On Valentine’s Day the women’s basketball team battled the RiverHawks from Northeastern State. Before the game started, the Ichabods stood at 16-4 with the second-best record in the MIAA. 

For the Ichabods, the first half was a hard fight. The offense needed a few minutes to warm up, but after it did the RiverHawks had trouble keeping the Ichabods from scoring. The third quarter was challenging for both teams as the first half, but the fourth quarter was not. The Ichabods shut down any hopes of Northeastern State to walk into Lee Arena and win. The Ichabods beat the RiverHawks 73-60.

From the beginning both teams traded leads. While the RiverHawks were able to hit shots, the Ichabods seemed like they could not buy a basket. The Ichabods started the first quarter only shooting 2-9. The RiverHawks capitalized on Ichabod turnovers to jump out to a 14-7 lead. This quickly changed as the Ichabod defense caused the RiverHawks to sputter on multiple possessions. The Washburn offense finally started to click by the end of the first quarter, but the Ichabods went into the second quarter down 14-13.

The second quarter started with a bang as the RiverHawks drained their first shot of the quarter, but the Ichabods answered back and in a big way. The Ichabods went on to rattle off nine straight points to retake the lead. The RiverHawks would not back down from the fight going on their own little run. They led 26-24. Then the game turned into a dog fight. Both teams had to fight for every point they received. At the end of the half, the Ichabods grabbed a 33-30 lead. 

Just like the first half, the third quarter was a battle. The Ichabods extended their lead to five, but the RiverHawks would not let it get any larger. The RiverHawks stayed with the Ichabods by shooting 3-5 from three-point range. The Ichabods were able to keep Northeastern State from gaining any serious momentum. By the end of the quarter, the RiverHawks had cut into the Ichabod lead but were never able to take the lead.

The fourth quarter started fast for the Ichabods. The defense came up with multiple stops on the defensive side. On the offensive side, the Ichabods were able to capitalize on missed shots to extend their lead. The Ichabods shot a hot 4-6 from the field to give themselves some breathing room from the RiverHawks. With 5 minutes left in the game, the Ichabods led Northeastern State 59-48, effectively ending all hopes of an upset from the RiverHawks. The Ichabod lead only grew from there, but the RiverHawks still had a little bit of fight left in them. By the time the RiverHawks’ offense awoke in the fourth quarter, it was too little too late.             

The win pushes the Ichabod record to 17-4 on the year. For the senior forward, Nicole Murugarren, the game went according to plan.

“The game is 40 minutes and at the end of the first quarter we were down by one I think, but we don’t have to freak out or think about it. We still have 30 more minutes to play. We trust each other and we played really well,” Murugarren said.

Even though they did not start out well, senior forward Taylor Blue knew to keep playing and it would all work out.

“I’ve played many games where the start wasn’t great, so you have to finish strong every game. We knew we had the game. We just had to stay patient. The clock was on our side the whole game. We just had to keep pushing and go strong on mainly defense making sure they don’t score. It was kind of back and forth every possession,” Blue said.