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Washburn Wins Turnpike Tussle, MIAA Title
By David Boyce
EMPORIA, Kan. - Washburn's women's basketball team completed its three-game redemption tour Wednesday night with a 63-51 victory over arch-rival Emporia State.
By knocking off the Hornets at White Auditorium, Washburn claimed the MIAA regular-season title.
"This was one of the goals I had and I know a lot of the players on the team had," said Washburn junior Hope Gregory, who finished with 17 points. "We wanted to win the MIAA title outright. I've been here four years and we never won it outright. We either shared it or we didn't win it."
A little over a month ago such a thought seemed pure fantasy. The Lady Blues had lost their third straight game, falling at home to Emporia State.
"That was a tough situation," Washburn coach Ron McHenry said. "We were looking at each other hard and trying to figure it out.
"The kids wanted to have a great year, and they could feel it slip away. They dug in. The seniors led us and kept us going and now it feels really special. This group I always felt had a lot of grit to them."
Washburn had the look of a lost team in mid-January. But the Lady Blues definitely found themselves Jan. 23 when they beat Nebraska-Omaha. The wins started piling up. And finally, Washburn faced the three teams it lost to in the final three games.
The Lady Blues had no trouble knocking off Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State by an average of 29.5 points.
Even though Washburn had a much tougher time against Emporia State, it only trailed once in the game.
"Winning a championship is not easy, and it is definitely not easy here," McHenry said. "What a tough game. They are a very good basketball team. We caught them on a night they weren't shooting the ball well."
Washburn, which finished the regular season 23-3 and 17-3, now looks forward to the MIAA Tournament. The Lady Blues will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament that runs March 4-7 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
Emporia State, 22-4 and 15-4, concludes its regular season Saturday at Fort Hays State. The Hornets will be looking to regain midseason form. They have lost two straight.
"You got to play every game," Emporia State coach Brandon Schneider said
"In a game like this it is very similar to postseason tournament play. It comes down to just a few possessions. They have two fewer turnovers than us. They had three more rebounds."
The Lady Blues are rolling. They have now won 10 straight. They played with that kind of winning confidence in the second half. Every time Emporia State made a run, Washburn responded.
Washburn built a 29-21 lead in the opening minutes of the second half and held a seven-to-nine point advantage before the first media timeout.
But after holding a 35-26 lead, Emporia State scored eight straight and closed to 35-34.
"In the second half, every time we had an opportunity to cut into the lead a little bit, we broke down or they executed well enough to break us down," Schneider said.
Despite the energetic crowd of 4,045 getting charged up, the Lady Blues didn't panic with the one-point lead. They went to their post player, Dayna Rodriguez, who was fouled on a shot. She made a free throw.
Washburn got the ball back and went to Rodriguez again who made a bucket, pushing the Lady Blues' advantage to 38-34.
Washburn heard the cheers. A vocal group of Washburn students made the trip for the "Turnpike Tussle."
"It's awesome," said Washburn senior Brette Ulsaker, who finished with 11 points. "Our student section was great tonight. We are so glad they came."
Later in the second half when Washburn held a 40-37 lead, freshman Laura Kinderknecht came off a screen and drained a three-pointer.
"We were playing at Emporia so we knew we had to have an answer," Gregory said. "We were definitely going to win this game.
"We had other people step up. On a MIAA championship team you have to have other people step up. You can't just rely on your five players out there. You have to rely on your whole team. They were there with us."
Another big three-pointer by the Lady Blues came with 4:32 left. Ulsaker stepped out to NBA range and nailed the trey, pushing Washburn's lead to 50-41.
"I knew as soon as I let it go it was in," Ulsaker said. "It was one of those things that it was a game-time moment and I knew I was going to hit it. But Laura Kinderknect's was more clutch then mine."
The Hornets got to within five points, but never closer. Washburn pulled away in the final three minutes.
In a first half that saw both teams shoot poorly from the field, Washburn hit just enough three-pointers to take a 25-21 lead into halftime.
Emporia State shot just 24 percent, and Washburn was marginally better at 26 percent.
The difference was behind the arc. The Lady Blues were 4-for-13 and Emporia State was 1-for-10.
Washburn's first trey increased the Lady Blues' lead to 8-4. They held an 11-6 advantage when Emporia State went on a 9-2 run for its only lead at 15-13.
The fourth three-pointer of the half put Washburn back in front 18-15. It was part of a 10-0 run that gave the Lady Blues a 23-15 lead.
Amanda Fessenden knocked down three treys in the first half to help the Lady Blues take a lead into halftime.
"I got some good passes from my teammates," Fessenden said. "I shot the ball and it went in.
"This team is a fighter. We will never give up. We are always in the fight. Even when they went on a 9-0 run and we composed ourselves. We are never going to roll over."
The Lady Blues certainly showed that tenacious attitude throughout February to earn the MIAA title.
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
