Washburn University women's basketball picked up its eighth win in its last 10 tries and third in a row on Thursday evening with a 63-48 road win at Central Oklahoma.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah led a balanced attack with 14 points as Washburn improved to 18-7 with a 63-48 MIAA win at Central Oklahoma Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods play on the road for the final time in the regular season at Rogers State on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tipoff.
After a quick start by the Bronchos (9-16 overall, 4-12 MIAA) that saw them in front 8-7, Washburn (18-7, 11-5) took control in the last five minutes of the opening quarter.
The Ichabods finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to take an 18-12 lead at the end of the quarter while shooting 58.3 percent.
A pair of quick buckets by sophomore Brooke Gomez and senior Yibari Nwidadah pushed the Washburn lead to double figures at the 8:23 mark of the second quarter and forced a timeout by Central Oklahoma.
Scoring was scarce for both teams in the quarter after the opening minutes, as the Ichabods held the home squad to 3-11 shooting in the frame. The Ichabods led by as many as 12 points and went into the break leading 31-22.
The Bronchos came out of halftime firing, cutting the lead down to four at 34-30 with 5:12 remaining in the third.
Washburn responded with five points in a row, all from junior Britany Kogbara, and a jumper by Kellyn Hunter pushed the lead back to double figures and Washburn went into the fourth quarter leading 45-35.
Nwidadah got a pair of buckets early in the fourth stanza but the Bronchos cut away at the lead chipping it down to seven.
This time the Ichabods responded with a 10-0 run, capped off by 3-pointers from freshman Kennadi Jackson and senior Gabi Giovannetti, giving WU its largest lead of the game with 4:48 to go. The lead never dipped below 13 points from that point as Washburn closed out the 15-point win.
The Washburn University softball team, off to its best start since 2003, is finally at home, hosting the Washburn Invitational and playing six games Friday through Sunday at Gahnstrom Field.
Sophomore Makenzie Sais has helped lead Washburn softball to a 13-2 record in 2026, leading the nation with 31 stolen bases and ranking fifth with 23 hits. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics.]
The 13-2 start by the Ichabods this season is the best since starting the 2003 season 17-3 en route to a 34-win season.
Overall, the Ichabods have won their last six games after going 5-0 at the Cherokee Classic with three shutout wins.
Brenda Holaday is four wins away from reaching 300 as the Ichabods' head coach in her 10th season at Washburn. The winninest coach in school history, Holaday is 296-172 overall entering the weekend.
Thrilled with the Ichabods' start to the 2026 season, Holaday and the Ichabods will be looking to continue to grow on the confidence they've built moving forward.
"In 15 games we've played one bad game and one bad half inning, and that's kind of the way you have to look at it,'' Holaday said. "I think this group is more mature, more resilient, and I think they're more confident because they've put the work in.
"So their ability to bounce back when they individually have a bad outing or as a team we have a bad outing, we're just a more mature team and I think that comes from the work. You build a lot of confidence in this game with the extra work. That sounds a little cliche, but that's really the difference in this team.''
The Ichabods, 27-3 all-time in their home invitational, will open its weekend with a 2 p.m. Friday game against Montana State, followed by a 4 o'clock contest against Wayne State.
On Saturday Washburn will take on Minnesota State at 2 p.m. and Drury at 6 o'clock before closing out the weekend on Sunday with a 12 p.m. game against Minnesota-Crookston and a 4 p.m. game against Lincoln.
"I know they're excited to play in front of their fans, even thought it's going to be a little chilly out,'' Holaday said.
Washburn sophomore Makenzie Sais leads the nation with 31 stolen bases, 15 ahead of the No. 2-ranked player on the chart. Sais' 31 stolen bases are two shy of tying the Ichabod single-season record only 15 games into the season.
The Washburn single-season record has stood since 1999 when Torrie Beauchamp went 33 of 37 in stolen base attempts. Sais is currently tied for second on the single-season chart with Samantha Stallbaumer, who stole 31 bases in 2018 and 2019.
As a team the Ichabods are ranked second in the NCAA with 44 total stolen bases, behind Missouri Southern's 49.
Sais is also fifth in the nation in hits with 23 and 12th in runs scored with 16.
