Lady Blues fall to Bulldogs

Feb. 1, 2003
Box Score | Season Stats

KIRKSVILLE, MO - The No. 5 Washburn Lady Blues lost their second straight game 76-71 to the Truman State Bulldogs. The loss dropped the Lady Blues to 16-3 and 7-3 in the MIAA. The Lady Blues now find themselves two games behind Emporia State who topped Missouri-Rolla 66-63 in Rolla.

The Lady Blues ran into a hot shooting Bulldog squad who hit 11 of 18 from 3-point land in the game, led by Annie Westhoff's career-high 27 points. In the second half, the Lady Blues fought back to tie the score at 43 after the first media time out at 14:32, but the Bulldogs went on a 17-6 run to take the lead at 60-49 at the eight minute mark. The Lady Blues would go on a 5-0 run to claw back to 60-54 with 6:10 remaining. After another Bulldog three, Truman would take a 63-54 lead at the 4:55 media time out. Again, the Lady Blues would cut the lead to five at 67-62 on a pair of Bethany McGraw free throws. After a Lady Blues turnover, the Bulldogs would push the lead back to 69-62 with 3:04 left. The Lady Blues would not convert a 3-point attempt and would not get any closer than four the rest of the way after a Gosia Czarnecka 3-pointer cutting the lead to 70-66 with 1:41 left. The Bulldogs would convert a pair of free throws to take the lead 72-66 with 1:22 remaining and the Lady Blues would not get any closer than five as the Bulldogs would hit 6 of 10 free throws in the final 1:22 to finish the game.

The Bulldogs led at the break 38-34 after ending the half on a 5-0 run as the Lady Blues went scoreless from the field the final 2:09. The Lady Blues had a chance to go in with at worst the lead at 34-33, but a turnover that resulted in a foul with two Truman free throws and a missed shot the Bulldogs converted into a 3-pointer at the buzzer led to the Bulldog four-point lead. The Lady Blues were outscored 14-4 in the paint in the first half and the Bulldogs forced 10 Washburn turnovers converting them into 13 points. There were also nine lead changes.

The Lady Blues were led by Crystal Walker who scored 24 points. McGraw scored 11 and Carissa Goeglein scored 10. The Lady Blues were 7 of 25 from 3-point arc. The Bulldogs for the game converted 13 Lady Blues turnovers into 18 points while the Lady Blues capitalized on 11 points off of 17 Bulldog turnovers. The Lady Blues were also outscored 22 to 10 in the paint.

The :Lady Blues are back in action on Thursday as they travel to Southwest Baptist to take on the Bearcats at 5:30. The Lady Blues will then travel to Rolla to take on the Lady Miners before returning home to face Northwest Missouri on Wednesday.