By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 10-ranked Washburn University men's basketball team had four players reach double figures as the team improved to 4-0 on the season in a 77-55 win over Rockhurst on Friday night in Kansas City, Mo.
Washburn senior Jacob Hanna scored 19 points Friday night as the Ichabods improved to 4-0 with a 77-55 road win over Rockhurst. [File photo/TSN]
With 4:30 to go in the opening half, the Ichabods turned a 26-24 lead into a 41-27 halftime advantage, closing the half on a 15-3 run capped by a Kade Cook dunk at the buzzer.
Washburn started the second half by scoring 10 of the first 14 points to build a 20-point lead and the Hawks got no closer than 14 the rest of the way.
The Ichabods scored eight straight points to go up 22 at 70-48 with 6:55 remaining,cruising to the 22-point win.
Former Great Lakes Valley Conference first-team selection Jacob Hanna scored a game-high 19 points back in familiar territory on 6 of 11 shooting while adding five rebounds.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter followed up his 26-point game on Tuesday with 16 points against Rockhurst, hitting four 3-pointers.
Senior Michael Keegan had 15 points with nine rebounds and five assists and sophomore Jack Bachelor scored 11 points with six rebounds and four assists.
Rockhurst was led by Jesse White who scored 18 for the Hawks.
Washburn shot a season-best 52 percent from the field, hitting 29 of 56 shots overall and going 8 of 23 from 3-point range. Washburn also held a 40-34 advantage on the glass and outscored the Hawks 40 to 14 in the paint while turning 11 Hawk turnovers into 17 points.
Washburn returns to action back on Tuesday when it will host Pittsburg State in a non-conference contest at 6 p.m. in Lee Arena.
WU women come up short in 88-83 loss to McKendree
Washburn fell behind early after a hot start by McKendree and was unable to bounce back, falling 88-83 in the first game of the Quincy Classic in Quincy, Ill.
The Ichabods will finish out the tournament against host Quincy at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
It was Washburn (0-3) which got the first bucket to go courtesy of Payton Sterk just 19 seconds into the game but the Bearcats (3-0) heated up quickly. They scored nine in a row to lead 11-4 at the 7:07 mark in the first. Seven turnovers for the Ichabods were the difference giving McKendree a 25-19 lead.
Early in the second quarterthe Bearcats were able to push the lead into double digits at 33-23 with 6:47 left in the half. The lead grew to as many as 12 before back-to-back buckets by Madelyn Amekporfor cut into the deficit. McKendree shot 8-13 (61.5) from the floor, but the Ichabods won the quarter and went into the half trailing by just four, 45-41, after a bucket by Gabi Giovannetti in the final minute.
Coming out of the break Washburn was able to tie the game at 49 after a layup by Yibari Nwidadah at the 8:42 mark. Shortly after the went ahead, leading 50-49 with Giovannetti scoring five points in a row. The Ichabod lead reached two before the Bearcats responded with a 12-0 run.
A big part of the run came at the line as McKendree shot 11-14 at the charity stripe in the third quarter alone. Washburn shot 50.0 percent from the field and limited the Bearcats to just 30.8 percent shooting but after 30 minutes trailed 66-60.
Giovannetti and Nwidadah continued to lead the offensive attack, scoring the first six points in the final quarter for the Ichabods to make it a four-point game at the 7:18 mark. McKendree held the lead there and had a five-point advantage before Amekporfor went on a personal 4-0 run to make it 81-80 with 99 seconds left.
The next five points went to the Bearcats. A triple by Amekporfor cut the lead in half with 13 seconds remaining but time ran out on Washburn as McKendree held on to win, 88-83.
Giovannetti had a team-high 19 points on 7-16 shooting while adding five rebounds. Defensively she came away with four steals and three blocks. Nwidadah had 18 points on 7-12 shooting, grabbed seven boards and added a pair of blocks. Amekporfor scored 16 points, had six rebounds and added three blocks and two steals. Aniah Wayne scored 14 off the bench and dished out four assists.
McKendree's Clare Breden had a game-high 25 points on 4-10 shooting but was 16-20 from the free throw line. Baylie Parks had a double-double, finishing with 24 points and 10 boards for the Bearcats.
Ichabod volleyball swept by No. 10-ranked Bronchos on the road
No. 24-ranked Washburn fell 3-0 in its penultimate regular-season match Friday evening on the road against No. 10 Central Oklahoma.
The Ichabods wrap up the regular season on Saturday at noon against Arkansas-Fort Smith.
After falling 25-16 in the first set Washburn (19-6 overall, 10-5 MIAA) improved each of the next two sets but were unable to claim either one as the Bronchos (26-2, 13-2) won 25-18 and 25-22.
Beginning the match the home Bronchos jumped out to a 4-0 lead which turned into an 8-3 run. Alex Dvorak registered a kill on a dish from Corinna McMullen that started a 4-0 run for the Ichabods to pull within one. Both sides traded points before each went on respective 3-0 runs. With the score at 17-16 Central Oklahoma started a set-ending 8-0 burst in a hurry. They hit .333 in the first frame with 19 kills.
After trailing early in the second set Bella Limback got a 4-0 run going for Washburn with a kill, with the streak putting the Ichabods up 7-5. Six of the next seven points went to the Bronchos to go up 11-8. Maddie Steiner served an ace to pull back within one at 14-13 but Central Oklahoma responded by winning the next five points and seven of the next eight.
A late burst came from Washburn with three points in a row and two by Keilah Rivers but it was not enough as the Bronchos finished out the set 25-18.
Both sides split the first eight points of the third set before Central Oklahoma moved ahead. Kills by Jalyn Stevenson and Brynne Topolski made it a one-point deficit before the Bronchos went on an 8-0 run. The streak grew to 11-1 and made it 21-10 in the third. Natalie Hedlund sparked a 6-0 run for the Ichabods and they would pull all within two at 23-21 but that as close as they would come with UCO finishing off the set, 25-22.
Dvorak led the Ichabods with 10 kills while hitting .471. McMullen surpassed the 2,000 career assist mark with a team-high 21 assists while Sydney Conner had 15 to go along with eight digs. Taylor Rottinghaus led the backline with 12 digs.
Addison Wimmer had 12 kills and hit .478 to lead the Bronchos charge. Defensively, Katie Le had 25 digs in the three-set contest.
