By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A new era for Washburn University women's basketball will get its unofficial start at 1 p.m. Sunday as first-year coach Lora Westling and the Ichabods will play their only exhibition game of the 2022-23 season at No. 22-ranked Nebraska.
With two weeks of official practice under their belts, 5-foot-7 junior guard Aubree Dewey said the transition to a new coach has been a smooth one.
Junior point guard Aubree Dewey is one of nine returning players for Washburn women' basketball, which will open its 2022-2023 season under new coach Lora Westling with a Sunday exhibition aat Nebraska. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"I honestly don't think it's been difficult at all,'' said Dewey, a Plainville product. "The way Coach Wes runs practices and stuff, she's all about competing all the time and that's what me and all the other girls on the team love to do and why we play basketball is to compete.
"She's just made it really easy to connect with her and to start to get into more of a flow as a team.''
Washburn is coming off a 14-16 season in '21-22 while the Huskers went 24-9 last year and were a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After finishing the 2021-22 regular season in a tie for eighth place in the conference standings, Washburn was voted 10th in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and the Media Poll for the upcoming season.
Dewey played in all 30 games last season with four starts, averaging 3.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists, and is one of nine returners from last year's Washburn team.
Now in her third season in the program, Dewey is being counted on to step up as a leader this season.
"Coach has told me that she wants me to be a voice on the team, so I'm just working on stepping that up every day,'' Dewey said.
As a team last year, the Ichabods averaged 60.0 points and shot 41.0 percent from the floor and 29.8 percent from 3-point range. WU grabbed 37.5 rebounds per game.
Six of Washburn's losses last year were decided by five or fewer points with half of those being by two or fewer points.
The 14-player roster is Washburn's smallest roster since the 2015-16 season when there were also 14.
Abby Oliver is WU's top returner in scoring (9.0 points per game), assists (1.8 average), blocks (1.0) and minutes played (26.9) and earned All-MIAA honorable mention after starting 17 of 30 games. Oliver turned in 14 double-figure scoring games, including a career-high 20 points at Emporia State.
Macy Doebele started 23 of the 29 games she played and avaeraged 7.9 points while shooting 45.5 percent. Doebele is the top returning rebounder with a 5.0 average.
In the post, Lauren Cassady had the highest shooting percentage of any Ichabod last year at 46.6 percent (48-103 attempts). She played in 28 games making 21 starts and averaged 4.0 points and 3.4 rebounds.
Mackenzie Gamble made 22 starts in 26 games and contributed 4.5 points and tied for the second-most three-pointers made with 29.
In her first year as an Ichabod after transferring from Kansas State, Emma Chapman made 22 appearances and tallied 27 points and 18 rebounds.
Austin Broadie, Lakyn Schieferecike and Jaden Newfarmer also return after seeing limited action last year.
Dual-sport student-athlete Broadie will officially join and practice with the team at the conclusion of the volleyball season as she is currently a middle hitter for the Washburn volleyball team.
Five freshmen join the team for this year -- Gabi Artis, Amaya Davison, Natalia Figueroa, Yiibari Nwidadah and Lizzy Sanders.
A former Washburn standout and national champion, Westling was named the Ichabods new coach in April, taking over for Ron McHenry, who announced his retirement after 22 seasons, five days after the 2021-2022 season ended.
McHenry was the winningest coach in program history with a 490-180 record and led the Washburn Lady Blues to the NCAA Division II National Championship title in 2005, the first NCAA national championship for Washburn athletics in any sport.
Westling was a member of that team and returns to Washburn after six seasons at Western Colorado, where she compiled a record of 77-78 and led the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, the first two in program history.
Nebraska welcomes back 10 players from last season's roster and lost six. Nebraska was picked fifth in the 2022-23 Media Big Ten preseason rankings.
WU played an exhibition at K-State last season and Dewey said she enjoys the atmosphere of playing in the Division I environment.
"It's definitely exciting to get to step into that different environment and to play against those good teams,'' Dewey said.
Washburn's 2022-23 season will officially kick off with the Washburn Crossover Classic on Nov. 11-12.
The Ichabods will host Southwestern Oklahoma and Oklahoma Baptist in the tournament.
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