WICHITA – Wichita State picked up its third American Athletic Conference victory with a 60-57 win over the Owls in a back-and-forth contest Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
 
"It was a great overall team effort," head coach Terry Nooner said. "We had a great week of practice, and it was a well-deserved win for us."
 
Wichita State (9-18, 3-11 AAC) held the Owls (12-13, 5-8 AAC) to just 57 points, well below their season average of 66.5, marking the fourth time in five games that the Shockers have kept their opponents below 60 points. The Shockers shot 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from three, their best three-point percentage since Jan. 11, and 22-for-59 (37.3 percent) from the field.
 
"We did a great job of finishing, we did a better job of shooting, and our defense was excellent today, so I'm excited for the team," Nooner said. "With the amount of work and what we put them through every day, to be able to come out here and be resilient, not quit and not lose faith in what we're doing as a program is a testament to the character of the players we have."
 
Senior guard Taylor Jameson led all scoring with 18 points, shooting 5-for-10 from the field, hitting four threes, and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray finished in double figures for the sixth time in the last seven games, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds, and Aicha Ndour led the Shockers on the glass with a career-high 13 rebounds.
 
Senior Ella Anciaux recorded four blocks off the bench, tying her career high, and Princess Anderson and KP Parr had three steals apiece. Anderson recorded her first career start for the Shockers with Ornella Niankan out due to illness.
 
Dominique Ennis led Rice with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.
 
The game saw eight lead changes and four ties with neither team leading by more than eight at any point.
 
The Shockers scored the first four points of the game, but an 11-2 Rice run put the Owls in front. Another run late in the quarter gave the Owls a six-point advantage after one.
 
Wichita State opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run with the help of back-to-back threes from Parr and Jameson. Jameson hit two more threes in the quarter before Rice scored the last four points of the half to make it a two-point game.
 
Rice started the second half on a 7-0 run to go up five before Murray snapped the scoring drought with a three. Jameson hit another three and Murray regained the lead for the Shockers with a pullup jumper. The lead changed hands twice more in the third, making it a one-point game with the Shockers in front going into the final period.
 
White made a layup to open the quarter, but Ennis hit a three for Rice to tie it up. The teams traded jumpers, and then neither team hit a shot for two and a half minutes. Ndour hit one of two free throws with 3:17 to play, putting the Shockers up three, but Rice's Alexis Aniah made a jumper to make it a one-point game under three minutes.
 
Anderson hit a pair of crucial free throws to push it back to a three-point Shocker lead, but Malia Fisher drained a three for Rice to tie it back up at 50-50 with 2:07 left.
 
Murray recorded back-to-back buckets as the Shockers forced two turnovers in the final minute. Wichita State hit six more big free throws down the stretch to hold off the Owls, shooting 9-for-12 from the line in the fourth quarter.
 
Wichita State moves in front of Florida Atlantic, up to 12^th in the AAC standings, as they get ready to take on Temple (15-10, 9-5 AAC) and Tulane (15-9, 8-5 AAC) on the road next Wednesday, Feb. 19 and Saturday, Feb. 22.