By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball opened its 2024-25 season on Wednesday night with an 89-36 exhibition road loss to No. 13-ranked Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum.
Washburn guard Amaya Davison scored six points for the Ichabods in Wednesday's 89-36 exhibition loss to Kansas State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will play their final exhibition game of the season on Friday at Kansas (6:30 p.m. tipoff).
After the Wildcats scored the first six points of the game Payton Sterk opened up the scoring for Washburn with a 3-pointer at the 8:48 mark of the first quarter.
Kansas State pushed the lead to double digits with hot shooting from deep early on.
The Ichabods held KSU scoreless over the final two and a half minutes of the quarter, going on a 4-0 run to close the quarter with three points by Brooke Gomez.
The Wildcats opened the second quarter with a quick run that made the WU deficit 24 points.
Amaya Davison was able to score six points in a row for Washburn, first with a 3-pointer, followed by a steal and fast break old-fashioned 3-point play. Turnovers kept Washburn from cutting into the lead further with 17 giveaways in the first half as Kansas State went into the break leading 40-19.
Out of the half the first seven points went to the Wildcats before a jumper by Sterk, but the run was pushed to 13-2. The hot shooting for Kansas State carried throughout the third quarter going 11-18 (61.1 percent) from the floor to lead 70-25 after 30 minutes.
Washburn had its highest scoring quarter in the fourth, with multiple scores by Sterk and Yibari Nwidadah.
The Wildcats continued to score as both teams played deep into the bench to close out the game.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting 13 of 56 (23.2 percent) from the floor while going 7-8 at the line. Thirty-one Washburn turnovers resulted in 36 points on the other end. Kansas State was 32-66 (48.5 percent) overall while connecting on nine triples.
The rebounding edge went to the Wildcats 53-31, including 18 on the offensive end. The Ichabods also managed just three assists to 27 for Kansas State.
Sterk led Washburn with 12 points on 5 of 13 shooting and was tied for the team lead with five rebounds. Davison added six points while Gabi Giovannetti, Madelyn Amekporfor and Nwidadah all had four.
Temira Poindexter led K-State with 14 points while Ayoka Lee had 11 points with seven rebounds and Zyanna Walker had 11 points and five assists.
