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The Washburn Lady Blues ended the 14-game winning streak of the Pittsburg State Gorillas on Wednesday evening, outscoring Pitt State 42-23 in the second half en route to a 65-51 conference win at John Lance Arena.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. “We held Washburn to 23 points and we executed our gameplan perfectly. They made a couple pull-ups off high-ball screens, but other than that, they only had one offensive rebound. We outrebounded them the first half. It was one-shot defense. We just played outstanding.
“Second half, they just came out . . . just absolute butt-kicking the second half. You’ve got to give Washburn all the credit. They were the better team tonight, but this is going to be good for us. Fourteen in a row is special, eight in a row in conference is making some history there, but I guarantee you we’ll come back much better. This is a good learning experience for us.”
Pitt State was its own worst enemy during a first half in which 11 turnovers kept the Gorillas from blowing the game wide open, leading only 28-23 at halftime.
The Lady Blues struggled mightily from the floor in the first half, shooting under 30 percent most of the way until a late surge put Washburn right at 30 percent (9-30).
Laura Kinderknecht and Ebonie Williams gave the Lady Blues a early 4-0 lead on two baseline jump shots, but the Gorillas scored the next seven points and kept the lead for the majority of the first half.
Pitt State shot blockers Larissa Richards and Lauren Brown swatted away five shots between them (Richards 3, Brown 2) and Washburn interior players Cassie Lombardino (1-8) and Tiara George (0-4) combined to shoot 1-12 in the first half.
Like against Emporia State on Saturday, senior forward Brooke Conley and freshman forward Lizzy Jeronimus provided the offensive spark for the Gorillas — Conley scored her nine first-half points on three triples and Jeronimus her nine first-half points on a combination of field goals, free throws and one 3-pointer. Her layup in the waning moments of the first half gave Pitt State its 28-23 halftime lead.
Pitt State struggled on its first six possessions with questionable shots and turnovers and Washburn started warming up the first 3:25 after halftime, making shots that either were not there or rimmed out in the first half.
Kinderknecht started the momentum-shifting 13-0 run with another baseline jumper. Lombardino put back a Williams miss. Kinderknecht drained a 3. Stevi Schultz made a layup on a pass from Lombardino. Williams made a layup on a pass from Kinderknecht. Lombardino finished the scoring run with her second consecutive make after experiencing first-half struggles, set up on the play by Schultz. Washburn took advantage of something Pitt State had negated.
The Washburn Lady Blues ended the 14-game winning streak of the Pittsburg State Gorillas on Wednesday evening, outscoring Pitt State 42-23 in the second half en route to a 65-51 conference win at John Lance Arena.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. “We held Washburn to 23 points and we executed our gameplan perfectly. They made a couple pull-ups off high-ball screens, but other than that, they only had one offensive rebound. We outrebounded them the first half. It was one-shot defense. We just played outstanding.
“Second half, they just came out . . . just absolute butt-kicking the second half. You’ve got to give Washburn all the credit. They were the better team tonight, but this is going to be good for us. Fourteen in a row is special, eight in a row in conference is making some history there, but I guarantee you we’ll come back much better. This is a good learning experience for us.”
Pitt State was its own worst enemy during a first half in which 11 turnovers kept the Gorillas from blowing the game wide open, leading only 28-23 at halftime.
The Lady Blues struggled mightily from the floor in the first half, shooting under 30 percent most of the way until a late surge put Washburn right at 30 percent (9-30).
Laura Kinderknecht and Ebonie Williams gave the Lady Blues a early 4-0 lead on two baseline jump shots, but the Gorillas scored the next seven points and kept the lead for the majority of the first half.
Pitt State shot blockers Larissa Richards and Lauren Brown swatted away five shots between them (Richards 3, Brown 2) and Washburn interior players Cassie Lombardino (1-8) and Tiara George (0-4) combined to shoot 1-12 in the first half.
Like against Emporia State on Saturday, senior forward Brooke Conley and freshman forward Lizzy Jeronimus provided the offensive spark for the Gorillas — Conley scored her nine first-half points on three triples and Jeronimus her nine first-half points on a combination of field goals, free throws and one 3-pointer. Her layup in the waning moments of the first half gave Pitt State its 28-23 halftime lead.
Pitt State struggled on its first six possessions with questionable shots and turnovers and Washburn started warming up the first 3:25 after halftime, making shots that either were not there or rimmed out in the first half.
