By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University women's basketball team took a step forward in Year 2 of the Lora Westling era, posting a two-win jump while also improving its MIAA record and advancing to the conference postseason tournament.
Now the goal is to continue that uphill trend over the 2024-2025 campaign while eyeing a more dramatic jump.
Washburn junior Yibari Nwidadah earned All-MIAA honorable mention last season after averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds. {File photo/TSN]
Junior Gabi Giovannetti has averaged 7.1 points with 65 made 3-pointers over two seasons at Washburn. [File photo/TSN]
"That's the thing, we want to take another step forward as a program,'' said Westling, whose Ichabods were 13-16 a year ago. "We feel really excited about the direction we're going.
"I think a direct indicator of that is just the level of student-athlete that we're able to recruit. That's taking a step forward, so obviously we're really excited about the future. But for this year particularly, I think we're kind of for the first time able to be in control of what we're going to do. We have enough talent.''
Washburn will have to replace graduated star point guard Aubree Dewey, an All-MIAA honoree, but Westling is confident that the Ichabods are up to that challenge.
"I don't think you replace a player like Aubree but what we've done is we've been really fortunate to add more pieces so we can kind of play a different style,'' Westling said. "And I think because (Dewey) was a focal point we didn't have a ton of depth the last few years and I feel like now we have enough experience in some different positions and we're really excited about our new players and how our freshmen and sophomores have developed that now we can use that depth and kind of get into a style that's a little more sustainable for our program.''
Washburn does not have a senior on its 15-player roster but the Ichabods return eight players who saw action a year ago and have added seven newcomers -- five freshmen and a pair of transfers.
Yibari Nwidadah, a 6-foot-2 junior, averaged 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds last season while earning All-MIAA honorable mention.
Also returning for their junior seasons are Gabi Giovannetti, who has averaged 7.1 points over her WU career with 65 3-pointers, Aniah Wayne, who averaged 7.6 points with 45 3-pointers a year ago, and Amaya Davison, who averaged 6 points.
Sophomores Madelyn Amekporfor, LIz Boyd and Nia McKenzie played major minutes last season as freshmen
"We don't have a lot of seniority,'' Westling said. "Obviously, you look at the teams who were picked at the top of our league and they're senior, super senior heavy, but that's OK as long as we have the right mindset going into that.
"I really like this group. They're competitive. They want to do well, almost to a fault. We've got to get them to be OK, right now in this point in the season, with some failures, so that we can grow and be really competitive when we need to be. But they're fun, they like each other, they play hard, so I'm really excited about the year.''
Washburn is counting on a big year from 5-10 junior guard Payton Sherk, a transfer from Cal State East Bay where she averaged 18.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and hit 83 3-pointers last season.
"Payton Sterk, one of our transfers, we're going to count on her to carry some offensive load, which she's used to,'' Westling said. "The thing about Payton is she really has the ability to be a two-way player. She can play both sides of the ball and we're going to need her to do that.
"She's had an offensive focus for her team the last few years and here we told her in the recruiting process, 'We want you to be a complete player,' and she's excited about that.''
Washburn was picked ninth in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll, released Tuesday morning by the conference.
The Ichabods will open their season with an Oct. 30 exhibition at Kansas State and a Nov. 1 exhibition at Kansas before taking part in the Central Region Crossover at St. Cloud, Minn. on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9.
Washburn will open its home schedule on Nov. 25 against Lincoln.
