TOPEKA, Kan. – The Northwest Missouri State University women's basketball team could not get back on the track Monday night as the Washburn University Ichabods scored a 58-52 win at Lee Arena.
Northwest dropped its third straight game to fall to 11-5 overall and 6-4 in MIAA, while Washburn moved to 6-9 overall and 4-5 in league play.
Northwest scored the opening four points of the contest but then went cold from the field as Washburn tallied the next nine points. Northwest went without a field goal in the opening quarter from the 7:33 mark to the 1:26 mark. Northwest went 3-of-10 from the field in the first 10 minutes.
Northwest played from behind in the second quarter. Washburn extended its largest lead to 11 at 20-9 with 7:00 left in the second. Northwest responded with an 11-2 spurt to cut the margin to 22-20 with 2:40 to play in the half.
Peyton Kelderman sank a three-pointer with 2:40 left in the half to complete the run. Washburn was able to score the final four points of half to take a 26-20 lead at the intermission.
The Bearcats enjoyed a 17-9 scoring advantage in the third quarter to take a 37-35 lead after 30 minutes of action. Washburn held a 28-20 lead with 8:15 to play in the third. Northwest responded with a 10-0 spurt that was capped by a conventional three-point play from
Kelsey Fields that gave the Bearcats a 30-28 lead. Washburn came back with a 7-2 run to take a 35-32 lead with 2:22 left in the third. Northwest scored the final five points of the quarter on a three-pointer from
Jayna Green and a pair of free throws from
Emma Atwood.
Washburn hit back strong at the start of the fourth with a 9-0 spurt to give the Ichabods a 44-37 lead. The Washburn run forced a timeout from Bearcat head coach
Austin Meyer with 7:31 to play. Northwest trailed 51-44 with 3:42 to play before putting together a run to cut the lead to one at 51-50 with 1:26 left. Kelderman hit a driving layup with :36.9 to pull Northwest to within one again at 53-52. The Ichabods made all seven of their final eight free throws down the stretch to close out the 58-52 victory.
Northwest will be on the road this week with two more contests set for Thursday at Central Oklahoma and Saturday at Newman.
NOTES: Freshman
Kelsey Fields notched her first collegiate double-double with career-highs in points (10) and rebounds (14) … Kelderman was the only other Bearcat to reach double-figure scoring with 10 points … Kelderman made a three-pointer for the 16
th straight game … Northwest trailed at the break for the third consecutive game after having not trailed at the half in its previous 13 contests … Northwest shot 32.7% from the field (18-of-55), including 16.7% from three-point range (4-of-24) … Washburn shot 43.8% from the floor (21-of-48) … the Ichabods made 2-of-6 from three-point range … Northwest missed seven free throws as it went 12-of-19 at the free throw line … Washburn sank 14-of-17 at the charity stripe.
