By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
BAYAMON, P.R. -- Washburn University women's basketball hit the century mark as it wrapped up its time at the Puerto Rico Clasico with a 100-43 win over Ana G Mendez on Tuesday afternoon.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah (middle) scored 16 points to lead five double-figure scorers in Washburn's 100-43 win on Tuesday in Puerto Rico. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods got back to .500 on the year at 6-6 as they return to conference action against Central Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah picked up where she left off the day before, scoring the first six points of the game for Washburn to help build a 9-1 lead at the 5:28 mark.
The advantage grew to double figures with 3:17 to go at 17-6. The Trinos scored the next five points to pull within six in the final minutes before the Ichabods finished on a 6-0 run to lead 23-11 after one.
The Ichabods began the second quarter with a 13-0 run, capped by a fastbreak layup from Madelyn Amekporfor at the 7:33 mark. The lead grew to 30-points after Payton Sterk made a pair of free throws with 4:05 left in the half.
Washburn's defense tightened up after the first quarter, holding the Trinos to 1-16 shooting (6.25 percent) in the quarter and just four points to lead 52-15 at halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Ichabods started on an 8-2 run which pushed the lead over 40 points after a pair of baskets by Nwidadah. Ana G Mendez played even the rest of the quarter, sinking a pair of 3-pointers to leave the game at 72-28 heading into the fourth.
Early in the fourth quarter the Trinos brought the lead back down under 40 points. The Washburn offense heated up from that point on, shooting 12-17 (70.6) in the quarter to finish the game on a 17-4 run to reach 100 points for the first time this season and win by 57-points.
For a second straight game the Ichabods shot over 50 percent at 53.3% on 40-75 shooting. They were 16-33 at the line and made four 3-pointers.
They held Ana G Mendez to 11-52 (21.2) shooting while the Trinos shot 5-21 from beyond the arc.
Five players scored in double figures for Washburn, led by Nwidadah with 16 on 8-9 shooting in just 15 minutes. Sterk had 15 points with eight rebounds. Amekporfor and Aniah Wayne each had 11 points while Willow Gideon had a career-high 10 off the bench. Nia McKenzie had eight points with a career-high 11 rebounds to lead the team.
Lyann Lopez nearly had half of the points for Ana G Mendez scoring 21 on 5-15 shooting.
