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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team got off to a slow start in Friday's season-opener but quickly got up to speed in the second and third quarters on the way to a 16-point victory.
On Saturday the Ichabods never did find that high gear, dropping a 43-41 decision to Oklahoma Bapist in the final of the Washburn Crossover Classic at Lee Arena.
Emma Chapman, a 6-3 senior, led Washburn with 10 points in the Ichabods' 43-41 loss to Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We could not find a rhythm tonight,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We were up at halftime because I thought we guarded well enough to save that and then we didn't guard enough in the second half so when you still don't have any rhythm in offense and things like that then you're going to pay for it.
"They did a good job of going to their go-tos and we just couldn't get the stops.''
Washurn managed just five points in the opening quarter and didn't get out of the 30s until Aubree Dewey hit a 3-pointer as time ran out.
The 1-1 Ichabods led 20-19 at the half but Oklahoma Baptist, also 1-1, scored the final six points of the third quarter to take a 31-28 advantage into the fourth.
Washburn tied the game at 35-35 on a Dewey free throw with 5:56 remaining but the Bison ran off the next seven points to take a 42-35 lead and held off the Ichabods the rest of the way.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden's football team will get a chance to atone for the only blemish on its schedule next Friday night after rolling to a 39-19 Class 3A sectional victory at Columbus Friday night.
Now 10-1 on the season, Bill Arnold's Wildcats will make the short trip to Holton for the second time this season for next week's 3A sub-state contest after Holton, also 10-1, advanced with a 47-27 win over Girard Friday night.
Hayden sophomore Jensen Schrickel had a big game, including a pick-six, in the Wildcats' 39-19 Class 3A playoff win at Columbus Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Finn Dunshee set the tone with an early 60-yard touchdown run in Hayden's 39-19 playoff win at Columbus Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Holton defeated Hayden 37-13 in a Week 7 district game, but Hayden has bounced back with four straight victories, including Friday night's win over 5-6 Columbus.
Hayden never trailed Friday night after junior Finn Dunshee went 60 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and the Wildcats added the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead just 17 seconds into the game.
After losing a fumble at the Titans' 3-yard-line, Hayden's defense came up with a stop and the Wildcats took advantage of a short punt to add to their lead on their next play from scrimmage, with sophomore quarterback Jett Wahlmeier completing a 29-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jensen Schrickel.
Schrickel tacked on the extra point kick to put Hayden in command 15-0 with 5:10 left in the opening quarter.
The score remained 15-0 at the end of the first, but Columbus got back in the game with a nine-play scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brett Hamilton to Landon Midgett with 11:20 left in the half (extra point failed).
Dunshee scored from 3 yards out and Schrickel edded the extra point to extend Hayden's lead to 22-6 with 7:24 left in the half, but Columbus used a 63-yard pass play to set up a 4-yard TD pass from Hamilton to Cole Minor to cut Hayden's halftime lead to 22-12 (2-point conversion failed).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Former Hayden standout Levi Braun tied his career-high with 21 points on seven 3-pointers, but a mid-second half shooting slump and a hot shooting Henderson State team was too much for the Ichabods in Friday's season-opener as Washburn fell 79-73 at the Central Region Challenge in Municipal Auditorium.
Levi Braun tied his career-high with 21 points in Washburn's season-opening loss to Henderson State Friday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn will wrap up the two-day event on Saturday at 7 p.m., facing No. 18-ranked Augustana.
The Ichabods led by eight at 46-38 with 14:43 to play after a jumper by Zaid Dajani, but over the next five-plus minutes Henderson State would go on a 19-4 run to take a 59-50 lead with just over nine minutes to play.
Washburn (0-1) trimmed the lead to 60-55 with 6:01 to play but again Henderson State (1-0) pushed out to an 11-point lead before the Ichabods cut the lead to six near the end of the game.
Washburn led 36-29 at the half paced by Braun's 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range en route to a career-high-tying 21-point night, matching the 21 he scored against Baker on Nov. 20, 2021.As a team Washburn was 12 of 28 in the half hitting 7 of 14 from deep.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – No. 20 Washburn volleyball is heading to the MIAA Tournament championship match after taking down the tournament's top-seed and No. 10 nationally ranked Northwest Missouri in four sets on Friday evening.
Washburn's volleyball team advanced to Saturday's 6 p.m. MIAA Tournament championship match with a 3-1 win over top seed Northwest Missouri. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The semifinal match was a back-and-forth battle and each set was decided by two points while three of the four sets going to extra points.
No. 5 seed Washburn will face No. 2 seed and No. 12-ranked Nebraska-Kearney at 6 p.m. on Saturday in the title match.
Washburn will be looking for its first-ever MIAA tournament title after playing in four previous championship matches (2005, 2006, 2016, and 2018). The last two times Washburn was in the final it was against Nebraska-Kearney.
Washburn topped Northwest Missouri Friday by the set scores of 24-26, 25-23, 26-24, and 29-27 to improve its overall record to 23-7 and end Northwest Missouri's 12-match winning streak. The Ichabods have now won three of their last four matches, with all three victories against opponents ranked in the Top-25.
The Ichabods got out to a hot start and won six of the first seven points and led 12-6 when Northwest Missouri (24-6) slowly climbed back into the game.
The Bearcats trailed 22-20 and knotted up the score with a 3-1 run. Sophomore McMullen knocked down a kill to give the Ichabods set point, but they couldn't hold on as Northwest Missouri won three straight points to claim the opening set, 26-24.
The second set included 12 ties and five lead changes, with plenty of back-and-forth scoring.
Northwest Missouri was up, 17-14, when Washburn took its first lead since 10-7 with a run of five consecutive points.
The Bearcats tied the set at 19, 21 and 22 and went in front, 23-22, when it was the Ichabods' turn to end the set with a 3-0 mini-run and even the match at one set apiece.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Friday night's opening 10 minutes of the Lora Westling era were a little rocky, with the Washburn Unversity women's basketball team spotting Southwestern Oklahoma State an early double-digit advantage.
But the rest of the night belonged to Westling and the Ichabods
After falling behind 21-11 in the first quarter, Washburn outscored Southwestern Oklahoma 23-5 in the second quarter and never trailed again as first-year WU head coach Westling and her team started the season with a 71-55 victory in the Washburn Crossover Classsic at Lee Arena.
Former Washburn standout Lora Westling made her debut as the Ichabods' head coach in Friday's 71-55 win over Southwestern Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn women's basketball coach Lora Westling receives a high-five from assistant coach Will Marchino after Friday's 71-55 win over Southwestern Oklahoma, Westling's first game as the Ichabods' head coach. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"These are hard to come by in competitive collegiate basketball so we're going to enjoy that,'' Westling said. "I'm going to enjoy it with my staff for our first one together.
"I'm just really, really proud of our team, and that's what I told my players, 'If you don't stop and enjoy these moments, it's going to be a really long year,' so we'll enjoy it and then crunch through tape tonight and try to see if we can do it again tomorrow.''
The Ichabods will wrap up the Classic at 3 p.m. on Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist.
Southwestern Oklahoma (0-1) jumped out to a 10-3 lead to start the game and closed out the final 4:17 of the first quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 10-point advantage.
"It was nerves, it was a new season, a new coach and we were trying to do everything right but it was also a blind scout,'' Westling said. "Southwestern Oklahoma's playing for a brand new head coach (Jeff Zinn) and we had really no idea what they were going to do.
"We had to kind of figure out what their gameplan was so we could counter and shake off the rust and the nerves and then eventually kind of settled in.''
