Wichita State women run out of steam, lose 66-62 in overtime (+video)
Consider the facts: the Wichita State women’s basketball team lost 66-62 in overtime to Southeast Missouri State, a team picked to finish last in the Ohio Valley, on Friday afternnon at Koch Arena. WSU fell to 1-5.
This coming from a program that has won three straight Missouri Valley Conference championships and appeared in three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Now consider the circumstances: WSU played with two bench players from last season, two transfers, and two freshmen — a total of six players.
If you’re coach Jody Adams, then the facts do not bother you because of the circumstances.
“Me as a coach,” Adams said, “I enjoy coaching this team. I’m not frustrated. I hate to say it, but I feel bad for (the six players) because of how hard they work.”
It is a strange time in a program that had built a championship mentality under Adams in recent seasons. Instead of building for another run at an MVC championship, the team is just trying to survive while awaiting three players to return from injury and another transfer to be cleared.
But for now, Wichita State must play with six and the group nearly won its second straight game, but was done in by committing 21 turnovers and allowing 19 offensive rebounds.
“There’s not a lot of teams out there with six players that can win games,” guard Aundra Stovall said. “We want to be that team.”
Wichita State played perhaps its most aesthetically-pleasing half of offense to open the game, as the team played with a rhythm that led to a 34-29 lead at halftime.
Then the third quarter came and the team reverted to looking like a inexperienced team playing shorthanded. WSU was outscored 18-6 in the third quarter thanks to 1-of-9 shooting and nine turnovers.
WSU rallied in the fourth quarter and forced overtime when TaQuandra Mike, who had missed 14 of her previous 17 shots, drained a game-tying three-pointer with six seconds left. The Shockers led 62-60 with 2:15 to go in overtime, but three straight empty possessions left the game up for the taking and Southeast Missouri State took it.
Diamond Lockhart led all scorers with 21 points, while Jyar Francis scored 13 and Mike added 11 points and nine rebounds.
“You just don’t want them to put their head down, it’s not a time to do that and it will never be a time to do that here,” Adams said. “Because of the way we play and the brand of basketball we play.”
While the losses are stacking up, Adams is adamant that a payoff is coming.
“Whenever it all comes together, when we win games and we win championships, it may be this year or next year or whenever,” Adams said, “the experience that they’re gaining by playing this much and being in different opportunities against different teams, it’s only going to make them better.”
SE Missouri State | 12 | 17 | 18 | 10 | 9 | — | 66 |
Wichita State | 14 | 20 | 6 | 17 | 5 | — | 62 |
SE MISSOURI STATE (5-4): Bollmann 3-9 1-4 7, Jones 2-5 1-2 5, Murphy 5-10 2-2 12; Leyhue 1-1 0-0 3; Hackmann 3-13 4-4 10, Mitchell 6-10 3-3 15, Balogun 0-1 0-0 0, Luttrull 0-2 0-0 0, Noe 0-3 0-0 0, Johnson 4-13 6-6 14. Totals 24-67 17-21 66.
WICHITA STATE (1-5): Francis 5-9 1-1 13, Stovall 3-7 2-5 9, Lockhart 8-14 2-2 21, Mike 4-20 1-1 11, Chapel 2-5 0-0 4, Lehne 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 24-59 6-10 62.
Three-point shooting—SEMU 1-10 (Leyhue 1-1, Luttrull 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Hackmann 0-2, Mitchell 0-2, Noe 0-3); WSU 8-27 (Lockhart 3-6, Francis 2-5, Mike 2-12, Stovall 1-3, Lehne 0-1). Rebounds—SEMU 49 (Johnson 10), WSU 33 (Mike 9). Assists—SEMU 8 (Murphy 4), WSU 10 (Chapel 3). Fouls—SEMU 17, WSU 16. A—8,474.
This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Wichita State women run out of steam, lose 66-62 in overtime (+video)."