No. 11 Stanford shuts down Shockers

Hannah Roberts

Kayla Williams (13) and Lauren Works (12) fight for the ball in Wichita State’s season opener against Creighton at Koch Arena.

Wichita State women’s basketball’s struggles continued on Friday, losing 87-39 to No. 11 Stanford in the second game of the Cancun Challenge. The loss was the largest margin of defeat under head coach Jody Adams-Birch, which before was a 46-point loss at Oklahoma State on Dec. 4, 2007.

Stanford forced the Shockers to 26% from the field and forced them to commit 20 team turnovers. The Cardinal dominated the glass by out-rebounding the Shockers 45-28 while shooting the lights out, shooting 63% from the floor.

The Cardinal quickly got to work by scoring the game’s first eight points in the opening minutes. Sophomore Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage drilled a three-pointer and knocked in a free throw for WSU’s first points, and senior Brittany Martin cut the deficit to two points with a jump shot after an offensive rebound by junior Keke Thompson. A three from junior Diamond Lockhart cut the deficit to two with under 1:30 left in the first quarter, but a three from Stanford started a 20-0 scoring run that extended the Cardinal lead 36-11 with 5:13 left in the second quarter.

Stanford would only allow four points for the Shockers in the second quarter, going up 46-15 at halftime. The Cardinal would only continue to heat up, outscoring the Shockers 26-8 in the third quarter.

After two quick baskets to start the fourth quarter, WSU responded with three three-pointers by juniors Jeliah Preston and Tamara Lee. Stanford would score BLANK points to hand the Shockers their fourth straight loss.

Stanford had six players score in double-digits, with the bench scoring 41 points. Brittany McPhee and Shannon Coffee had a game-high of 13 points each while Erica McCall added 12 points in Stanford’s fifth win of the season.

Preston led the Shockers with eight points, obtaining a career-high. Lee and Thompson both added seven points a piece while junior Angiee Thompkins contributed six points and grabbed three rebounds.

WSU (1-4) will play Northeastern at 10 a.m. Saturday to wrap up the Cancun Challenge. Northeastern is 2-3 on the season and scheduled to play Purdue at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.