WICHITA – American Athletic Conference preseason favorite South Florida stifled the Shockers in a resounding 72-46 win Wednesday evening in Charles Koch Arena.
 
"For whatever reason, this game took us awhile to get into the flow of the game and be able to match the physicality," head coach Terry Nooner said. "Understanding the physicality and toughness that it's going to take to compete at the top of the league was our biggest lesson."
 
Three Bulls finished in double figures, led by Sammie Puisis with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting with four threes. USF outrebounded Wichita State 40-23, the Shockers' worst rebounding game of the season, scoring 15 second chance points.
 
The Shockers shot 17-for-48 (35.4 percent) from the field and just 3-for-12 (25 percent) from three as South Florida held them to their lowest scoring game of the season.
 
Jayla Murray scored a team-high 15 points, her 12^th game in double figures this season, and grabbed six rebounds. Taylor Jameson finished with seven points and hit a three in the second quarter to extend her streak to 11 games with at least one made three.
 
Maimouna Sissoko led the Shockers in rebounding for the second time in three games with seven, and Aicha Ndour recorded a game-high three blocks.
 
Wichita State scored the first four points of the game before the Bulls went on a 25-4 run over the rest of the first quarter. South Florida shot 4-for-5 from three in the first quarter, with Puisis hitting three of those, to give the Bulls a 25-8 advantage.
 
After Puisis scored 13 points in the first quarter, the Shockers held her scoreless in the second, but the Bulls scored eight-straight to take their biggest lead of the game (26 points) with 4:30 remaining in the half.
 
Blow helped spark some momentum for the Shockers, scoring all eight of her points in the second quarter, helping Wichita State go on a 14-1 run to go into halftime down 13. The Shockers held USF to 11 second quarter points.
 
Murray came out of halftime with some energy, scoring 13 of her 15 points after the break, but South Florida continued to stifle the Shockers in the second half, allowing just 23 points. Wichita State was able to cut the deficit to 11, but the Bulls didn't take their foot off the gas, scoring 10 straight to go back up 25.
 
The Shockers were unable to gain any momentum to overcome the deficit in the fourth quarter, falling to 7-10 (1-3 AAC) as the Bulls remained undefeated in conference play, improving to 11-6 (4-0 AAC).
 
Wichita State travels to UTSA Saturday, Jan. 11 to take on the conference-leading Roadrunners.