WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State fell behind early and could never recover in a 62-54 loss to South Dakota Thursday night in Charles Koch Arena.

Wichita State (3-2) won the rebound battle and shot a better percentage from the field, but committed 23 turnovers to only nine for South Dakota. The Coyotes turned those miscues into 22 points on the other end.

Mariah McCully rebounded from a four-point outing last time out to score a team-high 16 points. McCully finished 6-of-14 from the field, including a career-high four three-pointers. She scored 10 of her 16 before halftime. Rachel Johnson reached double figures for the third time with 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting. Trajata Colbert pulled down 10 rebounds to go with seven points, but went just 3-for-10 at the free throw line.

Wichita State held South Dakota to 32 percent from the field and 5-of-22 from beyond the arc.

Chloe Lamb led all players with 29 points and 11 rebounds for the Coyotes. South Dakota's leading scorer, Liv Korngable, was held to a season-low eight points on 3-of-16 shooting. She came in averaging 18.0 per game.
 
South Dakota rattled off the first eight points of the game before a Strong bucket inside got the Shockers on the board nearly three minutes in. The Coyotes led by as many as 10 in the early parts of the quarter, but the Shockers managed to get it to single digits with 3:50 remaining.

The Coyotes led 21-14 after 10 minutes despite shooting 9-for-22 from the floor and 2-of-8 from beyond the arc. Wichita State helped their cause with six first quarter turnovers.

South Dakota then scored six straight to begin the second quarter, taking a 13-point lead. Late in the period, a 9-0 run cut the deficit to just four. McCully led the charge with five points during the spurt.

After a South Dakota timeout, the Coyotes immediately pushed the advantage back to 11 thanks to a scoring drought of 2:21 for Wichita State. A Seraphine Bastin free throw made it 36-26 at the half.

The story of the first half was Chloe Lamb for South Dakota. Wichita State had no answer for her, as she lit up the defense to the tune of 21 first half points. The rest of the team was 6-for-24 from the field.

Both teams shot right around 38 percent from the field, while they went a combined 6-of-20 from three-point range. Thirteen first half turnovers for Wichita State led to 12 points for South Dakota.

McCully provided a scoring punch with 10 first half points off the bench.

Eight minutes into the quarter and neither team had scored more than six points, as South Dakota led 41-31. A Liz Korngable bucket snapped a nearly four-minute scoring drought for the Coyotes.

An ugly quarter came to an end with South Dakota leading 45-34. Wichita State was 1-for-10 from the field, while South Dakota went 4-of-16. The two teams combined for just 17 points.

Wichita State could never get the deficit back to single digits in the final period, as South Dakota kept the lead between 10-14 points until a McCully three-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining.

Up Next
Wichita State opens American Athletic Conference play with two road contests beginning with a trip to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane on Dec. 16. The Shockers then travel to New Orleans to face Tulane on Dec. 19.