Washburn's Dalaney Anderson ranks fourth in the NCAA ranks and tied for the MIAA lead with 21 runs batted in and her four home runs are 16th in the national stats.
Pitcher Kierra Goos leads the nation in starts with eight and senior Sadie Walker is 16th with six starts.
Senior pitcher Sadie Walker ranks among the national leaders in multiple categories for the 13-2 Ichabods. [File photo/TSN]
Walker is fourth nationally in innings pitched (45.6), fifth in appearances (10), first in shutouts (3), ninth in strikeouts (45) and second in wins (7).
In the NCAA team rankings the Ichabods are fourth in doubles with 31, 11th in fielding percentage (.982), 11th in hits (130), eighth in RBI (92), fourth in shutouts (4) and third in walks (65).
Washburn University baseball opens MIAA play with a three-game series against Newman in Wichita Friday through Sunday, with the Ichabods looking to bounce back from a 2-5 start to the 2026 campaign.
Washburn baseball opens MIAA play this weekend at Newman, looking to bounce back from a 2-5 start to the 2026 season. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will take on the Jets at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Washburn will be looking to get its MIAA season off to a productive start after going 1-2 last week at home in the Steve Anson Classic.
"I know we're young and inexperienced in places and I know we are going to make mistakes, but I think the level of fight and grit wasn't Washburn baseball and that's not how we play,'' Ichabod coach Harley Douglas said.
"I think we got very individually focused and not focusing on what the task was for us as a program and as a team. That was the hardest part is these guys not believing in themselves and there's been no reason for them to not.''
Now the goal is to bounce back against a Newman team that is 2-7 on the season after posting a 10-36 record a year ago.
"I know Newman's probably not having the season that they were hoping to start with, but it's a new coach, a new situation,'' Douglas said. "But every time we play Newman it's a good series.
"They always play tough, they always play hard and we need to be able to go down there and play. Traditionally we've had some good games down there and we need to be able to go out and try to handle our business and put it all together.''
The Ichabods are coming off a fourth straight winning season in 2025, going 28-25 overall and 18-18 ins the MIAA. Washburn finished seventh in the regular season and won two games in the MIAA Tournament before falling in the semifinal round.
Washburn was picked to finish fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll for a second straight year.
Washburn is scoring 6.14 runs per game on the year while opponents are scoring 7.29 runs per game.
At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .217 with a .380 on base percentage and a .327 slugging percentage. Washburn has tallied three home runs with 47 total walks.
The WU pitching staff has a 5.88 earned run average with 57 strikeouts across 59.2 innings. The Ichabods have allowed 69 hits and issued 29 walks.
Washburn has a .962 fielding percentage as a team with 10 errors and three turned double plays.
Ian Luce and Jarrett Herrmann both have four-game hitting streaks entering the weekend while Luce, who is hitting .333, has reached base in all seven Ichabod games with three multi-hit games.
Herrmann has played in five games, making four starts, and is hitting a team-high .357.
Seaman product Maclane Finley has thrown a team-high 11.0 innings in his two starts. He has a 4.09 ERA with six strikeouts and a .211 opponent batting average. He is 0-1 on the year with a 1.18 WHIP. He is 13th in the MIAA in hits allowed per nine innings.
Kai Bennett has a pair of starts this year, throwing 10.0 innings. He has a .200 opponents batting average with a 2.70 ERA. The Liberty, Mo. native has struck out eight this season while going 0-1. He ranks 9th in the MIAA in hits allowed per nine innings.
Caleb Lunnon has made two starts for the Ichabods throwing 10.1 innings on the year. He has a team-high nine strikeouts with a 2.61 ERA for a 1-0 record.
Douglas enters his 12th season as Washburn's coach and carries an all-time record of 286-247 with seven appearances in the MIAA Tournament. He led the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2022.
Through the first half of Thursday's non-league game at Seaman, Washburn Rural star Maddie Vickery looked a lot like a player who hadn't played a basketball game in more than six months.
But slowly but surely, the 6-foot-2 junior Kansas State commit started to look more and more like the player local fans have been accustomed to seeing, coming alive in the second half to help Washburn Rural overcome a 19-point deficit in a 50-47 win over the Vikings.
