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Up by a single point at the start of the fourth quarter Saturday in Wichita, Washburn University women's basketball used a big finish to put away Newman, ending a four-game road trip with a 69-55 MIAA win.

 

 

The Ichabods will be back in Lee Arena on Wednesday, hosting Northwest Missouri State at 5:30 p.m.

  

The Jets, 7-10 overall, 1-7 MIAA, jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first five minutes, but Washburn (12-5, 5-3) came back to tie the game at 10 on a triple by senior Aniah Wayne.

Wayne's 3 was part of an 18-4 end to the first quarter, highlighted by three 3-pointers from Wayne to build a 22-14 lead.  

A 5-0 run by senior Yibari Nwidadah to begin the second quarter pushed the Washburn lead up to 13 points.

But Newman answered right back with a 7-0 run of its own. The Ichabod offense slowed down in the final five minutes of the quarter, shooting just 4 of 12 in the quarter.

Four 3-pointers by the Jets helped make it a tight 35-31 WU lead going into the break.  

Coming out of the break Newman continued to chip away at the lead before going in front at 40-38 with 6:00 remaining in the third.

Washburn came back to score the next seven points to lead 45-40 after a steal and score by junior Kellyn Hunter. 

A score late by the Jets would cut the deficit down to one after a low-scoring quarter for both teams going into the fourth. 

The Ichabod defense went up a level in the fourth, holding Newman without a point until the 5:55 mark and to 4 of 14 shooting overall.

Washburn started the final quarter on a 6-0 run but still the Jets wouldn't go away.

After taking the lid off the basket the Jets scored six in a row to make it 54-53 WU with 3:36 remaining.

Another triple by Wayne with 1:56 left put the visitors up by six and started an 11-0 run in the final two minutes to help Washburn win going away, 69-55. 

After shooting 50.0 percent in the fourth the Ichabods ended the game shooting 42.9 percent overall while converting 23 of 36 free throw attempts.

The Jets shot 37.3 percent overall, including 9 of 30 from behind the 3-point arc and just 2 of 6 at the line.  

Hunter and Wayne led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points apiece while Wayne hit all four 3-pointers for the Ichabods and Hunter added four steals to her Washburn career-high point total.

Wayne's big game Saturday followed a game-high 17-point performance against Emporia State on Thursday.

After missing all but five minutes against Emporia State with an ankle injury, junior Madelyn Amekporfor had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals for the Ichabods while senior Yibari Nwidadah had 11 points and six rebounds.  

Four Jets finished with nine points, while Jaeden McMillin grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.