In their first home exhibition game of the year Friday night, the Washburn Lady Blues basketball team recovered, in a sense, after losing to Kansas State.

Winning in easy fashion, the Lady Blues took care of Livin’ the Dream 96-50, never trailing once.

“They weren’t the best team we’ll play all year,” said coach Ron McHenry. “But they’re pretty veteran. They’ve all played college ball so they kind of knew if you made a mistake they’d hurt you with it.

“We needed to get out there and play somebody that we could run some of our stuff on.”

The Washburn ladies put four in double-figure scoring, including Corkey Stiger’s 17 points, which led the way.

Having leads of 7-0, 30-12 and 42-20, the women were up by 17 at halftime. The Lady Blues shot 51 percent from the field in the first half.

In the second half, the Lady Blues led by as many as 48 late in the game shooting 22 of 43 from the field.

“This game meant a lot after playing K-State,” said junior Janice Bright. “After not playing so well, we just wanted to come out and redeem ourselves. We got some stuff done out there. We got a chance to run some sets that we weren’t able to do in our last game. That helps prepare us for the future.”

For the entire game, the Washburn ladies held Livin’ the Dream to 33 percent shooting from the field while forcing 18 turnovers.

“We’re trying to get in game shape,” said McHenry. “And the only place you can do that is in a game.”

For Washburn, Bright had 16 points, Amanda Holmes 12 and Jessica Mainz 10. Rebounding was also dominated by the Lady Blues with 58 to 20 margin ,including 28 on the offensive glass.

“We got a lot of kids that can play,” said McHenry. “We just try to keep getting better every day. This game allowed us to get some kids that had been injured on the floor and we’re just kind of moving ahead. This group’s a work in progress.

“Tonight was just a step in the right direction.”

The No. 6 Lady Blues have a scrimmage game Wednesday against the Washburn golfers before they begin the regular season 7 p.m. Nov. 17 against Southwestern College in Lee Arena.

“We just got on the floor,” said McHenry. “It’s different than practicing. We’re trying to find some rotations. Anytime you turn the lights on there’s game slippage. Obviously early on I thought there was some of that. The more you get out there, though, the more you’re comfortable playing.”