By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Friday night's opening 10 minutes of the Lora Westling era were a little rocky, with the Washburn Unversity women's basketball team spotting Southwestern Oklahoma State an early double-digit advantage.
But the rest of the night belonged to Westling and the Ichabods
After falling behind 21-11 in the first quarter, Washburn outscored Southwestern Oklahoma 23-5 in the second quarter and never trailed again as first-year WU head coach Westling and her team started the season with a 71-55 victory in the Washburn Crossover Classsic at Lee Arena.
Former Washburn standout Lora Westling made her debut as the Ichabods' head coach in Friday's 71-55 win over Southwestern Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn women's basketball coach Lora Westling receives a high-five from assistant coach Will Marchino after Friday's 71-55 win over Southwestern Oklahoma, Westling's first game as the Ichabods' head coach. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"These are hard to come by in competitive collegiate basketball so we're going to enjoy that,'' Westling said. "I'm going to enjoy it with my staff for our first one together.
"I'm just really, really proud of our team, and that's what I told my players, 'If you don't stop and enjoy these moments, it's going to be a really long year,' so we'll enjoy it and then crunch through tape tonight and try to see if we can do it again tomorrow.''
The Ichabods will wrap up the Classic at 3 p.m. on Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist.
Southwestern Oklahoma (0-1) jumped out to a 10-3 lead to start the game and closed out the final 4:17 of the first quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 10-point advantage.
"It was nerves, it was a new season, a new coach and we were trying to do everything right but it was also a blind scout,'' Westling said. "Southwestern Oklahoma's playing for a brand new head coach (Jeff Zinn) and we had really no idea what they were going to do.
"We had to kind of figure out what their gameplan was so we could counter and shake off the rust and the nerves and then eventually kind of settled in.''
The Ichabods (1-0) completely dominated the second quarter, holding the Bulldogs scoreless until the 5:59 mark and ending the half on a 10-0 run to take a 34-26 halftime advantage.
Washburn would lead for the entire second half and held a 47-35 lead heading into the final period, outscoring the Bulldogs 36-14 over the middle two quarters to take control.
"If we want to have any chance in the league we're in or really in the games we've scheduled early we have got to guard, and I think we finally started doing that,'' Westling said. "Obviously in the second quarter the numbers tell that story''
Back-to-back buckets by freshman Lizzy Sanders gave Washburn a 14-point lead 45 seconds into the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 rally by SWOSU would trim the lead to six, 51-45, before WU answered with an 8-2 run and maintained a double-figure lead for the final 5:47 of the game.
Mackenzie Gamble and Sanders both scored eight points in the fourth quarter as Washburn won going away..
The Ichabods finished the night shooting 48.2 percent from the field (27 of 56) while the Lady Bulldogs shot 32.8 percent from the floor (20-of-61).
Washburn also won the rebounding battle, 38-35.
Washburn guard Mackenzie Gamble (1) came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points with five 3-pointers in the Ichabods 71-55 season-opening victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Gamble, who started 22 games in the 2021-2022 season, came off the bench Friday to lead four Washburn players in double-figures with 19 points, going 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
"I don't really have a preference,'' Gamble said about coming off the bench. "Coach has emphasized being a positive impact when you're coming into the game so when I'm coming onto the court, that's what I'm thinking, positive impact. It's a good mindset for me.''
Gamble said it helped to hit some early shots.
"That's a momentum-starter for sure,'' Gamble said.
Macy Doebele was 5 of 6 from the field and totaled 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
Aubree Dewey and Sanders chipped in 10 points each for the Ichabods.
Morgan Smith led Southwestern Oklahoma with 16 points and seven rebounds.
On Saturday Washburn will face an Oklahoma Baptist team that dropped a 70-66 decision to Pittsburg State on Friday.
Pitt State will face Southwestern Oklahoma at 1 p.m. in Saturday's early game.
WASHBURN WOMEN 71, SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 55
Southwestern Oklahoma 21 5 9 20 -- 55
Washburn 11 23 13 24 -- 71
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA (0-1)
S. Smith 1-2 0-0 2, M. Smith 6-16 2-2 16, A. Zinn 3-9 0-0 7, L. Zinn 3-7 0-0 7, Gore 1-8 2-2 5, Wilson 2-6 0-0 6, Dillard 1-6 3-4 5, Laughlin 1-3 1-3 3, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Walker-Henry 0-1 0-2 0, Alder 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-61 8-13 55.
WASHBURN (1-0)
Chapman 1-5 0-0 2, Dewey 5-8 0-0 10, Artis 3-10 0-0 8, Figueroa 1-6 2-2 5, Doebele 5-6 1-2 11, Gamble 6-8 2-2 19, Cassaday 1-3 1-4 3, Davison 0-2 3-4 3, Sanders 5-6 0-0 10, Schieferecke 0-2 0-0 9, Newfarmer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 9-14 71.
3-point shots – Southwestern Oklahoma 7-25 (M. Smith 2-3, Wilson 2-6, A. Zinn 1-6, L. Zinn 1-1, Gore 1-5, Dillard 0-3, Laughlin 0-1). Washburn 8-20 (Gamble 5-7, Artis 2-7, Figueroa 1-3, Dewey 0-1, Davison 0-1, Schieferecke 0-1). Rebounds – Southwestern Oklahoma 35 (M. Smith 7), Washburn 38 (Doebele 8). Assists – Southwestern Oklahoma 9 (Gore 3), Washburn 16 (Dewey 4). Turnovers – Southwestern Oklahoma 17, Washburn 17. Total fouls – Southwestern Oklahoma 18, Washburn 19. Fouled out – A. Zinn, Artis. Technical fouls – none.
