DENTON, Texas – Wichita State watched its 18-point lead fade away as North Texas mounted a fourth quarter comeback, defeating the Shockers, 72-68, Sunday afternoon in The Super Pit.
Wichita State (5-12, 1-4 AAC) has yet to come away with a true road win as the Mean Green (13-3, 3-1 AAC) remain undefeated at home.
Freshman Salese Blow led all scoring with a career-high 23 points, shooting 8-for-17 and hitting three triples for the Shockers.
Tre'Zure Jobe and Jayla Murray also finished in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.The Shockers hit a season-best nine three pointers as a team (Blow 3, Jobe 3, Aniya Bell 2, Murray 1), shooting 9-for-21 (.429), their best three-point percentage of the season on 10 or more attempts. Bell hit two or more threes for the fourth time this season and sixth time in her Wichita State career.
Daniela Abies led the team in rebounding for the 10th time this season and was just shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 2:16 left in the game.
The Shockers had their best first half since their Dec. 20 win over Oral Roberts, taking a 32-24 lead going into halftime.Coming out of the break, Wichita State went on an 11-2 run to open the third quarter and held an 18-point lead with two minutes left in the third quarter, but the Mean Green went on a 9-2 run to cut it to 11 to end the quarter.
North Texas carried that momentum into the fourth quarter, not missing a shot for the first three minutes of the quarter and going on a 9-0 run to cut the Shockers' lead to just two.
The Mean Green shot 12-for-19 (.632) in the fourth quarter as DesiRay Kernal scored 11 of her 21 points in the final period while the Shockers shot just 5-for-15 and were unable to stop North Texas down the stretch.
North Texas went on a 12-0 run to gain its first lead since midway through the second quarter with two minutes left and increased its lead to six with less than a minute remaining.
Jobe scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half, hitting a three with six seconds left in the game to bring the Shockers back within two, but Kernal hit both her free throws on the other end to secure the win for the Mean Green.
The Shockers fell to North Texas for the first time in the team's third-ever meeting.
Wichita State returns home to take on Memphis (5-11, 1-4 AAC) Wednesday, Jan. 17 in Charles Koch Arena at 6 p.m.