Wichita native named AAC Player of the Week after leading Wichita State to clutch win

Wichita native Tre’Zure Jobe delivered in the clutch to lead the Wichita State women’s basketball team to a 1-0 start in conference play.

Jobe scored WSU’s last eight points in the final 101 seconds of the Shockers’ 63-60 win over Tulane at Koch Arena this past Saturday. The South High graduate finished with 21 points, five rebounds, eight assists and two steals, which earned her American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors announced Monday.

After a somewhat disappointing nonconference slate, WSU (5-8) snapped a four-game losing streak to pick up the best win to date for head coach Terry Nooner in his first year. WSU was picked 11th in the preseason coaches’ poll, while Tulane was voted sixth.

Tulane led 58-55 entering the final two minutes when Jobe, who finished with 13 points in the fourth quarter, began her scoring assault with a pair of free throws. After making the pair, Jobe rebounded a Tulane miss and drew another foul for two more free throws to put the Shockers in front 59-58 with 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining.

After Amira Mabry scored a go-ahead bucket for Tulane, Jobe answered with a drive left, spin back right and a short shot in the paint to give WSU a 61-60 lead with 46 seconds left.

At the other end, Jobe came up with a winning defensive play when she stripped Tulane leading scorer Kyren Whittington (17 points) of the ball for a fast break the other way and a foul. This time Jobe split the free throws for a 62-60 lead with 24 seconds left.

With the game in the balance, WSU again came through on the defensive end.

Whittington began a drive to the basket, but before she could even reach the paint, WSU’s Daniela Abies had already rotated over to stop her momentum to the rim. Sierra Morrow rotated over to cover the dump-off pass. With nowhere to go, Whittington tried to force a bounce pass into traffic that resulted in a loose ball that WSU’s Jeniah Thompson fell on to win possession.

After Jobe tacked on another free throw, Tulane had a final chance, trailing 63-60, to force overtime, but a dribble hand-off play took too long and Tulane’s potential game-tying shot was not released in time.

The Shockers will have a Texas road swing this week in AAC play with a road game at Rice (6-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday and another road game at UTSA (6-6) at 2 p.m. Saturday. WSU returns home to host Temple (7-6) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.