After leading for a majority of the game, Wichita State women’s basketball suffered another frustrating loss on Wednesday evening.
The Shockers struggled to score in the second half in a 72-62 road loss to East Carolina University (ECU).
Wichita State dropped to 1-8 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), maintaining its position in the conference basement, while ECU improved to 3-6.
The Shockers will rue missed free throws, turnovers and rebounds. WSU shot just 67%, 16-24 from the free-throw line, turned the ball over 20 times — tied for its third most in a game this season — and lost the offensive rebounding battle, 17-8, the most offensive rebounds allowed by WSU this year. ECU scored 24 points off turnovers and 19 off offensive boards.
“We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the basketball,” WSU head coach Terry Nooner said on the postgame radio show. “We had 20 turnovers and then the rebounding, we (were) minus nine. So we’ve got to figure out how to coach that better.”
Wichita State led for more than 25 minutes of game time, but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory. East Carolina has won five consecutive games against the Shockers over the last three years.
WSU took the lead just over three minutes into the game and held the advantage throughout the second quarter, never leading by more than seven points or less than three.
The Shockers lost the lead late in the third quarter after going nearly five minutes without a score. ECU rallied for a 9-0 run to take its first lead since the first quarter, 43-41, as Wichita State struggled to break down the Pirates’ zone defense. WSU scored just seven points in the third quarter.
Junior guard Princess Anderson gave the Shockers the lead, 54-52, with the team’s second 3-pointer at the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter — but ECU immediately scored an and-one on the other end to retake the advantage.
The Pirates extended their lead, 62-56, with a swish from the 3-point line with 2:03 left. That shot turned out to be the dagger, as ECU ran away with the win.
Nooner said the Shockers “didn’t do a good job of following the game plan” in the fourth quarter.
“We were supposed to double with our post every single time they threw it to a post player, and for whatever reason, we just didn’t do it in the fourth quarter,” he said.
Anderson scored 17 points, while junior forward Jayla Murray led the game with 19 points. Anderson reached her mark in just 20 minutes, although she also turned the ball over four times.
Sophomore guard Salese Blow scored 11 points and added four steals. WSU was once again without graduate student guard Taylor Jameson, who remains out with a concussion.
Wichita State will attempt to return to the win column on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the University of Tulsa. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
