The first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Women's Basketball Tournament for the University of the Incarnate Word ended with a disappointing 57-38 loss against No. 2-seeded Washburn on Friday.

“We're very disappointed the game ended the way it did,” head coach Angela Lawson said.

The Cardinals end the 2008-2009 season with 21 wins and nine losses – the most wins in a season since 1992 under former coach Sally Walling Brooks (25-5), and the most wins in a season for Lawson since 2003-04 (18-11).

Lawson's record as a head coach (nine years, all with UIW) is 129-125.

Incarnate Word was in the regional part of the Division II playoffs after winning its first-ever Heartland Conference Tournament Championship and earning an automatic bid into the eight-team regional.

As a program, UIW has 399 wins and 406 losses.

In Friday's game, the Cardinals scored well below their 70.3 points-per-game average by shooting 26 percent from the floor in the game – UIW usually hits just under 46% from the floor.

Despite a plus-5 rebounding advantage over opponents this season, Incarnate Word was out-rebounded by Washburn 57 to 38. The Lady Blues (27-4), to a player, were taller than UIW – with Washburn's smallest starters standing 5-foot-9 and playing a few six-footers.

“It was really tough,” junior post Hayley Harvey said after the game. “I think their posts are incredible. It's hard to face smaller players all season and then come out here and have to play someone like them. Overall, we did the best we could defensively.”

Harvey scored eight points and had five rebounds.

The size difference on the floor meant that Washburn played a half-court style of basketball and preferred to slow the game down – while Incarnate Word's smaller lineups wanted to push the ball.

Junior guard Nia Torru – who led the Cardinals with 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds while adding three assists and two steals – felt that the Cardinals' inability to force Washburn to play UIW's style of play made it hard for Incarnate Word to compete.

“We prefer to play faster than that,” Torru said. “We kind of let them dictate the pace of the game and they capitalized on their opportunities.”

Torru finishes the season with 545 points on the season (18.2 per game) and is now third all-time in UIW women's basketball history in scoring with 1,354 points. In second in UIW's history is Shantel Wilkins (1993-97) 1,507 and the top-scorer ever for the Cardinals is Amy Mueller (2001-05) with 1,639 points in her career.
Washburn had three players score in double-figures – Janice Bright (16 points), Kalee Silovsky (12 points) and Stanecia Graham (11 points).

The Cardinals trailed by just six points, 41-35, with 9:45 left to play in the game but six unanswered points and a 16-3 run the rest of the game doomed UIW's chances and ended their season.

When all is said and done, it was a historic year for the Cardinal women

- The team won 21 games (the most since 2003-04).
- The team won the Heartland Conference Tournament for the first time ever.
- The Cardinals advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in program history.

Lawson and her coaching staff will use the experience gained and the confidence built to be a major power in the Heartland Conference and the South Central region next season. Losing only senior post Keisha Greenwood and guard Danielle Aguilar to graduation – and with all of this year's starters and leaders returning next season – 2009-2010 will be a fun season for UIW fans and will likely be a successful one for Lawson and the program.