Shocker report: Wichita St. 85, Missouri St. 71
Sunday’s box score
Wichita St. 85, Missouri St. 71
MISSOURI STATE (18-14): Buckley 1-2 4-4 6, Snow 6-14 6-6 19, Chvatal 3-3 0-0 6, Williams 6-17 4-4 17, Gaines 3-5 0-0 8, Hughes 1-3 0-0 3, Polowy 0-0 0-0 0, Fruendt 4-8 0-0 10, Holt 1-4 0-0 2, Swartz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 14-14 71.
WICHITA STATE (29-4): Jacobs 4-8 2-2 10, Decker 2-5 0-0 6, Bonner 6-13 6-7 18, Harden 11-21 5-5 27, Mi. Dapprich 10-14 1-1 24, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Chapel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 14-15 85.
Halftime — Wichita State 38, Missouri State 35. Three-point shooting — MSU 7-19 (Gaines 2-3, Fruendt 2-5, Hughes 1-2, Snow 1-3, Williams 1-5, Holt 0-1), WSU 5-18 (Mi. Dapprich 3-6, Decker 2-5, Jacobs 0-1, Bonner 0-3, Harden 0-3). Rebounds — MSU 25 (Holt 4), WSU 33 (Bonner, Mi. Dapprich 7). Assists — MSU 14 (Williams 7), WSU 19 (Jacobs, Decker 5). Fouls — MSU 15, WSU 13. A — 1,382.
Campaign trail
The Shockers will return to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season after defeating Missouri State 85-71 on Sunday at the Missouri Valley Conference Ttournament.
Wichita State, with a program-best 29-4 record and RPI of 40, is poised to receive its highest seed yet when the brackets are revealed Monday at 6 p.m. on ESPN. WSU is inviting fans to a watch party in the Champions Club inside Koch Arena with the doors opening at 5:45 p.m.
WSU played Texas A&M as a No. 14 seed in 2013, and Penn State as a No. 13 seed last season.
The latest projections posted by ESPN analyst Charlie Creme has the Shockers as a No. 13 seed again. When informed of this, Adams quickly became passionate about her team.
“They don’t know my team then,” Adams said. “They haven’t done their homework.
“We’re not a No. 13 seed. We’re better than that. If they choose to put us as a No. 13 seed, that’s their choice. We’ve still got to go in and do our work.”
Missouri State coach Kellie Harper agreed.
“I think they have a chance to win some games,” Harper said. “With the right matchup, I think that team can be a Sweet 16 team.”
Offensive explosion
After piecing together four straight halves of average, at best, offense, Wichita State delivered one of its best offensive outings of the season on Sunday to become three-time champions.
Wichita State averaged 57.5 points and shot 46 of 122 (37.7 percent) from the floor in its first two victories in St. Charles. On Sunday, WSU tied its season-high of 85 points and put together two halves of shooting over 53 percent.
Alex Harden scoring 27 points certainly helped, but Wichita State was able to exploit Michaela Dapprich once again. To play its best lineup, MSU had to keep a post player guarding Dapprich and whatever defender the Bears used on her struggled to keep up with Dapprich’s ability to knock down shots from the perimeter.
Dapprich finished with 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting with seven of those shots coming from jump shots.
“She’s a 4-man mismatch,” Harden said. “You can’t guard her outside. It’s amazing to watch.”
Dapprich said she didn’t do anything differently, despite going 5 of 19 (26.3 percent) in the first two wins.
“My teammates just kept believing in me and told me to keep shooting,” Dapprich said. “So that’s just what I did.”
Taylor Eldridge
This story was originally published March 15, 2015 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Shocker report: Wichita St. 85, Missouri St. 71."