Coming off a rough beginning to American Athletic Conference (AAC) play, Wichita State graduate student guard Taylor Jameson made a speech to her teammates and coaches last week during a practice.
Jameson’s speech may have paid off as the Shockers beat Rice University on Saturday afternoon, 60-57.
“It was really to lift up my teammates and make sure that everyone was on the same page,” Jameson said. “Even through the trials and tribulations, the losses, at the end of the day we all want one thing and that is to win. Being a Wichita native I feel like I have some responsibility just to represent this program in a positive way.”
With the home win, Wichita State improved to 9-18 overall this season and 3-11 in the AAC. The Owls dipped below .500 to 12-13 overall and 5-8 in the AAC.
Junior guard Princess Anderson received her first-ever start in a Shocker uniform and senior center Aicha Ndour got her first start in the last six games.
Senior forward Ornella Niankan was out due to illness.
Wichita State head coach Terry Nooner said that Anderson got the start just to “shake things up.”
“A lot of teams have been playing zone, they have been packing it in on us,” Nooner said. “And (I) feel like Princess just gives us another player who can score and another person who can shoot the basketball from the perimeter.”
Sophomore guard Salese Blow started the scoring with a layup and the Shockers went into the first media timeout trailing, 11-10. Out of the timeout, the Owls outscored the Shockers, 7-2, upping their cushion to six points, 18-12, at the end of the first quarter
In the second quarter, the Shockers went on a 7-0 run and retook the lead, 19-18. The Shockers later upped their lead to six points with the help of a couple of 3-pointers from Jameson.
In the final 90 seconds of the first half, Wichita State committed three fouls in five seconds. Before then, the team had committed that many in the entire game.
The Shockers’ defense withstood and held the lead at the half, 29-27.
The first half was neck and neck with both teams leading for at least nine minutes and the largest lead for either team being only eight. Despite this, Nooner was confident in his squad.
“We (were) confident,” Nooner said. “We felt like we (were) going to win the game. We felt if we limited mistakes, we were going to give (ourselves) a good chance to win.”
Rice came out of the half on a 7-0 run that made Nooner call his first timeout of the game.
The Shockers were able to respond with two 3-pointers from Jameson and junior forward Jayla Murray. After The Owls’ hot start, they went cold and only made two of their final ten shots in the quarter
Neither team took control at the start of the fourth quarter.
With a little over two minutes left, the Shockers were up by three but the defense left a Rice shooter wide open to tie the game. Murry broke the tie with a layup and on the next possession, she scored off a turnover.
Rice got fouled and shot two free throws. The Owls’ player made the first and missed the second, but it was called back because of a lane violation.
Afterward, a pair of Jameson free throws notched the Shockers up by four. Rice later drained a 3-pointer to bring it to a one-point game.
Junior forward Bre’Yon White got fouled and made both free throws to go back up by three points. Instead of taking a 3-pointer, the Owls made a layup with 0.4 seconds left. Jameson ultimately hit two free throws to give the Shockers the win.
Some teams foul when up by three points at the end of the game, but Nooner chose not to in this circumstance.
“We would probably do it if it’s maybe under five seconds and they‘re advancing it but they (Rice) (were) trying to go the length of the court,” Nooner said.
Women’s basketball will travel to Philadelphia to play Temple University. Tipoff in the City of Brotherly Love is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m.
