Women’s basketball entered its Feb. 1 game against No. 23 Missouri Western on a four-game winning streak and looked to close out its homestand with a win that would put them above .500 for the first time all season.

That momentum was halted early on as the Ichabods trailed the entire game en route to a 80-47 loss, the largest of the season for Washburn, which fell to 9-10 on the year.

“I don’t know if I want to watch much film on this one. I got to watch film on Rogers State and catch onto this next game because we got to put this behind us pretty quickly,” said head coach Ron McHenry.

Washburn got hit with a long-range offensive attack from the Griffons to open the game as they knocked down three triples in the first three minutes. Two of those came from sophomore Brionna Budgetts, who had 13 points in the first five minutes for Missouri Western.

That number was good enough to outscore the Ichabods, who managed only 12 points in the quarter, led by senior guard Hunter Bentley’s five, as Washburn trailed 21-12 after one.

“They got a little better start than I was hoping,” McHenry said. “Our reaction to it was, we got rattled and we couldn’t kind of catch it back.”

The trend continued in the second quarter with slow offensive production from the Ichabods coupled with turnover problems, resulting in easy baskets on the other end for Griffons. The lead grew to as many as 18 points at the 2:48 point in the second quarter, sparred by nearly 58% shooting from Missouri Western in the half.

A five-point burst by Bentley in back-to-back possessions cut into the lead, but the Ichabods still trailed 40-23 heading into halftime.

It did not take long in the third quarter for the lead to grow to 20 points before getting all the way up to 26 with 4:25 left in the quarter following another triple by the Griffons. A three pointer from Washburn senior Shae Sanchez brought it within 21 but turnovers and defensive struggles persisted as the Ichabods trailed 59-33.

With a deficit hovering around 30 points, each team emptied its bench just a few short minutes into the quarter. The bench of Missouri Western continued what the starters had done and grew the lead to as many as 35 points before the game ended with a score of 80-47.

“They average 79 and give up 59. So that is not far from what they did tonight and that is what they do,” McHenry said. “They got a good basketball team, should have just performed a little better against them and maybe got into our game and we didn’t do that.”

Bentley led the Ichabods with 10 points, adding two assists as the only player to finish in double figures. Sanchez added nine points including two three-pointers.

Next up for Washburn who fell to 9-10 overall and 7-6 in MIAA play is a road matchup against Northeastern State Feb. 5.

Edited by: Katrina Johnson, Ellie Walker