Colbert’s Career Night Not Enough in Loss at Temple

PHILADELPHIA – A bad night of shooting spoiled a career night Trajata Colbertas the State of Wichita fell, 72-59, Wednesday night at the Temple at the Liacouras Center.

Wichita State (13-9, 3-6) shot its worst 27.8 percent of the season from the field, with the majority of those misses ending up right near the basket in the color. Wichita State has lost the last four encounters against the Owls.

Colbert recorded her fourth double-double of the season behind a career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. DJ McCarty and Shamarya Duncan added 10 points a piece but was a combined 7 of 27 from the floor. Jane Asinde added eight points and 12 rebounds.

Temple hit on 46.4 percent of attempts, including an 8-for-19 mark from long range. Wichita State was just 2-of-11 from three-point range. Wichita State posted a season-high 25 offensive rebounds and overtook the Owls 50-36 but only converted those offensive rebounds to 15 points.

Wichita State dug into an early hole, trailing 15-6 after missing 12 of its first 15 tries from the field while Temple hit 7 of 12. Back-to-back McCarty triples gave the Shockers some life, but the Owls would still lead 18-12 into the second.

The Shockers finished the opening quarter with just 5 of 21.

Wichita State’s attacking struggles didn’t let up in the second quarter, but a 6-0 run late in the period sent the Shockers into the dressing room at seven, 35-28 after falling down to 13.

McCarty crowned the Shockers’ 6-0 sprint in the closing minutes with a fadeaway jumper just before the clock ran out.

Wichita State finished the half with just 11 of 39 from the field (28 percent), compared to Temple, who hit 50 percent of his attempts. Both teams committed only seven sales, but Temple was able to capitalize on Wichita State’s sales. The Owls scored nine points straight from Wichita State’s misses.

Colbert was able to break through from below and scored a game-high 10 points in the first half. McCarty was just behind at eight.

Temple opened the second half red-hot, hitting a pair of threes in the first 1:30 and quickly pushing the lead to 14. After only turning the ball seven times in the entire first half, Wichita State had six in the first 6: 20 of the third quarter.

Trailing 11 minutes and less than 2:00 into the third game, Temple hit a wide open corner trey and a driving layup to make it a 57-41 game.

The Owls extended their lead to 18 on first possession of the fourth, but went scoreless in the next 4:09, allowing Wichita State to cut into the margin. A 9-0 run pulled Wichita State into the single digits after two Asinde free throws.

Temple broke out of his drought on the next possession to make it a 12-point game.

Again, Wichita State made another push and scraped within seven after a Colbert three-point play and 2:30 left to play. Unfortunately, that would be as close as it gets. Wichita State didn’t score the rest of the game.

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The State of Wichita welcomes Memphis to National Day of Girls and Women in Sports on Saturday, February 4th at the Charles Koch Arena.