The stakes for Wichita State women’s basketball heading into its senior day against the University of Tulsa were clear: win, and the team would clinch the 11th seed and a first round bye in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Shockers were defeated on Tuesday night, 58-46 — but managed to retain the first round bye anyway. WSU head coach Terry Nooner said securing the bye makes the team’s path through the conference tournament easier.

“It’s already going to be tough having to win … four games in four days, which is pretty tough,” Nooner said. “To have to add a whole another extra game on to that … and the whole logistics of driving an hour and a half to play a game in North Texas … was just going to be logistically, just a lot.”

Wichita State finished its regular season with a 4-14 conference record — one game worse than its result last year. Tulsa ended at 11-7, fifth place in the AAC. The Golden Hurricane are carrying a five-game winning streak heading into the conference tournament.

Wichita State had the same regular season record as the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Shockers earned a tiebreaker over the 49ers due to their win against Rice University in February, the highest-ranking win for either team.

The Shockers’ two lowest-scoring games of the season came against Tulsa. Wichita State scored 42 points in a loss last month. Nooner said Tulsa’s quickness, matchup zone defense and versatile post players make the Golden Hurricane a difficult opponent.

“They really do a good job of wearing you out with how they play offense,” Nooner said. “And then, I mean, we just didn’t do as great a job as we needed to when we had chances to finish around the basket.”

Seniors Ella Anciaux, Carla Budane, Taylor Jameson, Aicha Ndour and Ornella Niankan were recognized after the game.

Four of the five seniors received a spot in the starting lineup, with sophomore guard Salese Blow receiving the nod over Budane.

However, the senior-laden lineup produced no points in its two minutes on the floor.

It was an uninspiring performance overall from WSU’s senior class, as Jameson was the only senior player to score a basket. Jameson said the day was “bittersweet.” The Wichita native’s family and many of her coaches over the years were in attendance.

“It’s not the outcome that we wanted, not the outcome I wanted to leave Koch Arena with for my last game,” Jameson said. “But the sweet part is, you know, I was able … to play this year in front of my community.”

Tulsa produced two early turnovers by trapping Jameson in the corner of the baseline. The Shockers responded with a quick passing offense to beat Tulsa’s press and get fast scores. Tulsa’s length and speed made its press defense difficult to break down.

“They have some really long, athletic guards, so some of the normal passes that we normally are able to use to break the presses weren’t really working,” Jameson said.

This dynamic raised the pace of play for both teams, often producing attempts early in the shot clock or turnovers in transition.

Nooner acknowledged that the Shockers played too quickly in the second period, which wore out the team later in the game.

“Going against that kind of team, with how they play offense and run around and screen and cut, we were wearing ourselves out on defense and then going down and then taking a quick shot … isn’t the smartest thing,” Nooner said.

The Shockers gave the ball away a season-high 22 times but forced 23 Golden Hurricane turnovers, nearly a season-best on the defensive side of the ball.

“We had some unforced turnovers where they got some easy buckets,” Nooner said.

Wichita State had a three-minute scoring drought in a second quarter full of sloppy basketball. At one point, the teams spent five consecutive possessions trading turnovers.

The Shockers came out of an out-of-control half of basketball trailing, 28-27. Wichita State and Tulsa combined for 25 turnovers in the first half but only scored seven points off the turnovers.

The teams spent nearly as much game time with the score tied as either spent leading the game in the first half.

Nooner took a timeout four minutes into the second half with Tulsa on a 6-0 opening run. Three minutes later, Blow finally scored WSU’s first points of the half — but not before the Golden Hurricane took a commanding 14-point lead.

Tulsa once again upped the intensity of its press, putting the Shockers at an offensive disadvantage. During the third quarter debacle, WSU was outscored 19-7, shot 3-13 from the floor and committed eight turnovers.

In the fourth quarter, it was Tulsa’s turn to go on a long scoring drought. However, WSU could only capitalize for a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 47-41. 

Halfway through the period, Tulsa sophomore guard Mady Cartwright hit a backbreaking 3-pointer to increase the road team’s lead. After the shot, Tulsa ran away with the win.

Blow led the way for the Shockers on offense, scoring 17 points. Junior forward Jayla Murray was the team’s only other double-digit scorer.

With the regular season over, the Shockers will turn their attention to the AAC Tournament. Wichita State will make its debut against sixth-seeded Tulane University in the second round of the tournament on Sunday, March 9.

Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas. Wichita State lost both its matchups to Tulane this year by four points. Nooner said he plans to take the tournament one game at a time but is expecting to pull off four wins in as many days to become AAC Champions.

“We feel like when we play our best, we can match up against anybody,” Nooner said. “There’s nobody that we’re scared to play against.”