LaToya Jackson knocked down two three-pointers in overtime--her only baskets of the game--to lead Wichita State to an 82-72 victory over Illinois State, Thursday at Redbird Arena. The Shockers were also led by Jennifer Kaczkas game-high 27 points, while Jaci McCormack led the Redbirds with 15 points.
McCormack had scoring help from Nadia Peruch with 11 and Shandeen Hunt with 10 for the Redbirds, 4-15, 2-8 in the Valley. The Shockers, 7-1 overall, 5-5 in the Valley, had a 38-25 rebounding edge and beat the Birds at the free throw line, hitting nine in overtime to finish 25-34 to ISUs 20-28.
Its the best game weve played--40 minutes--so far this season, said ISU head coach JennyYopp.
Kaczka got scoring help from Courtney Sims with 17, Brooke Atkinson and Angela Buckner had 11 each. Buckner had 12 rebounds.
The Birds had the last shot in regulation to win, but couldnt get it down.
Wichita State did what they had to do in overtime. Their two three-pointers broke our backs, said Yopp, whose team had a season-low 14 turnovers and out-shot WSU .490 to .429 for the game. Our kids stayed in it and stayed positive, but two small adjustments we made to stop those threes most of the game, we didnt make in overtime.
Buckner made two free throws to start the overtime, then Jackson drained a three and WSU led by five. After Kristi Larson scored for the Birds, Jackson made another three-pointer and WSU had its biggest lead of the game, 75-69.
The first half featured 12 lead changes and eight ties as Kaczka collected 16 points inside for the Shockers. At the other end, the Redbirds ran their offense with patience, hitting 14 of 23 first-half shots with just seven turnovers.
Brooke Atkinsons first three-pointer with four seconds left in the half gave the Shockers a 37-34 lead at the intermission. WSU had a 15-10 rebounding edge in the first half. Atkinsons next three was Wichita States first basket of the second half, but it came after the Birds went on a 9-0 run featuring a three-pointer by Shandeen Hunt and two baskets as ISU took its biggest lead of the game 43-37 three minutes into the second half.
But the Shockers went on a 9-0 run of their own to reclaim the three-point lead on Courtney Sims trey with 12:36 left. ISU went scoreless for five minutes and WSU led 47-45 with 10:25 left when Stacey White got fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three to put ISU ahead 48-47. After Tisharria Huggins hit a long two, White came back with three that was good and ISU led 51-49.
The Birds led by between one and three points until Kaczkas bank shot with 5:20 left tied it at 59-59. McCormack drained a pair of free throws and then a floating jumper to put ISU up four with 4:37 left.
ISU held two-to-four point leads until 1:42 left when Atkinson hit her third three of the game to cut the margin to 65-64 with 1:42 left. ISU ran the clock down and missed, but got the ball back after an offensive foul. Reichle canned a 17-footer to put ISU ahead 67-64, but Sims drilled a trey off a screen with 24 seconds left to tie the score again.
The Redbirds play at 2 p.m. Saturday against No. 12 Southwest Missouri State at Redbird Arena.
