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A second half surge lifted the Wichita State women's basketball team to a 49-45 win at Evansville Sunday afternoon. The victory gave WSU a 7-0 start to Valley play for the second consecutive season and matches the best start in school history.
The Shockers trailed for most of the game before Jessica Diamond broke a tie with a three-pointer to put WSU on top, 37-34 with 5:35 to play. Diamond finished with 11 points to match Chynna Turner for the team lead. Michael Dapprich added 10 on 4-for-5 shooting off the bench.
WSU scored the first basket of the game but Evansville responded with an 11-0 run to establish the lead. The Shockers turned it over nine times and shot just 29% from the field in the first half and trailed 21-16 at intermission. Of note, the Shockers blocked seven shots before halftime.
Once Wichita State took the lead in the second half, however, the Shockers never again trailed. Evansville did tie it at 41 following a Samantha Heck three-pointer with 2 and a half minutes left but the Shockers quickly answered.
Diamond snagged an open court steal and hit both ends of a one-and-one to put WSU on top 45-41 and the two teams traded points the rest of the way.
The Shockers return home Friday night at 7:05 p.m. against Illinois State. The Redbirds ended WSU's 7-0 start (and record-tying 10-game winning streak) last year at Koch Arena.