Zora Skrabalova and Katie Donovan scored 18 points apiece and Illinois State rallied from a 21-point deficit to lead in the second half, but the Birds couldnt hold that lead and fell 71-67 to Wichita State.
Wichita State got 14 points from Alisha Cade and 12 each from Aubrey Cameron and Tisharria Huggins, but it was free throws by Huggins and Banks in the final 20 seconds that helped the Shockers keep the Birds at bay. The Redbirds, 15-10 overall, 9-7 in the Valley , fell behind 27-6 in the opening minutes before rallying. to take the lead in the second half.
Cameron and Kelsy Richardson combined for 12 points in the first seven minutes and scored the first two baskets of a 16-0 Shocker run which put WSU ahead 27-6 with 11:50 left in the half. ISU got a lift off the bench from Sophie Tirtiaux, who had 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assist, 2 steals and two blocked shots.
Taren OBrien, who had 11 points, five assists and three steals in her final home game, thought WSUs defense made the difference early.
They played great defense, said OBrien. They didnt do anything exceptional, but they played defense very well.
Skrabalovas turnaround jumper started a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 31-21. With Donovan scoring 16 before intermission, Illinois State trimmed the deficit to 40-31. Cameron had 12 of WSUs points.
Illinois States shooting woes continued in the second half as ISU missed its first four opportunities and fell behind 49-35 on Alisha Cades jumper with 14:09 left.. But Skrabalova scored inside and Sophie Tirtiaux hit a long three-pointer to start a 11-0 Redbird spurt which included seven points off Shocker turnovers, two of them leading to layups by Skrabalova and OBrien.
A Donovan layup with 10:49 left slicked the lead to 49-46. At 9:57, Jaci McCormacks steal and two free throws closed the gap to 49-48. After Richardon jumper stretched it to three again for WSU, Skrabalova hit two free throws to get it back to one. After Rochelle Busenitz split a pair of free throws for WSU, Skrabalova took a nice pass from Tirtiaux for a layup to tie the game.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton thought her team played stronger and hard
We showed a lot of fight coming from 21 down, but, to be honest, I wasnt surprised. This is that kind of team, said Pingeton. Switching to the man defense helped us get back into the game, and the biggest thing is we started to make some shots. Sophie gave us a huge lift. She was really ready to play. Shes a heady player without a lot of quickness, but she made some huge plays for us today.
The teams traded baskets until WSU led 56-54. Two straight McCormack steals led to back-to-back OBrien layups and ISU led 58-56. Another exchange of buckets gave ISU a 60-58 lead, but April Banks drained a trey to put WSU up 61-60 with 3:45 left. Just 14 seconds later, McCormack answered and ISU led by a pair. Huggins steal earned her two free throws and another tie at 63-63.
Alisha Cade gave WSU a 65-63 lead with two free throws at the 2:06 mark. ISU tied it with a Tirtiaux layup off OBriens bullet pass with 1:44 left. But Cade nailed a baseline jumper to put the Shockers back ahead 67-65 with 1:24 left. An ISU turnover with 30 seconds left put Huggins on the line with 20.1 seconds remaining. She hit a pair to put WSU up four. Tirtiauxs layup with 10.7 seconds left cut the lead to 69-67.
Richardson went to the line on a foul on the in-bounds pass. She missed both and McCormack tried to bring the rebound up, but was swarmed by WSU players and, eventually, a foul was called on Taren OBrien of Illinois State. Banks went to the line with 4.3 left and made both to seal it.
