Women’s basketball drops second straight to UT-Arlington

Brittany+Martin+%2820%29+dribbles+around+Audrey+Faber+Sunday+afternoon+in+Koch+Arena.+Wichita+State+beat+Creighton+62-54.

Hannah Roberts

Brittany Martin (20) dribbles around Audrey Faber Sunday afternoon in Koch Arena. Wichita State beat Creighton 62-54.

Wichita State dropped their second straight game on Sunday against the University of Texas at Arlington 74-70 in Arlington, Texas.

WSU shot 48 percent from the field and only trailed by one point at halftime.

The Mavericks, however, outrebounded the Shockers 36-29 and forced WSU to 16 turnovers, eventually reaching victory in the second half.

“We had a great game plan that we stuck to in the first half,” junior guard Keke Thompson said. “We just needed minor adjustments, such as being more aggressive on rebounds and rotations on defense, in the second half.”

Momentum shifted in WSU’s favor nearing the end of the first quarter, with junior guard Jeliah Preston nailing a three-pointer to cut the UT Arlington lead to two. Junior guard Diamond Lockhart knocked in a three-pointer to tie the game at 26 in the second quarter, but a three from UT Arlington’s Ericka Mattingly, a native of Wichita, Kansas, gave the Mavericks the lead back.

Jump shots from junior guard Tamara Lee and senior center Brittany Martin cut the Maverick lead to one heading into the locker room.

Freshman forward Kayla Williams gave WSU the lead immediately starting the third quarter with a three-pointer. The Mavericks responded to a 12-3 scoring run to move ahead 52-43 with 4:24 left in the third quarter.

“It was the little things that hurt us in the end,” junior guard Jyar Francis said.

Free throws by Lockhart and junior forward Rangie Bessard cut the UT Arlington lead to five heading into the final quarter.

The Shockers cut UT Arlington’s lead to 71-70 with a two-point jumper by Bessard with 1:37 left in the game.

WSU lost Bessard and senior guard TaQuandra Mike in the closing minutes, who each fouled out of competition.

UT Arlington won their third straight game with Sunday’s victory.

“The game just got away from us,” Thompson said. “It should’ve been our first road win.”

Bessard finished with a team-high 16 points and added five rebounds. Lockhart added 13 points.