WICHITA – For the second-straight season, Wichita State dropped an overtime heartbreaker on its home court to the Blazers, coming up just short as UAB came away with a 76-73 victory Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
 
"It's tough for us because we felt like we could have won it, but at the end of the day, I'm happy to see that we showed some fight and resilience, especially for the great cause we played for today, and for that, I'm proud," head coach Terry Nooner said. "The energy was great, and we were right there, so we have to continue to work, not get discouraged and use the same approach this next week in practice."
 
Redshirt-junior Jayla Murray recorded her second career double-double and second career 20-point performance, leading all scoring with 20 points and leading the Shockers with 11 rebounds.
 
Junior Princess Anderson poured in a Division I career-high 19 points with five rebounds and two steals.
 
Redshirt-junior Bre'Yon White finished in double figures for the third time this season with 11 points and grabbed five rebounds.
 
For the Blazers, Sara Bershers was 5-for-6 from three with 19 points, and Jade Weathersby had a double-double with 16 points and 19 rebounds.
 
UAB proved why they lead the American Athletic Conference in three pointers per game, hitting 14 from behind the arc to Wichita State's three.
 
For the sixth time this season, the Shockers missed as many or more free throws than the final score margin in a loss, shooting 18-for-27 from the line tonight in a three-point loss.
 
Wichita State scored the first four points off the game, all from the free throw line and led by as many as five in the first quarter. The game saw three lead changes and six ties, and every time UAB started to pull away, the Shockers fought back. The Blazers went up 11 in the second quarter, but White hit back-to-back jumpers at the end of the half to cut it to six.
 
One minute into the third quarter, UAB went up 11, but the Shockers were able to erase that deficit and regain the lead  with three minutes remaining in the period, courtesy of a 12-point quarter from Anderson.
 
"[Anderson] really pushed herself to her max potential, and that's what you want to see from a player. She really had it going, scoring in transition, hitting threes, hitting pullups, making plays on defense, and you could just see in her eyes she was in attack mode, and that's what we need from her every game."
 
Bershers hit a three with seven seconds left in the quarter to lead by three going into the fourth.
 
The Blazers went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to regain an 11-point advantage, but the Shockers held them scoreless through the final five minutes of regulation to tie it up and take it to overtime. Anderson and Murray scored 30 of their combined 39 points after halftime.
 
UAB opened overtime on a 7-1 run and hit 9 of 10 free throws in the period, white the Shockers were 6-for-10 from the line in overtime.
 
Journey Armstead scored 9 of her 17 points in overtime, seven from the charity stripe to help seal the deal for the Blazers.
 
The Shockers had multiple opportunities to tie it up but couldn't get layups to fall in the final minute of overtime. Murray made a second-chance layup as time expired, but the Blazers came out on top, 76-73. Despite the loss, Nooner was proud of his team for the resilience they showed throughout the hard-fought game.
 
"It says a lot about the potential our group has," Nooner said. "We've really been knocking on the door."