Three days after winning against the American Athletic Conference (AAC) team with the joint-worst record in the standings, Wichita State women’s basketball took on the AAC’s outright leader on Saturday afternoon.
The Shockers led most of the game but lost against the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), 60-49.
With the loss, Wichita State drops to 8-17 on the season and 2-10 in conference play. The Shockers’ record guarantees they will finish their AAC schedule with a below .500 win/loss record for the seventh straight season. The Roadrunners remain the conference’s leaders, upping their record to 11-1 in AAC play.
Sophomore guard Salese Blow said going into the game against the conference’s top dog, there wasn’t a sense of nervousness throughout the team.
“We go into every game expecting to win,” Blow said. “I was just telling my teammates to play hard; I don’t care that they’re number one (in the conference).”
WSU was defeated by the Roadrunners on the road in January by an 18-point margin. In Charles Koch Arena, the Shockers made the game far more competitive.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, with both of them shooting 29% from the floor. The Shockers forced turnovers, as the Roadrunners had 15 giveaways, leading to 17 WSU points on the other end. Wichita State gave up 17 offensive rebounds, however.
The biggest gap between the squads was the free throw margin. UTSA took a whopping 33 foul shots, the most by a WSU opponent all season. The Roadrunners tripled the Shockers’ attempts from the line.
The teams didn’t give up anything defensively for the first five minutes of the first quarter until Blow ended a nearly two-and-a-half-minute scoring drought for Wichita State, scoring seven unanswered points by herself to take a 10-7 lead.
The spark Blow provided was enough for the Shockers, and they maintained a three-point lead at the end of the opening period. Despite the advantage, Wichita State turned the ball over three times and gave up 12 free throws.
By the end of the period, some of the calls UTSA received made the Shocker Faithful question the referees’ judgment, sending them into fits of dismay.
Wichita State started the second quarter with a 6-0 run, opening up a nine-point advantage, 23-14. The Shockers shot 3-7 during that run and held UTSA scoreless for nearly the opening four minutes of game time.
The game became a back-and-forth as the Shockers tried to hold onto the gap they created. But Wichita State suffered a field goal drought in the final 4:47 over the quarter, which opened the door for the Roadrunners, who paced their deficit to three points, 26-23, with two minutes remaining in the half.
A couple of mental lapses on back-to-back possessions down the stretch for UTSA allowed the Shockers to go into halftime with the lead, 27-23. Despite Wichita State’s field goal drought to end the half, the team made a couple of free throws and played tight defense.
The Roadrunners turned the ball over four times and failed to score for the last two minutes of the half.
WSU head coach Terry Nooner said the team did a great job all game on the defensive end.
“We held them to 28% shooting for the game,” Nooner said. “So our defense was just awesome today. We did a … better job than the first game (against UTSA) of limiting their shots.”
Wichita State started the third quarter shooting 4-9 from the floor and held the Roadrunners to a slow 1-5 start. During that time, the home team upped its advantage to seven points, 36-29.
With 3:15 left in the penultimate period, senior center Aicha Ndour sent a UTSA shot down the visiting team’s tunnel, sending the home crowd into its loudest cheers of the game. But almost a minute-and-a-half later, the Roadrunners tied the game at 38 with a 3-pointer.
Two free throws from Blow and a block by junior forward Jayla Murray down the stretch helped the Shockers go into the final quarter with the lead, 40-38.
The teams couldn’t find the bottom of the basket for the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter, but a pair of UTSA untimed shots tied the game again, this time at 40. UTSA eventually took its first lead since the first quarter, but Murray answered with her second shot from deep of the game to retake the lead, 43-42.
The one-point advantage was short-lived as the Roadrunners answered Murray’s trey with one of their own, 45-43. Wichita State maintained the two-point deficit until UTSA ran out to its largest lead of the game, 51-45, with 3:30 remaining on the clock.
With 2:23 left, a call on the floor sent the Roadrunners to the free throw stripe and Nooner into a fit. He smacked the scorer’s desk and received a technical foul. The ensuing foul shots upped the Roadrunners’ lead to seven points.
Nooner said the frustration came from the culmination of calls throughout the game.
“First of all, you look at the free throw disparity,” Nooner said. “I don’t think we’re … like a highly physical team by no means … it was the second foul in a row where we just didn’t feel like the foul was warranted based on how the game is played, how the games have been playing throughout the season.”
The deficit later became nine points, and at that point, a Wichita State comeback was out of the cards as the Shockers lost by 11.
Blow led the team in scoring with 15 points, going a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line. Murray scored 14 on a 50% (6-12) shooting clip.
After a week in the Roundhouse, Wichita State will hit the road for a midweek matchup against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 5:30 p.m. in Halton Arena.
“We’re going to continue playing hard,” Nooner said. “And we’ll be better.”
