WSU women’s basketball team tries to learn from disappointing loss

The Wichita State women’s basketball team found out what happens when the ball stops moving.

The Shockers sufered a 28-point loss Tuesday at Eastern Washington. It was a valuable experience this early in the season, as it can be used as a lesson. But for a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations, a 28-point loss to any team is a disappointment.

Wichita State (1-1) returns home Saturday to host Texas-Arlington (2-0), which features Heights graduate Tahlia Pope.

“When things got tough for us, we played as individuals,” WSU coach Jody Adams said. “Whether it was Alex (Harden) trying to take over, or Jamillah (Bonner) trying to do the same, we just played as individuals. We have a game plan and we have a system and we have to stay within that game plan and system to be successful against a good team like that.”

WSU essentially lost the game in the first 14 minutes when it fell behind Eastern Washington 28-7. At one point, the Shockers went 17 straight possessions and more than eight minutes without scoring.

Harden described the offense as “discombobulated.” Kelsey Jacobs, another senior, said there was no chemistry on the court. Absent were ball reversals, replaced by dribbling that ultimately led in desperation shots at the end of the shot clock.

On the plane ride home, the players each wrote down what they promised to work on in practice. Accountability is what helped WSU pull out of its lull last season.

“At least it’s happening now, though, and not in March,” Jacobs said. “I think that’s why Jody set up our schedule this way, though. We’re on this stage already and we can be prepared for it when the games really start to matter.”

In the practices since the loss, Adams is not satisfied until at least one ball reversal is made when WSU runs its sets. The players made it a point in Thursday’s practice to not let the ball stall in one place for too long.

WSU wants to make crisp passes along the perimeter to make defenses work against them. Every additional pass makes the defense rotate one more time, which gives WSU one more chance to find leverage and exploit it.

“We just have to share the ball better,” Adams said. “It’s not that we have selfish players. I think it’s natural for leaders, when things go wrong, to want to take over. But it’s one thing to be an aggressive leader, and another thing to get the other four to follow you.”

Harden was disappointed the team could not correct such a glaring flaw in the game. But given another opportunity, Harden wants to show how the Shockers have grown from their first loss.

“We’re returning a lot of players, but there’s still a lot of things we haven’t experienced as this team,” Harden said. “Now we have and that was eye-opening for this team.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 6:38 PM with the headline "WSU women’s basketball team tries to learn from disappointing loss."