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Washburn's women's basketball team was looking for a second straight MIAA Tournament upset in Saturday's semifinals and, for a while anyway, the Ichabods' chances looked promising.
But after trailing the Ichabods by 4 points after the first quarter and leading by just a point at the half, No. 14-ranked Nebraska-Kearney took control with a 24-9 third quarter en route to a 59-40 victory at Hays, ending Washburn's season at 12-12.
The No. 3 seed Lopers (21-3) advanced to Sunday's championship game against top seed and No. 5-ranked Fort Hays State.
The Ichabods, who had upset No. 2 Central Missouri in the MIAA quarterfinals, started out strong as they made 9 of 14 attempts from the field in the opening quarter to take a 20-16 lead.
The Lopers closed out a low-scoring second quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 25-24 advantage before blowing the game open in the third quarter.
Aubree Dewey scored WU's first basket of the second half at the 8:21 mark before the Lopers took control of the game, scoring 11 unanswered points to go up 36-26, midway through the third quarter. Nebraska-Kearney then scored the final 5 points of the quarter to take a 49-33 cushion into the fourth.
The Ichabods shot 36 percent from the field and made just 2 of 10 3-point attempts while the Lopers shot 44.2 percent, including 3-pointers.
Dewey,a freshman, was 8 for 14 from the field and had a team-high 16 points while junior Nuria Barrientos added 7 points and 5 rebounds.
Elisa Backes led three double-figure scorers for the Lopers with 16 points and also finished with 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY WOMEN 59, WASHBURN 40
Washburn 20 4 9 7 -- 40
Nebraska-Kearney 16 9 24 10 -- 59
WASHBURN (12-12)
Gamble 2-5 0-0 4, Bentley 1-8 2-3 4, Barrientos 3-7 0-1 7, Dewey 8-14 0-0 16, Doebele 2-8 0-0 5, Narber 0-0 0-0 0, Willey 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Cassaday 2-8 0-0 4, Glatczak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 2-4 40.
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY (21-3)
Simental 0-1 0-0 0, Holt 1-2 0-0 2, Kirsch 3-12 0-0 9, Sanger 4-5 1-1 10, Carlson 3-9 0-0 6, Law 5-8 1-1 12, McCool 0-1 2-2 2, Dreckman 0-0 0-0 0, Burns 1-1 0-0 2, Backes 6-13 3-3 16. Totals 23-52 7-7 59.
3-point goals -- Washburn 2 (Doebele, Barrientos), Nebraska-Kearney 6 (Kirsch 3-5, Law, Backes, Sanger). Rebounds -- Washburn 28 (Barrientos 5, Cassaday 5), Nebraska-Kearney 33 (Kirsch 9). Assists -- Washburn 5 (Dewey 3), Nebraska-Kearney 13 (Simental 3). Turnovers -- Washburn 13; Nebraska-Kearney 10. Fouled out -- none.
