By: Wichita State
WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State (2-4) drained eight 3-pointers as part of a solid offensive outing as the Wichita State women's basketball team marched past Nicholls State (1-5), 61-51, Thursday night in Charles Koch Arena.
Kiki Stephens led the Shocker scoring attack with a season-high 19 points, while Marcy Sudbeck grabbed nine boards to lead all WSU rebounders. Taylor Steven scored nine points and had a game-high five assists, while senior Kyrie Kinder added 10 points on the night. Katherine Plummer led Nicholls State with 13 points in the game.
The teams traded baskets through the first eight minutes of the game before a Steven three gave the Shockers an early three-point point lead. After a Nicholls State free throw, Alex Bunton extended the WSU lead to four, 16-12, with 10:33 left before Jennifer DeGarmo gave the Shockers a five point lead, 21-16, with a three pointer at the 6:42 mark and ignited a 11-0 run to extend the lead to 29-16 with under four minutes left in the half.
The Lady Colonels answered with a 5-0 streak of their own to pull within eight with just over 1:30 to play in the first, but the Shockers answered back with a 3-pointer from Jacie Hoyt and a layup by Samantha Smith to take a 34-23 lead into the halftime break.
WSU shot 45 percent in the first frame, while limiting Nicholls to 37 percent shooting, and just a 2-for-7 clip from 3-point range.
Nicholls State opened the second half on a quick 3-0 spurt before Steven took control for the Shockers. The senior forced an NSU turnover which resulted in a Kiki Stephens layup, then hit a 3-pointer from the right corner as part of a 7-3 run that extended the Shocker lead to 14 at 44-30.
Kinder gave Wichita State its largest lead of the night at the 5:10 mark when she drained a 3-pointer to give the Shockers a 61-41 advantage, but the Colonels answered right back with a 10-0 run of their own to close out the game by narrowing the margin to 10.
Wichita State shot 46.2 percent from the floor, and hit 57.1 percent of its shots from beyond the arc, while limiting the Colonels to a 30.5 percent shooting effort overall. The Shockers out-rebounded Nicholls State 45-30, and posted 17 assists on 24 baskets.
The Shockers return to the court at 7 p.m., Saturday against former Gateway Conference rival Western Illinois in Charles Koch Arena.
--Wichita State--
