Wichita State women’s basketball continued its lackluster start in conference play against Tulane University on Wednesday night in Charles Koch Arena. After two double-digit losses against American Athletic Conference (AAC) opponents, the Shockers looked competitive but dropped their third-straight, 66-62.
“We’ve just got to rebound better,” WSU head coach Terry Nooner said. “We did a better job tonight of making our free throws. We haven’t been able to rebound the ball (well).”
Wichita State was outrebounded by Tulane, 52-41.
After the loss, Wichita State dropped to 7-12, dipping to 1-5 in the AAC. Tulane improved to 11-6, rising to 4-2 in the AAC.
Junior forward Jayla Murray began the game with a swipe and score. Despite Murray’s start and the Shockers looking comfortable in their offensive sets, the shots did not fall for them.
With few Wichita State players crashing the boards, the Green Wave punished the offensive glass throughout the first quarter. Tulane had more offensive rebounds (nine) than the Shockers defensive rebounds (six).
“It’s not the lineup, it’s us (not) boxing out and being physical to get rebounds,” Nooner said. “I’ll say our bigger people probably give up the most second-chance points.”
Effort plays by the Shockers got the team within two points in the second quarter, including a steal by junior guard Jasmine Peaks and offensive rebounds by the Shocker forwards. Two 3-pointers launched by sophomore guard Salese Blow knotted the score at 30.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence in my threes,” Blow said. “I’ve been trying to work on that all throughout the season.”
The lineup with Peaks as the floor general provided firepower for Wichita State, closing out the first half competitively, 34-33. By the end of the period, the Shockers also managed to find the bottom of the basket, hitting 43% of field goal attempts in the second compared to 32% in the first.
Nooner elected to bring out his starters to start the second half, despite a spark Peaks gave the team during the first half, quickly bringing her off the bench after a 7-0 run by the Green Wave made the score 41-33.
With Peaks in, the waters steadied as Blow and senior center Ella Anciaux later combined for a 7-0 run of their own. Although Wichita State stayed competitive throughout the game, it seemed Tulane was consistently a step ahead.
“I think we just did a good job of making sure that we follow the game plan,” Nooner said. “Because every time we didn’t, they would make us pay for it.”
However, sloppy play from Tulane resulted in a Murray layup to cut the Shockers’ deficit to a point at the end of the quarter, 50-49.
Anciaux’s presence down low in the period held the Green Wave to only one offensive rebound.
“Ella’s presence helps,” Nooner said. “She’s big, she’s physical.”
The fourth quarter moved into a gridlock as no team could mount a significant lead, although Tulane managed to stay in front. Murray missed shots that would have tied the game, either getting the ball stolen or forcing a contested shot.
“It’s just going to be more practice, more attention to details,” Nooner said. “We are going to figure out how to put them in better positions and practice finishing tough layups in traffic. We probably missed ten layups that were in the paint.”
Any hope for a dramatic Shocker victory ended with a questionable 3-point shot attempt by Blow. Blow admitted the blunder and said she’ll use it as a learning moment going forward.
“Well, I thought I got fouled,” Blow said. “It probably was a bad shot. I’ve got to look back at it and see what else I could have done.”
Blow and Murray led the scoring punch with 20 and 17 respectively while graduate student guard Taylor Jameson was shut out the entire game. The last time Jameson was held to zero points was in November.
Despite playing 33 minutes in the loss, Peaks made an impact off the bench, going a positive 14 in the plus/minus. Peaks ended the game with just five points but snagged seven rebounds and dished eight assists.
Nooner said Peaks’ ability to find shooters provided some relief on the offensive end.
“She (Peaks) had eight assists,” Nooner said. “It helped us, as far as getting people easier shots. She’s a pass-first point guard, and she can score too, but I think it makes it easier for everybody when you have somebody out there that makes plays for people.”
Wichita State will march down the I-35 corridor to play the University of North Texas on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tipoff in Denton is scheduled for 2 p.m.
