Eastern Washington sends Shockers to 1-7

What comes next when the turning point happens but the turnaround doesn’t?

That is the conundrum facing coach Jody Adams and the Wichita State women’s basketball team after suffering a 67-62 loss to Eastern Washington at Koch Arena on Tuesday.

The loss, in a vacuum, is not concerning. Eastern Washington is a formidable opponent that beat last season’s Shockers by nearly 30 on its home court.

But Adams vowed change was coming after a short-handed WSU played No. 16 Tennessee down to the final minute last Friday. Rangie Bessard, a gifted freshman transfer, had just been cleared. WSU was finally starting to regain its health. Adams promised her team was ready to turn the corner, ready to win.

Then Wichita State came out Tuesday and looked so disinterested that not even a late rally could save it from a 14-point hole.

“I don’t know where I lost them in this week of practice and not getting us ready for this game,” Adams said. “I thought if anything the Tennessee game would continue to give us confidence. I don’t know what else to say, I’m just shocked.”

Adams had constructed a game plan of creating havoc on the defensive end. Eastern Washington’s lineup, without a post threat, played right into WSU’s strengths and Adams was confident the athleticism of her team was going to force a night full of bad shots and turnovers.

Instead, WSU’s pressure was passive, at best, and Eastern Washington was allowed to operate its offense without problem. Eastern Washington roasted WSU’s defense with nine three-pointers and 51.2-percent shooting through three quarters en route to a 56-44 lead.

“I feel that we underestimated that team,” said WSU junior TaQuandra Mike, who scored a team-high 17 points. “We thought we were going to go out there and get a win. We didn’t think to match their intensity or play defense or box out or crash the boards.”

Bessard, who added 16 points and nine rebounds, said the team realized what it was lacking and still didn’t make the change until it was too late.

Wichita State finally brought the intensity Adams was expecting in the fourth quarter, forcing six EWU turnovers and reeling off 7-0 and 5-1 runs to trim the deficit to three points twice, but never produced the final burst needed for a win.

“We sense it out on the court, but I think we got to a point where we get so selfish that we don’t think to make a change,” Bessard said.

Adams said she didn’t see this coming. She felt confident in the game plan and the players had responded well in practice after the Tennessee game.

What transpired during the game on Tuesday, however, was something Adams has not seen.

“I saw us take a lot of floaters tonight,” Adams said. “I teach jump stops and bounce passes. I don’t know where floaters came from. I don’t know where off-balance and (forced) threes come from. We didn’t practice any of that this week.”

If Adams thought her team was on the right path before, then Tuesday’s performance was a sure detour.

Not the most comforting thing to have happen two weeks before conference play begins.

“I begged, I asked, I tried everything to get them moving and we just sat back,” Adams said. “I think that’s in a little bit too much of our personality right now. We’re in a fight right now. We don’t want losing to become part of our ways, so we’re in a fight.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Eastern Washington sends Shockers to 1-7."