Over the past few games, the Wichita State women’s basketball team’s offense has remained stuck in neutral — but the Shockers have remained competitive through stifling defense.
That formula doesn’t work when down by 13 points in the first quarter. The Shockers were blitzed early by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, leading to a road defeat, 73-59.
Wichita State fell once again to the American Athletic Conference (AAC) cellar at 2-11. Charlotte improved to 3-9, putting some distance between themselves and last place.
The Shockers trailed for 37:58 of game time (95% of the game), hanging around but never really threatening to win by the fourth quarter.
Charlotte’s junior guard Alexis Andrews scored a season-high 27 points, many of which were backbreakers for the Shockers. Andrews shot 6-11 from 3-point range, while the rest of the 49ers combined to shoot 2-11.
“They (Charlotte) don’t shoot the ball that good normally, and when they hit those four threes (in the first quarter), they just kind of got us off balance,” said WSU head coach Terry Nooner on his postgame radio interview.
Charlotte immediately took control of the game, jumping out to a 17-4 lead. Junior guard Princess Anderson cut the deficit to eight points midway through the second quarter with two consecutive 3-pointers, and WSU went into the break trailing, 33-25.
The Shockers inched closer throughout the majority of the third quarter, cutting the gap to six points with less than a minute left.
Wichita State had the opportunity to run out the clock and take the final shot of the period, but graduate student guard Taylor Jameson air-balled a wild attempt with 15 seconds left. Andrews cashed a 3-pointer for Charlotte on the other end as time expired to deflate the WSU momentum.
“We want to play aggressive,” Nooner said. “I think the one at the end of the quarter, we … took a shot kind of early, and then didn’t guard the 3-point line and gave up a three, and I think that was a pretty big momentum booster for them.”
More than two minutes into the final period, the 49ers finally scored the first points of the fourth quarter — another 3-pointer by Andrews to go up, 47-35. The Shockers never cut the gap under nine points the rest of the way, despite knocking down five 3-pointers in the period.
After playing just one total minute in Wichita State’s previous game, Anderson led the way for the Shockers offensively. She scored a season-high 21 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc. However, Anderson also matched her season-high with five turnovers.
“She used her speed,” Nooner said. “She knocked down threes. I mean, (Charlotte was) trying to pack it in, in the paint. So we needed to have, you know, some outside shooting, trying to soften things up a little bit. I think she did a good job of that.”
Sophomore Salese Blow added 12 points on 11 shots. It was Blow’s first time scoring double-digit points on 40% or better shooting from the field in more than a month.
Wichita State will return to Charles Koch Arena on Saturday, Feb. 15, when it takes on Rice University. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
