By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There was very little that Washburn University women's basketball coach Lora Westling was happy about at halftime of Tuesday's home non-conference game against Truman State and Westling imparted that displeasure to her team in no uncertain terms.
Junior Britany Kogbara scored a team-high 18 points in her first Washburn start, helping lead the Ichabods to a 68-52 win over Truman State. {Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
And although Westling didn't get everything she was looking for out of her team in the second half, the Ichabods did plenty enough to take control on the way to a 68-52 victory in Lee Arena while improving to 7-3 on the season.
"It's sad that with the experienced group that we have, with that many seniors, that I have to raise my voice like that to get any sort of response,'' Westling said. "It's disappointing, but I'm glad it worked. Aniah (Wayne) came out and had a great second half with effort and I thought Britany (Kogbara) wanted the ball a little more, but we still didn't get as much as we needed.
"We had a great opportunity for some players to step up and show some things tonight and that level of effort and execution is just not to the standard that we've set here.''
Early offense built a lead in the opening minutes for Washburn as the Ichabods led 9-6 after Kogbara, a junior, got a layup to go.
But the next six points went to the Bulldogs (4-6) to go in front. The Ichabods finished the opening quarter on a 5-0 run and led 16-14 after a 3-pointer by Wayne, a senior, with 32 seconds left in the quarter.
Washburn extended its lead to 21-14 after senior Gabi Giovannetti connected from deep, but the Ichabod offense went cold and was held scoreless for the next five minutes as Truman State pulled within two.
The lead went back to the Bulldogs in the final minute before half as they went into the locker room leading 28-27 after both teams shot under 30 percent in the half.
Washburn shot 28.6 percent in the second quarter while committing 12 first-half turnovers and giving up 18 first-half points to Truman State's Emajin McCallop, a former Ichabod.
But Washburn came out of the break with the first five points to go in front and the lead quickly grew to double-digits with a triple by junior Madelyn Amekporfor at the 3:26 mark of the third quarter as part of a 15-0 run.
The Ichabods hit 8 of 15 shots in the third while holding the Bulldogs to 25 percent shooting and led 47-35 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Washburn offense continued to churn in the fourth as the Ichabod lead reached 24 points before Truman State cut its final deficit to 16 points.
"I think we're very capable of bouncing back from adversity,'' Wayne said. "I think we kind of were shocked in the first half, but I think as a team we made sure to get in tight huddles and just know that we could do it and play our game.
"We had a big bounce back in the third quarter and that really set the tone for the rest of the game.''
After a 41-point second half the Ichabods shot 43.5 percent for the game while holding the Bulldogs to 18-57 (31.6 percent) shooting overall.
The rebounding battle was won 44-29 by Washburn, which led 42-24 in paint scoring as well.
Kogbara, making her first start for the Ichabods in the absence of injured senior star Yibari Nwidadah, led four players in double figures for the Ichabods with 18 points on 9 of 12 shooting while also adding five rebounds and two blocks.
"I wasn't nervous coming in,'' Kogbara said. "I've been in this position before and just knew I had to be aggressive.
"Me and Yibari, we've been competing since Day 1 in practice and we're different players, but we're kind of similar in many ways. I really love how she's been competing with me and she pretty much prepared me for this moment.''
Amekporfor had 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting while Giovannetti chippped in 12 points and senior Payton Sterk finished with 10.
Senior Aniah Wayne grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds with 7 points and four steals in Tuesday's 68-52 Washburn win over Truman State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Wayne scored seven points while adding a career and game-high 10 rebounds and registering four steals.
"We've emphasized rebounding in practice and we know it can be a game changer,'' Wayne said. "Rebounding was big in this game and I think taking on that role was very important and just knowing that I could do it.''
McCallop led Truman State with 24 points and six steals in the game.
The Ichabods now head to Lawton, Oklahoma for the Holiday Classic, facing Western Colorado in Lawton on Friday, at 5 p.m.
WASHBURN 68, TRUMAN STATE 52,
Truman State 14 14 7 17-- 52
Washburn 16 11 20 21 -- 68
Truman State (4-6) -- Rausch 3-10 2-4 9, Ott 2-7 0-0 5, McCallop 7-18 9-10 24, Odem 1-5 0-2 2, Miller 2-7 0-0 4, Rogers 1-4 0-0 2, Vila Delicado 1-3 0-0 3, Chambers 0-1 0-0 0, Retherford 1-2 0-0 3, Perez Souza 0-0 0-0 0, Hope 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-57 11-16 52.
Washburn (7-3) -- Amekporfor 6-9 0-0 13, Kogbara 9-12 0-1 18, Gomez 0-2 0-0 0, Giovannetti 5-11 0-0 12, Sterk 4-14 1-2 10, Wayne 1-7 4-4 7, Shipman 0-2 0-0 0, McKenzie 2-5 2-2 6, Luebbert 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 2-2 2, Gideon 0-0 0-0 0, Jansky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-62 9-11 68.
3-point shots -- Truman State 5-22 (Rausch 1-6, Ott 1-3, McCallop 1-1, Vila Delicado 1-2, Retherford 1-2, Miller 0-5, Odem 0-2, Chambers 0-1), Washburn 5-21 (Giovannetti 2-4, Amekporfor 1-2, Sterk 1-7, Wayne 1-5, Shipman 0-2, McKenzie 0-1). Rebounds -- Truman State 29 (Odem 7), Washburn 44 (Wayne 10). Assists -- Truman State 8 (Miller 3), Washburn 18 (Gomez 6). Turnovers -- Truman State 22, Washburn 25. Total fouls -- Truman State 11, Washburn 16. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