Kinderknecht started the momentum-shifting 13-0 run with another baseline jumper. Lombardino put back a Williams miss. Kinderknecht drained a 3. Stevi Schultz made a layup on a pass from Lombardino. Williams made a layup on a pass from Kinderknecht. Lombardino finished the scoring run with her second consecutive make after experiencing first-half struggles, set up on the play by Schultz. Washburn took advantage of something Pitt State had negated.
“If you noticed in the first half, Washburn’s offense is 1-on-1 inside,” Lord said, “and any time they touch the post, they’re going to have cutters on the back side. We didn’t give up one backdoor . . . In the second half, first three possessions, they cut backdoor on us. That was just a lack of focus and lack of execution. I’ll have to take the blame on that, halftime speech must have been pretty bad.”
Conley hit Pitt State's first field goal of the second half on a runner 3:46 after intermission — Pitt State trailed 36-30 after her make.
Every time Pitt State made a charge on Washburn, a Lady Blue player stepped up with a big shot — a Schultz 3 from the top of the circle, a pair of George inside moves and a couple makes by Williams centered on her individual playmaking and shotmaking abilities during 1-on-1 situations helped Washburn stay ahead.
Temperatures have been mild this winter, but not inside John Lance Arena for Pitt State’s 3-point shooters after halftime on Wednesday. The Gorillas shot a chilly 1-14 (7.1 percent) on their 3s in the second half, challenged on nearly every shot by the Lady Blues.
“That’s our game,” Lord said. “Twenty-eight is probably a little too many, we need to touch Larissa more. Larissa had another double-double. She played solid all game. Of course, I thought Lizzy played solid all game.
“Besides those two, we really struggled to score points tonight and that hadn’t happened all year. Drew (Roberts) will never go 0-for-6 (from 3-point range) again in her career, I promise you. She’s just too good of a shooter. It was just a bad shooting night for her and Brooke, 4-for-13, that’s not what she’s been doing all year. But really, it all started on the defensive end coming out of the gates in the second half.”
Jeronimus led the Gorillas with 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 at the foul line. She added four boards and three assists.
Richards put together a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds (4 offensive, 10 defensive), plus three first-half blocked shots.
Conley finished with 12 points, rounding out three Gorillas in double figures.
Kinderknecht and Williams each paced the Lady Blues with 14 points. Neodesha High School graduate Stevi Schultz had nine points, eight rebounds and four assists for Washburn.
Pitt State (14-1, 8-1 MIAA) looks to rebound at home Saturday against Fort Hays State (14-2, 6-2). Washburn (14-3, 7-1) still trails the Gorillas in the MIAA standings.
No. 17 LADY BLUES 65, No. 10 GORILLAS 51
WASHBURN (65) — Laura Kinderknecht 5-11 2-5 14, Ebonie Williams 5-12 4-4 14, Stevi Schultz 3-6 1-4 9, Cassie Lombardino 4-13 0-0 8, Tiara George 4-8 0-0 8, Dana Elliott 1-2 4-4 6, Laura McMullin 1-1 0-0 2, Sierra Moeller 1-2 0-0 2, Brittney Lynch 1-3 0-0 2, Casyn Buchman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-59 11-17 65.
PITT STATE (51) — Lizzy Jeronimus 5-9 4-4 15, Brooke Conley 4-13 1-2 12, Larissa Richards 3-6 4-6 10, Courtney Tate 2-5 0-1 4, Morgan Westhoff 1-4 0-0 3, Hailey Roderique 1-1 0-0 2, Alexa Bordewick 0-4 2-2 2, Amanda Orloske 0-0 2-2 2, Lauren Brown 0-1 1-4 1, Drew Roberts 0-7 0-0 0, Britnee Foster 0-2 0-0 0, Lisa Elmer 0-0 0-0 0, Brigit Hesser 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-52 14-21 51.
Halftime — PSU 28, WU 23. 3-point goals — WU 4-9 (Kinderknecht 2-4, Schultz 2-4, Williams 0-1), PSU 5-28 (Conley 3-9, Westhoff 1-3, Jeronimus 1-4, Foster 0-1, Tate 0-2, Bordewick 0-3, Roberts 0-6). Rebounds — WU 35 (Schultz 8), PSU 42 (Richards 14). Assists — WU 13 (Schultz, Elliott 4), PSU 7 (Jeronimus 3). Turnovers — WU 7, PSU 17. Steals — WU 5 (Williams 4), PSU 3 (Tate 2). Blocked shots — WU 5 (Lombardino, George 2), PSU 5 (Richards 3). Personal fouls — WU 16, PSU 13. Fouled out — none. Attendance — 1,850.
