Perhaps the Northwest women should warm up to Olivia Newton-John’s aerobics anthem for Sunday’s MIAA tournament final. Stirrup pants and sideways ponytails aside, the song summed up the Bearcats’ upset of top-seeded Washburn on Saturday at Kansas City’s Ice Box --- aka Municipal Auditorium.

Northwest held a 43-35 rebounding advantage against No. 20 Washburn and forced three more turnovers. Bearcats center Mandi Schumacher didn’t hold back in her postgame analysis.

“Washburn likes to play soft. We just do not play good when we play soft because we don’t have the finesse like they do,” she said. “So tonight, if the refs are going to let you get away with pushing and shoving, I mean, we did it. That’s why we got a lot of boards because we were really boxing girls out and pushing them out of there and really being physical with them. And they don’t like it. So they backed off.”

At that point, coach Gene Steinmeyer interrupted with “And Mandi means the referees were very good tonight.” Schumacher responded, “They were amazing.”

And while the Lady Blues lost the battle inside against the bigger, more aggressive Bearcats, they couldn’t compensate on the perimeter either. After Washburn buried Missouri Western in the opening round with a bevy of 3-pointers, the perimeter shooting dried up Saturday. Washburn went 6-of-27 behind the arc, and much of the credit has to go to Northwest guard Lauren Williams.

Washburn’s All-MIAA first-team guard Corkey Stiger scored 16 points in the first half on 7-of-12 shooting, 2-of-6 from behind the arc. Williams, with some help from her friends, held Stiger scoreless for 19:52 of the second half. Stiger finally broke through, hitting a 3 with 8 seconds remaining to bring Washburn within two. But the Lady Blues didn’t get off another shot, preserving the victory. Stiger finished 8-of-18 from the floor, 3-of-11 from behind the arc.

“You just have to chalk it up to the defense,” Steinmeyer said of the victory.

Northwest continued its pedestrian showing from 3-point land -- as it has most of the season -- but more than made up for it with defense and hustle. Now with the top two seeds out of the picture, the Bearcats sit in great position to win their second MIAA tournament title in the 25-year history of the playoff and earn that regional bid that looked so unlikely just a week ago.

“It only takes one game to become an overachiever,” Steinmeyer said.

The Bearcats can only hope now that Sunday’s referees are Olivia Newton-John fans as well.