Wichita State women’s basketball pulls away late to win opening game in AAC tournament

The Wichita State women’s basketball team saw a 17-point lead dissipate, then rallied to pull away for a 71-61 win over Temple in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday afternoon.

It was the second win over the Owls (11-18) in the last three games for WSU (17-13), as the eighth-seeded Shockers advanced to the quarterfinals to face No. 1 seed South Florida at noon Tuesday.

WSU has won three of its last four appearances in the opening round of the AAC tournament, but has yet to advance past the quarterfinals.

“Really proud of our team,” WSU head coach Keitha Adams said. “I thought we showed maturity today in the first three to four minutes of the fourth quarter when we made our run and really just kept our composure, which helped us get the win.”

WSU was firmly in control of the game with a 45-28 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter, but Temple scored 24 points in a 13-possession span to reel off a 24-7 run to tie the game at 52 on a 3-pointer by Aleah Nelson (game-high 22 points) within the first 30 seconds of the fourth quarter.

“Temple is a good team, so we knew they were going to go on a run,” WSU guard D.J. McCarty said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game or a blowout. I was telling my team in the huddle to take away their momentum and stay together.”

Senior post Trajata Colbert, who finished with 15 points for her ninth straight game in double figures, scored inside, then Ambah Kowcun hit a 3-pointer and Shamaryah Duncan hit a jumper to extend WSU’s lead to 59-52. Temple never came within five points again.

With double-double machine Jane Asinde (8 points, 4 rebounds) limited to 18 minutes due to foul trouble, McCarty (18 points, 6 assists) was critical to help the Shockers close out the game in the fourth quarter.

“D.J. was tremendous,” Adams said. “She played really, really well and that set the tone for our team. Weathered a storm with Jane getting in foul trouble. Our team is different when Jane is on the floor and then when she’s not on the floor, so that affected us a little bit. But some other players stepped up off the bench.”

In order to keep its season alive, WSU will have to knock off the best team in the conference in South Florida, which finished the regular season with a 26-5 record and a 15-1 mark in AAC play.

The Shockers were competitive with USF through the first half at Koch Arena in their lone meeting, but the Bulls won the third quarter by 19 points to create the separation in a 69-46 victory on Jan. 7.

“The awesome thing about this time of year, anything can happen,” Adams said. “It’s March Madness for a reason. We know that South Florida has a really, really, really good team and we’re going to have to put 40 minutes together.

“This time of year, everybody is 0-0 and it’s a 40-minute window. Respect everyone, fear no one is always something that I’ve said.”