TULSA, Okla. – Wichita State dropped its 2019 American Athletic Conference opener at Tulsa, 63-49, Friday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Wichita State (7-7, 0-1) gave up 19 offensive rebounds and 29 points off 20 turnovers on a night when Tulsa hit just 3-of-20 attempts from long range. The Shockers out-shot the Golden Hurricane 41 percent to 38 percent, but Tulsa was able to do most of its damage in the third quarter and in the paint on the night.

Jaida Hampton paced the Shockers with a new season high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. She has scored 10 or more points in five of her last six games.

Ashley Reid stepped up late to score all 10 of her season-high points after halftime. No other Shocker scored more than five points on the night.

Tulsa (7-7, 1-0) got 17 points from Kendrian Elliott and a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double from Crystal Polk. The two Tulsa bigs controlled the paint for much of the night on both ends. Alexis Gaulden (14) and Desiree Lewis (12 points, 10 rebounds) rounded out the double-digit scorers for Tulsa.

Wichita State opened the game with a Seraphine Bastin free throw and Hampton floater before Tulsa answered with 11 straight to take an 11-3 lead at the 3:15 mark. Hampton would add a pair of three-pointers and another jumper in the paint, putting her in double-figures before the period ended.

Tulsa held a 17-11 lead after 10 minutes with Hampton accounting for 10 of the 11 WSU points on 4-of-5 shooting. The rest of the team was 0-for-8 from the field in the period.

The Golden Hurricane opened up a double-digit lead, 25-13, just three minutes into the second quarter behind an 8-0 spurt. Tulsa kept its lead at 10 with 4:00 to go until the Shockers put together six unanswered to pull within four, 27-23. Shyia Smith scored inside and then Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage went to work inside on back-to-back trips.

WSU would go cold the final 2:11 allowing Tulsa to stretch its lead back to nine, 32-23 at the half. Hampton led all scorers with 12 points, while no other Shocker had more than four. Both teams shot just above the 40 percent mark despite WSU going 2-of-7 from beyond the arc and Tulsa 1-for-11.

A Hampton free throw followed by a Carla Bremaud 10-footer started the scoring in the third quarter, but a Hurricane 11-0 blitz gave Tulsa its largest lead to that point, 43-26, forcing a WSU timeout with 4:58 remaining. Tulsa's run would reach 13-0 before a Hampton three-point play broke the drought.

Alexis Gaulden's three as time expired put the finishing touches on the third quarter that saw the Hurricane outscore the Shockers 22-10. Tulsa hit 7-of-15 attempts in the frame, while the Shockers were just 4-of-14.

Through three quarters of play Tulsa held a 54-33 lead thanks to 32 points in the paint and 12 offensive rebounds.

Five points from Reid and a tough bucket inside from Smith cut the deficit from 23 to 16 to open the final period for WSU.

After Tulsa again extended its lead to 21, before the Shockers responded with a 9-0 run behind a Hampton 15-footer, Reid three-pointer and four points from Bastin via a steal and score and two free throws.

One final score from Tulsa would seal the win for the Golden Hurricane.

Up Next
Wichita State continues its road swing to open conference play with a trip to Greenville, N.C., to face ECU on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.