A historical upset wasn’t in the cards for the No. 8 seeded Missouri Western women as they fell 80-63 to the No. 1 Washburn Lady Blues in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament.

Behind tough defense and red-hot shooting, the Griffons broke out to an early 18-7 lead. The Lady Blues then followed up their sluggish start with a 23-0 run jumping ahead, 30-19. Washburn held the Griffons scoreless for 11 minutes, before the Griffons were able to end the half on a 9-2. Western went into the halftime locker room down 43-34. Jessica Koch made her first four buckets of the game on the way to 18 first half points. Abby Stone tied a career high with four blocked shots in the first half. She finished with six for the game.

Western shot 34 percent from the field in the half. Washburn was aided by 53.8 percent first half shooting from three-point range. Washburn went to the line 15 times in the first frame, making 10 for a 66 percent performance. The Griffons were 1-2 from the charity stripe.

In the second half, it was all Lady Blues, with the margin never less than eight points. The Lady Blues shot 44 percent from the field in the game, compared to Western’s 38 percent. The Griffons struggled inside on the glass and were outrebounded 46-30.

Koch leaves as Western’s all-time leading scorer, finishing the game with 25 to stretch the points record to  1,776. She had a career best six three pointers in the game.  Ashleigh Curry finished with 10 points and seven rebounds while Kallie Schoonover scored 11 points.

Western ended the season with a 7-20 overall record.

— MWSU Sports Information —