The Washburn women’s basketball team held No. 12 Emporia State Hornets to 53, a season low for the Hornets, but fell as defense was not enough for the Ichabods.

The Ichabods entered the game 11-6, now falling to 11-7, with a conference record of 7-5. The Hornets are now 15-3 after the win in Topeka, with a conference record of 9-3, which puts them at 3rd in the conference standings.

The game started with a 6-0 deficit for the Ichabods before a 7-point run put them up by one with 5:41 left in the first quarter. Not many more points were scored the remainder of the quarter as it ended 11-9 with the Ichabods in the lead.

The Ichabods started the second quarter with an additional two points at the beginning, but four points was the largest lead the Ichabods would have for the remainder of the game as the Hornets started a run that gave them an 8-point cushion, 25-17, with a 12-2 point run to end the first half of the game.

The second half started with a run by the Ichabods to bring it within 5, 25-20, after Julie Ravn hit a 3-point shot. It was as close as the Ichabods came to regaining the lead as the Hornets pushed the lead to 18, 42-24 as the third quarter ended.

In the final quarter the Ichabods made a run at the Hornets but could not come within more than 11 of the Hornets as they took the fifteenth win of the season 53-41.

Coach Ron McHenry knew defense was going to be a large portion of the game.

“We knew we were gonna have to stop them,” McHenry said. “They were scoring about 80 a game, but we’ve been struggling on offense this month, so holding them on defense was going to be important.”

Alyxis Bowen led the Ichabods with 14 points, shooting 6 of 10 from the field and hitting both shots from the charity stripe. Erika Lane followed Bowen with 13 points, shooting 5 of 13, hitting three of the shots from beyond the 3-point line. They were the only two Ichabods to score double digits. Hayley Pfau also helped the team with three assists, and Lane, along with her large scoring numbers, also helped lead the team defensively with two steals.

Kathryn Flott led the Hornets with 14 points.

The largest disparity between the Hornets and the Ichabods was the free throw percentage, 53 percent for the Hornets and 71 percent for the Ichabods, but free throws were not enough for the Ichabods to overcome Emporia State.

The Ichabods are in action at Central Missouri on Jan. 27, and Southwest Baptist on Jan. 30. The University of Central Missouri Mules will enter the contest 7-10, 6-6 in the MIAA.

McHenry is preparing for a game in which center Felisha Gibbs will be unavailable with an undisclosed injury.

“We’ve got to learn to play without Felicia,” McHenry said. “She’s a great rebounder and great defensively, but we have enough weapons to get a win and gain some confidence on Wednesday.”