By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
MANKATO, Minn. -- No. 5 seed Washburn University women's basketball saw its season come to an end Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Central Region tournament with a 64-55 loss to No. 4 seed Central Missouri.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah ended her Washburn career with a team-high 14 points in Friday's 64-55 NCAA Central Regional loss to Central Missouri in Mankato, Minn. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods ended the season 24-8 record with an MIAA Tournament Championship.
"It's hard to swallow right now because I know how much our team and our players wanted (a win), but I think the standard has been re-set in our program and a couple of weeks and we'll get started to be back here again,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said in her post-game press conference.
"That's what makes it difficult right now is that you have this tough game, but getting that 20-win season again and getting back into a championship scenario and getting back into the regional tournament for the first time in 13 years, geez we have so much to be proud of and so much to be grateful for. I think that speaks for itself.''
Washburn opened the game with a hot start, leading 6-3 after the second bucket of the game for senior Yibari Nwidadah in the first four minutes.
The Jennies (26-6) would come back to tie the game at eight to start what would turn into a 11-2 run to end the first quarter with UCM leading 16-10.
Nwidadah opened the second quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play that cut the Jennies' lead in half, but the next 11 points came from Central Missouri as the lead reached 14 points at the 4:48 mark in the quarter.
A quick five-point burst from Kellyn Hunter inside the final three minutes helped bring the Central Missouri lead back down to single digits, sending the Ichabods to halftime trailing 29-22.
Both sides traded baskets out of the break with the deficit staying between seven and 11 points until a 4-0 burst by the Jennies pushed the lead back up to 13.
Washburn senior Payton Sterk drained 3-pointers on back-to-back trips down the court, cutting the WU deficit back down to seven points with 4:07 left in the quarter.
A steal and a score from Hunter brought Washburn within five, but that was answered by five straight for Central Missouri as it went into the fourth leading 50-41.
The fourth quarter started like the third with alternating baskets on each side.
Washburn shot it efficiently, going 6-14 in the quarter, but could not connect from deep going 0-7 from 3-point range in the comeback attempt.
Madelyn Amekporfor got a layup to go inside of two minutes that made it an eight-point game for the first time all quarter, but that was as close as the Ichabods would get as the Jennies held on to post the nine-point win.
Washburn finished the game shooting 36.8 percent (21-57) from the floor and were just 2-16 (12.5) from deep. Central Missouri shot an even 50.0 percent from the floor (24-48) while going 5-16 from deep and 11-20 at the free throw line.
Nwidadah led the way for the Ichabods with 14 points on 5-10 shooting and added six rebounds and a steal.
Senior Payton Sterk scored 12 points in her final game for Washburn in Friday's 64-55 NCAA Central Regional loss to Central Missouri in Mankato, Minn. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Sterk scored 12 while adding a steal and three boards. Gabi Giovannetti added eight points with a pair of blocks and Hunter had seven points.
Reese Schaaf was the only double-figure scorer for Central Missouri finishing with 35 points on 15-23 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Washburn coach Lora Westling led the Ichabods to a 24-8 record and the MIAA Tournament title in the 2025-2026 season. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2012-13 season and the 24 victories are the most in a season for the program since the 2011-12 squad went 29-5.