Washburn Rural junior Maddie Vickery (left) made her season debut Thursday at Seaman, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a 50-47 win. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Vickery, who suffered a torn ACL late in the summer season, went 0 of 6 from the field in the first half but scored all 11 of her points in the second half, including three 3-pointers, while also grabbing seven rebounds and registering two blocks as the Junior Blues improved to 14-6 overall.
"We talked about that and she's not nervous about the knee, but this was her first game in a long time, so I felt like it was going to take a little while,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "I think if the first one may have gone in maybe not as long, but in the second half she looked really good.
"It was kind of like the old Maddie. She really looked good. She was energetic, she was moving well and her shot looked a lot better the second half. We look up to her and we're excited to have her back.''
Vickery came off the bench for the first time with 5:19 left in the opening quarter and was in and out the rest of the night, playing 19 minutes, 45 seconds.
After her slow shooting start Vickery hit a 3-pointer for her first basket of the night at the 3:23 mark of the third quarter and hit another 3 with 4:17 remaining to put Rural up 43-41 and canned another trey with 2:13 left to break a 45-all deadlock, putting the Junior Blues ahead to stay.
"I wouldn't say it was really nerves because I've put in a lot of work and I've trusted the process,'' Vickery said. "And I know I'm going to be fine because I know God's got me,
"I mean, a little bit of pressure, but other than that I don't think it was really nerves. I haven't played a game in about six and a half months, so it was a little bit different to adjust to. Practice is different than a game. But once I got to the second half ... I kind of settled in and got out of my head and stuff like that.''
And once she got her first shot to fall, Vickery knew she was really back.
"It was kind of a big weight off my shoulders that I was putting on myself,'' she said. "I'm glad the shots kept falling. I'm happy that I'm able to do this and that I was blessed to be given this opportunity and all my hard work is paying off.''
Seaman (9-11) put together a 20-0 run at the end of the first quarter and start of the second stanza to take a 24-5 lead before Rural senior Ella Hirschi hit a 3-pointer with 5:06 left in the half to help stem the tide.
Seaman was still in front 29-13 at the break, but Washburn Rural responded with a 22-8 third quarter to get within 37-35 at the start of the fourth.
Freshman Kamryn Smith came off the bench to lead Washburn Rural with 12 points on four 3-pointers in Thursday's 50-47 win at Seaman. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Freshman Kamryn Smith hit her fourth 3-pointer of a 12-point night with 4:53 left to give Rural its first lead since an early 5-4 advantage.
"I told her in the first half, 'I'm sorry, I can't play you because you're not playing hard enough and that's the standard that we have,' '' Bordewick said. "And then she woke up and she was playing hard on the defensive end. Yeah, her shot was really helping us tremendously, but it's because she's in the flow, she's engaged and she got after it. That's what we asked her to do and she did a great job.''
Shawnee Heights' boys and Seaman's girls captured the United Kansas Conference team championships Wednesday at Lansing while Heights' Henry Schattilly and Kaden Evans posted a one-two boys individual finish.
Senior Henry Schattilly shot a 761 series Wednesday to win the UKC individual title for team champion Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered]
Seaman won the girls team title by a 3,019-2,907 margin over Shawnee Heights, while the T-Bird boys took top honors by a 3,652-3,534 margin over Lansing.
Schattilly shot a banner 761 three-game series with games of 245, 269 and 247 to take the boys individual title while Evans was second with a 707 series, including a first-game 289. Heights' Chevy Stallbaumer posted a 10th-place finish with 658 series, including a 259.
Seaman sophomore Leah Crawford finished fourth individually to lead Seaman to the UKC team title. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
Seaman's girls rode its balance to the girls team championship, with Leah Crawford finishing fourth (596), Claire LaDuke fifth (590), Paige Snyder seventh (551) and Ava Carlson 10th (536).
Crawford had a high game of 225.
Reese Bell paced girls runnerup Shawnee Heights with a third-place individual finish (610) while Emma Wederski finishing eighth (542).
Bell had a consistent series with games of 204, 200 and 206 while Wederski had a high game of 209.
Shawnee Heights, Seaman and Topeka West will all compete in a 5A regional tournament next Tuesday at Gage Bowl, with the boys competing at 9 a.m., followed by the girls at 12:30 p.m.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah led a balanced attack with 14 points as Washburn improved to 18-7 with a 63-48 MIAA win at Central Oklahoma Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
