By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball has made steady progress in Lora Westling's previous three seasons as the Ichabods' head coach, posting a seven-win improvement during that span.
And with an experienced, talented returning cast, the Ichabods are looking forward to making another big jump in the upcoming 2025-2026 campaign.
Yibari Nwidadah
Payton Sterk
Washburn, led by All-MIAA second-team picks Yibari Nwidadah and Payton Stert, is coming off an 18-13 season with a 11-8 mark inside the MIAA and was tapped No. 2 with a conference-high six first-place votes in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the Media Poll.
And while the expectations for the Ichabods are higher than they've ever been under Westling, the former WU standout said her team welcomes the challenge.
"Nobody wants to motivate being the underdog for many years,'' said Westling, whose Ichabods are in their first full week of official preseson practice. "You kind of know when you come in that you've got to turn some things around, but if you stay the underdog something's not going well, so I'm really excited for our players and returners to kind of have some return on that investment and showing that experience matters and they're doing things the right way and setting themselves up for a chance to be really good.
''They've got to flip their mindset and make a decision that they're going to be unbeatable and they're going to be hard to beat and they're going to do their best every time and know that the results will come if their doing what they do the best they can do it.''
Nwidadah, a 6-foot-2 senior post player, and Sterk, a 5-10 senior guard, give the Ichabods two of the conference's best players to build around while Washburn also returns its other three starters -- Gabi Giovannetti (5-10 senior), Madelyn Amekporfor (5-11 junior) and Brooke Gomez (5-7 sophomore) -- along with top reserve Aniah Wayne (5-8 senior).
Nwidadah averaged 16.8 points and 8.0 rebounds last season while shooting 62.6 percent from the field and Sterk averaged 15.7 points and hit a team-high 62 3-pointers and shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line.
Giovannetti averaged 11.6 points, shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line and hit 47 3-pointers, Amekporfor averaged 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, Gomez averaged 4.6 points with a team-high 83 assists and Wayne averaged 5.8 points.
"I could not be more excited about this season just because of how they've worked,'' Westling said. "They're hungry, they want it and it's a pleasure to be around.''
The Ichabods have also added three transfers, Britany Kogbara (6-0 junior), Kellyn Hunter (5-4 junior) and Kylin Shipman (5-8 sophomore), who could make an immediate impact this winter.
Kogbara was a first-team juco All-American last season for Mesa Community College when she averaged 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds, Hunter averaged 14.1 points with 40 3-pointers last season for Spring Hill College and Shipman transferred in after seeing action as a freshman for Regis.
"They're going to be a lot of fun I think for Ichabod fans,'' Westling said. "They've got some pretty impressive skill sets that are really complimentary to what we're doing and credit to my staff, they just kind of hit a home run with our recruiting class.''
Washburn will open the season on Nov. 14 and 15 in Edmond, Okla. against St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State in the Central Region Challenge.
The Ichabods will make their home debut in newly-renovated Lee Arena on Nov. 21-22 in the Washburn Classic against Southwest Baptist and Metropolitan State of Denver.
