Wichita State women’s basketball faced their first Division I opponent of the season, Belmont University, on Saturday afternoon, marking their third straight home game.
The Shockers lost their Division I opener, 75-55. With the loss, Wichita State sits at 1-1 on the season
“We just couldn’t finish in the paint for whatever reason to keep them at bay,” Wichita State head coach Terry Nooner said.
The Bruins looked more equipped to play against the Shockers’ fast-paced intensity, blitzing Wichita State’s guards, particularly graduate student Taylor Jameson.
Physicality in the paint disrupted the Shocker defense in the first quarter as they struggled to defend the right block with a smaller lineup. It showed on the glass with the Shockers giving up long rebounds. The Shockers were out-rebounded, 13 to six, and trailed 21-11 at the end of the period.
“We didn’t do a good job defending the post,” Nooner said. “I think the first line of post defense is how you guard the ball and make the pass hard to get in. I don’t think we had good enough ball pressure.”
Wichita State finished the first quarter shooting a low 35.7% from the field, struggling to find open shots and defend the paint.
Senior center Aicha Ndour quickly got into foul trouble at the start of the second quarter with two offensive fouls, ending with three fouls total for the contest, only playing 10 minutes.
“We need (Ndour) to play with (that) kind of motor and energy,” Nooner said. “And she won’t play the kind of minutes she should until we feel like she gives us that kind of effort we (need) on a nightly basis.”
Tough baskets by the Shockers have been the offense with contact layups and floaters.
With 5:01 left in the half, sophomore guard Salese Blow made Wichita State’s first 3-pointer in a sloppy make off the glass, 24-18.
An acrobatic and-one layup by Blow with her conversion at the line made the score 28-27.
Junior guard Princess Anderson was the consistent threat from deep Saturday afternoon with three 3-pointers in the second. Her third would put the Shockers up 30-28 on a 12-0 run to end the half.
Swapping baskets stopped any momentum for the Shockers as they struggled to score, fumbling the ball without Jameson on the court. Defensive breakdowns spelled doom as Wichita State overcommitted and left shooters open.
“I think we were just lackadaisical with the ball,” Nooner said. “That’s something we will be able to clean up.”
Junior forward Maimouna Sissoko looked bothered the entire game, getting blocked on two of her five field goal attempts, and shooting 0-5 overall.
The Shockers struggled to get the lid off the rim, shooting 27.9% for the contest. They improved their free-throw percentage this game, shooting 10-14 from the charity stripe but couldn’t continue their foul-drawing dominance from the previous competitions.
“The way they play defense, they just kind of pack it in,” Nooner said. “We needed to finish. We got wide-open layups and we didn’t finish.”
Despite double-digit scoring by Blow (16), Anderson (12) and Jameson (10), Wichita State struggled to find scoring outside of the guard spots.
“We have got to get more scoring from our frontcourt people, so our guards can continue to play,” Nooner said.
Wichita State will play its next opponent on Wednesday, Nov. 13, when it takes on Missouri State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena.
