In its final non-conference game of the season, Wichita State women’s basketball lost against Oral Roberts, 76-74.
“We just kind of lost our edge for whatever reason,” Nooner said. “We’re going to figure it out.”
Going into the match, head women’s basketball coach Terry Nooner said that he knew Oral Roberts was a “tough team,” and, despite the loss, he was proud of his team.
The Shockers started off strong, leading in the first few minutes of the game, but still ultimately ended the first quarter down by two, 19-17.
By the end of the first half, the Shockers would be down by one point, 35-34. Senior forward Sierra Murrow and sophomore forward Daniela Abies contributed a combined 23 points for the Shockers in the first half.
Wichita State would be able to create some momentum at the start of the third quarter, outscoring the Golden Eagles 22-10.
Nooner said that his team has been working on having a better performance in the third quarter because it was the team’s lowest-scoring quarter.
“Seems like a thing with our team this year is we fix one problem just to allow another problem,” Nooner said. “We finally fixed the third quarter problem, so we decided we’re going to have a fourth-quarter problem.”
Oral Roberts would not give up, continuing its momentum to come back from a 14-point deficit and would be able to tie, 63-63.
By the end of the fourth quarter, Wichita State was down by eight. The Shockers would be able to tie the game with a pair of free throws from Abies and two 3-pointers from Murrow with 17 seconds left on the clock.
“We just ran the same play from the other side, it was just kind of a misdirection play,” Nooner said. “(Murrow) is good at shooting from the top; she actually hit game-winners when she was at Miami University.”
Murrow’s contributions were made more impactful, especially after not being able to play in the first nine games due to an NCAA transfer waiver. Against Oral Roberts in her comeback game, Murrow led the Shockers with a career-high 29 points and went 5-5 from the 3-point line.
“I thought she had a heck of a game, and that’s just the kind of player that we brought her in to be,” Nooner said.
Up next, Wichita State women’s basketball will open up conference play against Tulane University on Dec. 30 at Charles Koch Arena. Tipoff is scheduled at 2 p.m.
