By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball evened its record on the year with win No. 1 of the 2023-24 season on Saturday night, defeating Oklahoma Baptist 69-54 in the final game of the Central Region Crossover in Shawnee, Okla.
Washburn senior guard Aubree Dewey led the way with 20 points as the Ichabods improved to 1-1 with a win over Oklahoma Baptist Saturday night. [Oklahoma Baptist Athletic Communications]
The Ichabods return to action next Friday against McKendree University in the first game of the Quincy Classic in Quincy Ill.
Washburn (1-1) rode a hot start to Saturday's win, with the host Bison (0-2) leading 5-4 with 4:43 to go in the first quarter before the Ichabods finished the quarter on a 13-4 run, fueled by two 3-pointers from senior Mackenzie Gamble and one trey from senior Aubree Dewey, to take the lead for good.
Amaya Davison got the first bucket of the second quarter to push the lead into double digits at the 9:17 mark.
The Washburn lead stayed at 10 or more for the remainder of the half, with the Washburn defense locking in and holding the Bison to 3 of 8 shooting in the second quarter and forcing eight turnovers in the second.
Liz Boyd put in a layup just before halftime to make the score 29-17 in favor of the Ichabods.
Washburn shot a blistering 71.4 percent in the third quarter (10 of 14 shooting), opening the quarter with seven straight points.
A layup from Dewey made it a 36-17 game and gave WU its largest lead of the night.
Lakyn Schieferecke put in back-to-back layups midway through the third to keep the lead above 15.
The lead stayed that way as YIbari Nwidadah scored in the final seconds to give Washburn a 56-40 lead entering the final period.
After another layup from Nwidadah with 6:29 left in the game Oklahoma Baptist was able to go on a 7-0 run and cut the lead down to nine with 2:24 left to go.
That was as close as the Bison would get, with Aniah Wayne hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and Washburn closing out the 15-point win..
The Ichabods shot 28 of 58 overall (48.3 percent) and were eight of 20 behind the 3-point arc (40 percent) while holding OBU to 32.1 percent shooting and a one of 11 performance behind the arc. Washburn dominated on the boards, winning that battle 40 to 30, and outscored Oklahoma Baptist in both second-cfhance points and points in the paint.
Dewey scored a team-high 20 points to tie her career-high and added seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Nwidadah recorded her second double-double in as many games, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Wayne and Davison both added nine points with five combined 3-pointers.
Oklahoma Baptist's Jaedyn Getman led all scorers with 27, including all nine of OBU's points in the first quarter, and she added seven rebounds.
