Head coach Jody Adams told her team to focus on one aspect of the game in preparation for Wednesday’s game: rebounding.

Wichita State was not able to rebound the basketball against South Dakota State, being defeated on the glass 35-17 while snagging a mere six rebounds in the second half.

The Shockers allowed 14 offensive rebounds for 22 second chance points in their 78-58 loss at Charles Koch Arena on Wednesday night.

“Obviously we competed in some areas very well, and then there was one area we talked about all week long that ended up costing us … and it was rebounding,” head coach Jody Adams-Birch said. “We just did not finish the defensive play or commit to the first action well enough.

The Shockers trailed 6-2 early in the first quarter until a Rangie Bessard jumper from the elbow and a steal and layup from junior Keke Thompson tied the score. Two free throws by Bessard knotted the game at 10 points until a steal by junior Angiee Thompkins led to an easy five-foot basket to give WSU a two-point lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter.

SDSU took a one-point lead off a free throw before Bessard’s 10th point of the first quarter and a basket from junior Jeliah Preston gave the Shockers a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“I really wanted to stretch (the defender) and wanted to burn her out early,” Bessard said. “I knew I had to knock down those shots because my teammates were trusting me to knock them down.”

A pair of free throws gave the Lady Jackrabbits the go-ahead lead before a three-pointer by Ellie Thompson made it a 27-22 Shocker deficit with 4:31 left in the second quarter.

The Shockers responded with six unanswered points to cut the SDSU lead to one until a layup by Ellie Thompson pushed the Lady Jackrabbits to a 31-28 lead.

Ellie Thompson’s basket followed with two three-point baskets from Madison Guebert to extend the Jackrabbits lead 37-32 at the end of the second quarter.

SDSU picked up right where they left off from the first half, starting the third quarter on a 9-2 scoring run to jump out to a 12-point lead. Two baskets from Thompson and a basket from three-point range gave the Jackrabbits a 55-36 advantage with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter.

WSU cut the lead to as low as 12 points, but SDSU fed off 69 percent third quarter shooting to keep their lead in double digits. An offensive rebound and a put-back layup by Alexis Alexander with one second left gave SDSU a 60-44 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“When they penetrated, we all collapsed on that one person in order for them to dish it out for a three and their backside was able to get (the ball),” senior TaQuandra Mike said. “That was the biggest key was boxing out, and we didn’t do that.”

Guebert and Alexander continued to light up Koch Arena with two three-pointers to push SDSU to their largest lead of the game with a 68-46 advantage.

Ellie Thompson finished with a game-high 23 points, and Guebert finished with 20 points as SDSU handed the Shockers their sixth loss of the season and ending their two-game winning streak.

“We were supposed to front (Thompson),” Adams-Birch said. “We were supposed to slow the ball down with our ball pressure and deny the middle of the paint. We didn’t guard the first initial action well, so that either put us even with (the action) or behind.”

Bessard led the Shockers with 19 points and Mike added 16 points. Tompkins added 13 points off the bench and tied with Bessard for most rebounds with three.

WSU (5-6) has nine days before moving into conference play on Dec. 30 against Drake.