ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Missouri Western women's basketball (12-6, 7-3 MIAA) grabbed an early lead with a 14-2 first quarter run, and held off Washburn in a 62-56 decision on Saturday at the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The Ichabods (11-9, 5-5 MIAA) got off to a 9-1 start in the first 5:38 of the game, but the Griffons went on their run to grab a 15-11 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

The lead changed hands a couple of times, but Missouri Western never trailed after the 7:03 mark of the second quarter, and led 37-34 at halftime.

Leading 47-44 entering the fourth, Washburn kept inching closer and got it to within 51-50 with 5:02 remaining. In those final five minutes however, the Griffons hit three triples, two of them by Matilda Soderlund, to go on a 9-0 run and lead 60-50 with only 1:07 to go.

Soderlund ended with a team-best 21 points on five made three-pointers in all. Alyssa Bonilla scored 19 points on a 9-of-12 effort at the free throw line. She also had seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. The Griffons were held to 30.8% shooting (20-of-65) and 26.2% (11-of-42) from deep, while hitting 11-of-15 (73.3%) at the foul line.

Defensively, Missouri Western was just as effective, holding the Ichabods to 32.1% (18-of-56) from the field and 6-of-25 (24%) from three. The Bods also went 14-of-26 (53.8%) at the free throw line.

Missouri Western forced 24 turnovers in the game, including 14 steals, and scored 18 points off of those takeaways.

Missouri Western is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 1 at home against Northwest Missouri State (10-10, 3-7 MIAA). Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and will be available to stream on the MIAA Network.