WICHITA, Kan. – For the second straight game Wichita State and South Florida battled to the final second with the Bulls escaping with a slim 47-46 win Thursday night in Charles Koch Arena.

Wichita State (13-14, 4-10) has now lost six straight vs. South Florida with the last three games decided by a total of nine points. The two teams were coming off a hard-fought battle just two days ago in Tampa that saw South Florida pull out a 61-57 win.

The Shockers scored just 16 points after halftime, including just two in the third quarter. Defensively, Wichita State played as well as you could against the second-place team in the league.

The Shockers held USF to 28 percent shooting, including 4-of-22 from beyond the arc. USF also missed 11 of its 22 free throw attempts.

On the offensive end Wichita State was just 3-of-11 from long range and shot 31 percent overall.

Mariah McCully recorded her third straight game with 20-plus points with a game-high 20. Asia Strong added 15 and six rebounds. The duo combined for 35 of Wichita State's 46 points.

After South Florida began the game on a 6-2 run, Wichita State would take a 14-8 lead into the second quarter behind a 12-2 run to close the period. Wichita State held the Bulls to just 4-of-15 shooting in the opening frame.  

Wichita State's defense carried into the second quarter, as they held the Bulls to just 3-of-16 shooting and held a double-digit lead for much of the period. For the half, South Florida was 7-for-31 from the field and 0-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Behind McCully's 16 first half points, Wichita State carried a 30-19 lead into the locker room.

South Florida missed its first 13 three-point attempts until the first one dropped at the 6:05 mark in the third quarter, cutting the Wichita State lead to 30-24. The Shockers missed their first eight field goal attempts of the half and didn't score their first points until 3:06 remaining.

Wichita State would score just two points in the third quarter on 1-of-14 shooting. South Florida didn't fare any better going 2-for-12, but was able to make it a four-point game going into the final 10 minutes.

At the 8:57 mark, South Florida grabbed its first lead since the opening minutes of the game on a corner triple to make it 34-33.

On the ensuing Wichita State possession, Strong splashed in a trey from the corner to immediately put the Shockers back on top. Another scoring drought and a South Florida 8-0 run gave the Bulls their largest lead, 42-36, forcing a Keitha Adams timeout with 6:10 to go.

Wichita State would not go away, scoring eight unanswered to retake the lead, 46-44, on a pair of Strong free throws. The Bulls had their own response with four straight points from Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu to put them back on top, 46-44.

In the waning seconds, Trajata Colbert went to the free throw line needing to hit a pair to tie the game. That she did. With only 10 seconds on the clock and the game tied at 46, South Florida had the final possession of regulation and was the beneficiary of a bang-bang call on a last second jump shot by Elisa Pinzan. Pinzan knocked down the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, giving the Bulls a one-point win.

Up Next
Wichita State makes its final regular season road trip on Sunday when they travel to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane at 1 p.m.