The Wichita State women’s basketball team is thriving and its latest defensive lockdown came against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday.

Alex Harden scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half, had seven rebounds and three assists while playing the entire game as the Shockers (16-6, 10-0 Missouri Valley Conference) beat UNI (10-12, 5-5 MVC) 57-47.

WSU now holds a two-game conference lead over the Creighton Bluejays (16-5, 8-2 MVC) with their road loss to the Indiana State Sycamores tonight.

Once again, WSU’s intensity and activity frustrated its opponent, holding UNI to 29.5 percent shooting for the game.

Jacqui Kalin, the reigning MVC player of the week, carried the Panthers in the first half. She created space for herself and nailed three three-pointers and finished the half with 13 points.

But in the second half, she was held to 7 points, as open shots were more difficult to come by for her.

“We did not stay connected to Jacqui and Jacqui was supposed to be face guarded the entire game. We just let her get loose at times—gave her too much space and she got her shot off in the first half,” Shockers coach Jody Adams said.

“We made her run for those shots and probably fatigued her at some point. In the second half we really made her shots tough.”

Any opposing team that takes the court against WSU knows that they will be made to feel uncomfortable all game long. The Shockers will get in your face, they will play passing lanes as good as any team, shoes can be heard squeaking on the hardwood from players moving their feet and every shot you get will be contested.  

Just how good are the Shockers when they’re focused defensively?

Harden said it best.

“We’re a nightmare, because then our tempo picks up and out offense is straight transition and you can’t stop it,” she said

The scary thing is that Adams thinks her ballclub still needs to improve.

“We’re focused on getting better. If we’re focused on the detailed things, the winning will take care of itself,” she said.

Bad news for the rest of the MVC.

It was a game of momentum swings. The Shockers lead by eight seven minutes into the first half. Then a 19-5 run by UNI gave them a six-point lead before the Shockers closed the gap to within one at halftime.

An 11-2 WSU run gave them a 33-25 lead to start the second half. UNI cut the Shocker lead to three twice before WSU opened up the margin to double digits.

The Shockers will try and win their 11^th straight game on Sunday against the Bradley Braves (9-12, 3-7 MVC).