By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball came out on the wrong end of its first overtime game of the season on Saturday as the Ichabods fell 66-61 to Northwest Missouri State in Lee Arena.
Despite fighting foul problems and attempting 14 fewer free throws than the visiting Bearcats, Washburn extended the game to an extra session but couldn't keep up with Northwest in the five-minute period.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah led Washburn with 11 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 66-61 overtime loss to Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Bearcats scored the first five points of overtime to lead 62-57 with 3:16 left. Washburn pulled within three after Gabi Giovannetti hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining in OT, but that was all it could muster as Northwest Missouri put the game at the way at the free throw line to post the five-point win.
"That was frustrating,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We felt like the ball was where we wanted it to go and it just didn't fall tonight and that's tough.
"But at the same time I thought we lost the game defensively by just not adjusting to some tighter officiating and we lost the game on the free throw line.''
Through the first six minutes of play Washburn (8-8 overall, 2-4 MIAA) jumped out to a 12-6 lead with half of the points coming from junior Payton Sterk.
Junior Amaya Davison knocked down a triple to move the lead up to seven points at the 2:26 mark in the opening quarter.
The Bearcats (9-7, 2-4) were held to just 2-7 shooting in the frame as the Ichabods built a 15-10 lead.
Northwest Missouri bounced back offensively with two made 3-pointers to begin the second quarter and tied the game at 18 on a layup.
Two more connections from deep from the Bearcats quickly put them up by six as they went 5-8 from 3-point range in the quarter.
Washburn settled in on defense, keeping Northwest Missouri off the board for nearly four minutes as they went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. The advantage changed once more before the half and flipped back to the Ichabods after junior Aniyah Wayne sank a 3-pointer to go up 31-29 at the break.
Both teams went back and forth to begin the third quarter with nine lead changes and 12 ties in the entire game.
Washburn led by four with 4:02 left in the third after Madelyn Amekporfor made a pair of free throws.
The Ichabods held the Bearcats to 3-11 (27.3 percent ) shooting in the third but the visitors were able to keep pace by shooting 6-6 at the free throw line in the frame. Northwest trailed by just one after a pair of free throws in the final minute to make it 44-43 in favor of the Ichabods.
Washburn started the fourth quarter with three straight points from Amekporfor, going up by four again.
That would be the biggest margin on either side for the remainder of regulation.
A 3-point lead for the Ichabods in the final five minutes was erased after a triple on the other end.
Northwest Missouri went in front with 1:19 to play after a putback layup went in but freshman Brooke Gomez went coast to coast just eight seconds later for a layup to tie the game at 57 and that is how it would stay after 40 minutes of play.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting 42.1 percent overall and 4-10 from deep. The Bearcats shot 17-46 (37.0 percent) and were 8-20 from beyond the 3-point arc.
The free throw advantage went to the visitors as they shot 24-27 at the line to just 9-13 for Washburn.
Rebounding went in the Ichabods' favor, 36-26, as did a 38-16 points in the pant advantage.
The Washburn bench also outscored Northwest Missouri's reserves 21-5.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah was the lone double-figure scorer for Washburn with 11 points and also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Sterk, WU's second-leading scorer on the season, was limited to 19:23 of playing time due to foul problems and fouled out in the fourth quarter while Gomez finished with four personals and was limited to 15:56 of floor time.
"We had a couple of people on the bench for a lot of the game that we feel like are pretty impactful to us, but we've got to adjust,'' Westling said.
Caely Kesten led the way for the Bearcats playing 43 minutes and scoring 22 points with four 3-pointers. Holly Hartnett added 14 points and Emree Zars had 11.
The Ichabods will remain at home next week as they take on Emporia State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
NORTHWEST MISSOURI WOMEN 66, WASHBURN 61 (OT)
Northwest Missouri 10 19 14 14 9 -- 66
Washburn 15 16 13 13 4 -- 61
NORTHWEST MISSOURI (9-7, 2-4)
Fields 2-5 4-4 8, L. Kelderman 2-4 0-2 6, Hartnett 3-11 8-9 14, Kesten 6-17 6-6 22, Zars 2-4 6-6 11, Maas 0-1 0-0 0, Vazquez 0-1 0-0 0, Moody 1-2 0-0 2, Stanley 0-0 0-0 0, P. Kelderman 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 17-46 24-27 66.
WASHBURN (8-8, 2-4)
Amekporfor 2-7 3-4 8, Nwidadah 5-16 1-3 11, Gomez 3-5 0-0 6, Giovannetti 4-12 0-0 9, Sterk 3-5 0-0 6, McKenzie 2-3 1-2 5, Wayne 2-3 2-2 7, Davison 3-5 0-0 7, McCallop 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 24-57 9-13 61.
3-point goals -- Northwest Missouri 8-20 (Kesten 4-10, L. Kelderman 2-3, Zars 1-1, P. Kelderman 1-1, Hartnett 0-5), Washburn 4-10 (Amekporfor 1-3, Wayne 1-2, Giovannetti 1-3, Davison 1-1, Gomez 0-1). Rebounds -- Northwest Missouri 26 (Fields 6), Washburn 36 (Nwidadah 7, Amekporfor 6). Assists -- Northwest Missouri 8 (Hartnett 4), Washburn 8 (Amekporfor 3). Turnovers -- Northwest Missouri 12, Washburn 13. Total fouls -- Northwest Missouri 15, Washburn 22. Fouled out -- Sterk. Technical fouls -- none.
