UNCASVILLE, Conn. – No. 7 seed Wichita State punched its ticket into the quarterfinals of the 2020 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship with a 72-64 victory against No. 10 seed Houston on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Shockers advance to face No. 2 seed UCF on Saturday at 6 p.m. (ET) on ESPN3.
 
Mariah McCully led a balanced Wichita State offense with 12 points. Carla Bremaud and Trajata Colbert each added 11 points in the win for the Shockers, while Colbert completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. Dymond Gladney paced all scorers with 21 points for Houston, hitting the second-most 3-pointers in an American tournament game with a 7-for-15 showing from beyond the arc. Julia Blackshell-Fair scored 17 and added seven assists for the Cougars.
 
A competitive battle between both teams carried into the first media timeout of the game following a Blackshell-Fair jumper to close the Houston deficit to two at 9-7. Wichita State’s Maya Brewer nailed a deep 3-pointer at 3:09 of the opening quarter to extend the Shocker lead to 14-7, and an Ashley Reid jumper in transition pushed the Wichita State run to 20-2 at the end of the period (22-7). The Shockers continued to pour it on in the second quarter, extending their lead to 19 points midway through the frame (33-14) when Colbert earned the hoop and the harm in the paint. Wichita State cruised into the locker room with a 39-20 lead after shooting 56.0 percent in the first 20 minutes (62.5 percent from 3-point range).
 
Houston flew out of the gates on an 8-0 run in the third quarter powered by a pair of made shots from downtown for Gladney, drawing within 11 at 39-28. After the Cougars closed the gap to 10 at 48-38 in the third, Bremaud connected on a corner three for Wichita State to stall the Houston surge. McCully then added a transition jumper to give the Shockers a 53-40 edge after three quarters. Tatyana Hill converted from in close at the 4:47 mark of the fourth quarter for a second-chance bucket that brought Houston within seven at 60-53, but fastbreak layups from DJ McCarty and Colbert kept the Shockers ahead by nine (64-55). Houston chipped the lead down to five with under a minute to play (64-59), but McCully hit a tough runner in the lane to vault Wichita State back ahead by seven at 66-59.

Fans can watch the entire tournament on ESPN platforms, including ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPN2.
 
For full coverage of this week’s American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, visit theamerican.org/wbb and follow @American_WBB on Twitter.