Wichita State women’s basketball ended 2024 the same way it started — with a loss in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Shockers fell to the University of North Texas (UNT), 62-56, on Sunday afternoon, kicking off AAC play.
The Mean Green used a big second quarter to get past the Shockers on the road. Wichita State won the second-half minutes, but it wasn’t enough for a comeback.
The Shockers fell to 6-8 this season despite shooting a season-high 47% from beyond the 3-point arc. North Texas rose to 9-4.
“Overall I was happy we were down and we fought back,” said WSU head coach Terry Nooner. “We had a great effort in the second half. We really played with the toughness and grit that I feel like we need to play with. If we can do that for 40 minutes, we have better outcomes.”
Despite the second-half effort, Wichita State shot just 29% from the field for the game, its second-lowest mark from the floor this season. However, the Shockers knocked down nine 3-pointers on 47% efficiency, both season-bests. Meanwhile, North Texas went just 2-17 from deep, the worst for a WSU opponent this year.
North Texas owned the paint, scoring 38 points down low to the Shockers’ 18. The Shockers turned the ball over 15 times to UNT’s 16.
The Mean Green took the lead in the first quarter, but the Shockers responded by hitting three straight from deep.
After the Shockers’ hot streak from 3-point range, the team went cold, missing their next five shots and letting North Texas tie the game.
The first quarter ended with the Shockers trailing, 20-16. No team managed to pull away in the first, with the biggest lead only being five points.
The Shockers went scoreless for a four-minute period in the second quarter, allowing North Texas to run out to a 31-20 lead. Wichita State missed three layups and turned the ball over twice during the run.
Graduate student guard Taylor Jameson ended the scoring drought with a three with 3:28 left in the half. Nevertheless, the Shockers went into halftime trailing, 37-23, after turning the ball over five times and shooting 14% from the field during the period.
“They (North Texas) did some things to be disruptive, and they really kind of packed it in,” Nooner said. “We didn’t do a great job of screening and cutting hard and looking for second options within the place. And that’s stuff that we’ll get back to the drawing board.”
Two straight WSU 3-pointers in the third quarter cut the Mean Green lead to single digits, 41-33.
In the final five minutes of the quarter, the Shockers turned the ball over four times leading to four North Texas points.
“I think that we had a lot better ball pressure in the second half, and they didn’t get as many as those pull-ups,” Nooner said.
Wichita State scored the first three points of the fourth quarter, as junior guard Jasmine Peaks made it a two-possession game with a layup, 47-41.
The Shockers defense was able to hold the Mean Green without a field goal until there was 4:22 left in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to one point with a Jameson 3-pointer.
The Mean Green promptly went on an 11-2 run to retake a double-digit lead with two minutes left. With less than 90 seconds to go, Jameson hit another three, and Nooner called his second timeout with the Shockers trailing by seven points.
Wichita State cut the lead to five points two separate times later on, but North Texas held on for the win.
Jameson knocked down five 3-pointers in the game, narrowly missing a season-high with 17 points. Junior forward Jayla Murray was close behind with 14 points on 13 shots. Junior forward Bre’Yon White pulled down four offensive boards and nine overall.
Nooner hoped for a bounce-back performance in the next few games in the conference.
“I think that’s the biggest thing because we got to flush it down (the loss) your system because we (are) about to have a road swing with Memphis and UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) coming up,” Nooner said.
The Shockers will start the new year with their first conference road game of the season against the University of Memphis. Tipoff against the Tigers is scheduled for 3:00 PM on Jan. 1.
