WICHITA – Wichita State snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 54-44 victory over Florida Atlantic Wednesday evening in Charles Koch Arena on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
 
"We've been through a turbulent time, but it's all about how you fight through it," head coach Terry Nooner said. "It's a testament to the resilience of our team. They stuck together, and it was a total team effort."
 
The Shockers (8-16, 2-9 AAC) won their third-straight matchup with the Owls (10-13, 2-9 AAC), recording their first conference win since their Jan. 4 win at UAB.
 
Redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray led the Shockers in scoring for the fourth-straight game and 10^th time this season with 18 points, shooting 8-for-16 from the field. Junior Bre'Yon White also finished in double figures for the Shockers with 10 points and tied for a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Four other Shockers finished with five or more rebounds as Salese Blow (7), Taylor Jameson (7), Maimouna Sissoko (6) and Murray (5) all helped Wichita State win the battle of the boards, 46-44. All eight wins this season have come when the Shockers outrebounded their opponent.
 
Wichita State held the Owls to just 17-for-62 (.274) from the field, the second-lowest field goal percentage of a Shocker opponent this season.
 
Florida Atlantic also struggled from the charity stripe, shooting 3-for-12 (.250), while the Shockers hit 11-for-15 (.733) from the line.
 
Despite some offensive woes, shooting just 1-for-18 (.056) from three, the Shockers' defense, led by freshman KP Parr, applied pressure to shut down the Owls in the second half, holding them to 5-for-27 from the field (.185) and just 14 points.
 
"The best part about it to me was we were able to win a game by double digits, and it had to be a tough gritty win for us," Nooner said. "We had to dig in and show a lot of fight."
 
After going into halftime down one, the Shockers went on a 16-4 run in the third quarter to take a 45-34 lead.
 
"We did a good job in the second half," Nooner said. "They didn't get as many transition points, we limited their second chance points, and KP's pressure on the ball really bothered them."
 
The Owls were led by Mya Perry, who put up a game-high 22 points, hitting six of FAU's seven threes, but Wichita State's defense stifled the rest of the Owl offense, holding them scoreless for seven minutes in the third quarter and the last three and a half minutes of the game.
 
Wichita State remains at home to take on the American Athletic Conference leader, UTSA, Saturday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena.