By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
MANKATO, Minn. -- No. 5 seed Washburn University women's basketball saw its season come to an end Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Central Region tournament with a 64-55 loss to No. 4 seed Central Missouri.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah ended her Washburn career with a team-high 14 points in Friday's 64-55 NCAA Central Regional loss to Central Missouri in Mankato, Minn. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods ended the season 24-8 record with an MIAA Tournament Championship.
Washburn opened the game with a hot start, leading 6-3 after the second bucket of the game for senior Yibari Nwidadah in the first four minutes.
The Jennies (26-6) would come back to tie the game at eight to start what would turn into a 11-2 run to end the first quarter with UCM leading 16-10.
Nwidadah opened the second quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play that cut the Jennies' lead in half, but the next 11 points came from Central Missouri as the lead reached 14 points at the 4:48 mark in the quarter.
A quick five-point burst from Kellyn Hunter inside the final three minutes helped bring the Central Missouri lead back down to single digits, sending the Ichabods to halftime trailing 29-22.
Both sides traded baskets out of the break with the deficit staying between seven and 11 points until a 4-0 burst by the Jennies pushed the lead back up to 13.
Washburn senior Payton Sterk drained 3-pointers on back-to-back trips down the court, cutting the WU deficit back down to seven points with 4:07 left in the quarter.
A steal and a score from Hunter brought Washburn within five, but that was answered by five straight for Central Missouri as it went into the fourth leading 50-41.
The fourth quarter started like the third with alternating baskets on each side.
Washburn shot it efficiently, going 6-14 in the quarter, but could not connect from deep going 0-7 from 3-point range in the comeback attempt.
Madelyn Amekporfor got a layup to go inside of two minutes that made it an eight-point game for the first time all quarter, but that was as close as the Ichabods would get as the Jennies held on to post the nine-point win.
Washburn finished the game shooting 36.8 percent (21-57) from the floor and were just 2-16 (12.5) from deep. Central Missouri shot an even 50.0 percent from the floor (24-48) while going 5-16 from deep and 11-20 at the free throw line.
Nwidadah led the way for the Ichabods with 14 points on 5-10 shooting and added six rebounds and a steal.
Senior Payton Sterk scored 12 points in her final game for Washburn in Friday's 64-55 NCAA Central Regional loss to Central Missouri in Mankato, Minn. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Sterk scored 12 while adding a steal and three boards. Gabi Giovannetti added eight points with a pair of blocks and Hunter had seven points.
Reese Schaaf was the only double-figure scorer for Central Missouri finishing with 35 points on 15-23 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Washburn coach Lora Westling led the Ichabods to a 24-8 record and the MIAA Tournament title in the 2025-2026 season. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2012-13 season and the 24 victories are the most in a season for the program since the 2011-12 squad went 29-5.
