant who also coached the Ichabods early in the season when McHenry attended his daughter, Sami's, wedding. "That definitely helped because they know what I expect on the floor and how we communicate with each other.''
WU senior guard Hunter Bentley agreed.
"We all have confidence in her and she has confidence in us and she can run this team just as well as Coach Mc, so we knew that she could do it and that we could all do it together,'' Bentley said.
Washburn, which improved to 6-9 overall and 4-5 in the MIAA, fell behind 4-0 out of the gate Monday night, but answered with nine straight points to take the lead and led 13-8 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Ichabods outscored the Bearcats 7-1 at the start of the second quarter to build a 20-9 advantage but Northwest (11-5, 6-4) fought back to within two at 22-20 with 2:39 left in the half before Aubree Dewey scored the final two baskets of the half to put Washburn in front, 26-20.
Northwest Missouri used a 17-9 third quarter to take a 37-35 lead into the fourth quarter but Washburn answered with a 9-0 run at the start of the fourth, taking a 44-37 lead with 7:32 remaining on a hoop from Bentley.
Northwest Missouri got within a point twice over the final 1:26, the final time at 53-52 with 36.9 seconds remaining, but the Ichabods came up with some huge stops on the defensive end and Nuria Barrientos and Shae Sanchez both hit two free throws apiece and Bentley one over the final 22.9 seconds to put the game away.
Bentley finished with game-high totals of 14 points and four assists while sophomore Abby Oliver added 12 points and Doebele 11.
Sanchez and Irene Sanz both grabbed six rebounds for the Ichabods.
Kelsey Fields scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Bearcats while Peyton Kelderman also scored 10 points for Northwest.
Northwest shot just 32.7 percent from the field on the night while hitting just four of 24 3-point attempts.
Washburn countered with 43.8-percent shooting and hit 14 of 17 free throw attempts (82.4 percent).
Washburn will be back at home Saturday, hosting Emporia State.
WASHBURN WOMEN 58, NORTHWEST MISSOURI 52
NW Missouri 8 12 17 15 -- 52
Washburn 13 13 9 23 -- 58
NORTHWEST MISSOURI (11-5, 6-4)
Green 2-5 1-2 7, Rau 0-1 0-0 0, Hartnett 2-8 0-2 4, Kelderman 4-6 0-0 10, McConkey 3-7 1-2 7, Kesten 1-8 0-0 2, Fields 3-6 4-5 10, Atwood 0-3 3-4 3, Vazquez 3-7 2-2 8, Fleming 0-4 1-2 1. Totals 18-55 12-19 52.
WASHBURN (6-9, 4-5)
Cassaday 1-5 0-0 2, Gamble 0-3 0-0 0, Bentley 5-9 4-6 14, Barrientos 2-6 2-2 6, Doebele 3-3 4-5 11, Sanchez 0-3 4-4 4, Oliver 6-9 0-0 12 , Sanz 1-1 0-0 3, Dewey 3-7 0-0 6, Chapman 0-2 0-0 0, Glatczak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-48 14-17 58.
3-point shots – Northwest Missouri 4-24 (Green 2-3, Kelderman 2-3, Hartnett 0-3, Kesten 0-5, McConkey 0-1, Fields 0-1, Vazquez 0-3, Fleming 0-3, Atwood 0-2). Washburn 2-6 (Doebele 1-1, Sanz 1-1, Bentley 0-1, Barrientos 0-1, Sanchez 0-1, Dewey 0-1). Rebounds – Northwest Missouri 34 (Fields 14 ), Washburn 34 (Sanchez 6, Sanz 6). Assists – Northwest Missouri 6 (Vazquez 3), Washburn 11 (Bentley 4). Turnovers – Northwest Missouri 7, Washburn 7. Total fouls – Norhwest Missouri 18, Washburn 18. Fouled out – Doebele. Technical fouls – none.
