Papa John's Wichita State Winter Classic

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 Tickets  |  Promotional Schedule (Dec. 19- Ugly Sweater Day- $5 Admission with Ugly Holiday Sweater)

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Watch Online: ESPN3 
Announcers: Chris Solwecki and Denning Gerig

Quickly...Wichita State (1-7) plays host to Prairie View A&M (4-2) at 7 p.m.,  in the 2015 Papa John's Wichita State Winter Classic. North Dakota State (2-7) faces North Carolina State (3-6) in the 4 p.m., game on Friday. The two teams flip opponents on Saturday in the pre-arranged schedule.
-The Shockers are coming off a 67-62 loss to Eastern Washington Tuesday, and a 58-51 loss to No.16/15 Tennessee on Friday. In the EWU game, TaQuandra Mike led WSU in scoring with 17 points, while Rangie Bessard had 16 points and nine rebounds. Against Tennessee, WSU was led in scoring by Diamond Lockhart and TaQuandra Mike's 11 points.
-Rangie Bessard made her WSU debut against Tennessee after sitting out the last two semesters, and made an immediate impact with nine points, three rebounds, five steals, two blocks and an assist in 35 minutes.
-After playing just one home game in November, WSU is in a five-game home stretch and plays just one game on the road in December, a Dec. 22 date at Tennessee Tech.
-WSU is led in scoring by freshman Jyar Francis, who averages 12.7 points a game off the bench, but missed the Tennessee and EWU games with a concussion. The next-leading scorer is Rangie Bessard who has 12.5 a game, and Mike, who averages 11.3 points a game.
-The Shockers returned five players from last year's NCAA Tournament team, including three who came off the bench for WSU. Junior guard Jaleesa Chapel returned with the most experience, having played in 63 games with two starts the previous two years. 
-Eight Shockers will suit up against the Panthers. Freshman Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage has not been released to play after knee surgery prior to her arrival at WSU, Francis is out with a concussion and junior Brittany Martin is also out with injury. Marija Pacar recently returned after a concussion, while the Shockers added a non-scholarship player, Hannah Mortimer, a 5-4 transfer guard from Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kan.

On PVAM... Prairie View A&M (4-2), is coming off a 96-48 loss at Georgia Tech Tuesday night that broke a two-game winning streak. The Panthers won at Louisiana Tech and at home against Lamar prior to the Georgia Tech game. PVAM is led in scoring by Lamaria Cole who averages 17.5 points in six starts. Two other Panthers average double figures, Larissa Scott with 13.5 points a game and Alexus Parker, who averages 11.8 points a game. Scott also lead the team in rebounding with 13.2 a game. PVAM's other Division I win is against Nicholls State and its DI loss is at TCU.

Head Coach Dawn Brown...Dawn Brown was officially named Prairie View A&M's head women's basketball coach in April, 2014. Brown became the fifth head coach of the Lady Panthers since the program became an NCAA Division I member program in time for the 1981-82 season; she served her first year as the interim head coach in 2013-14.

On North Dakota State... The Bison have began the season with a 2-7 record heading into the Shocker Winter Classic. The team is led by Taylor Thunstedt and Marena Whittle, both averaging just under 16 points per game.

Head Coach Maren Walseth... Maren Walseth recently completed her first season as the head coach of the Bison. In her inaugural season at NDSU, she helped guide the Bison to an 11-17 overall record and a 7-9 Summit League mark. North Dakota State finished sixth in The Summit League, the highest finish for NDSU women's basketball since the 2011-12 season.

On North Carolina A&T State...The Aggies have opened the season with a 3-6 record. The team has been led by Aprill McRae who is averaging 11.4 points-per-game and Dana Brown who is averaging 10.4 points-per-game. McRae is also the team leader in rebounds with 7.3 per game. 

Head Coach Tarrell Robinson...Tarrell Robinson was named the sixth head coach in the history of the North Carolina A&T women's basketball program on May 2, 2012. He returned to A&T after spending three years as an assistant coach, recruiting coordinator and associate head coach at Virginia Commonwealth under head coach Beth Cunningham. 

WSU Series Stuff... WSU leads the series agaisnt PVAM, 1-0, with a win Dec. 8, 2006. WSU won that meeting, 81-60, under then-fourth-year head coach Jane Albright. WSU is meeting North Carolina A&T State in the first meeting in women's basketball.

In-Season Tournaments... Overall, WSU is now 67-80 in the 64 in-season tournaments the Shockers have played since 1974-75. In 1981-82, the Shockers played in five in-season tournaments and went 6-6. Overall, WSU has won 11 in-season tournaments.
Coach Adams is 14-9 in in-season tournaments since coming to WSU, and has won three in-season tournament titles.
WSU will play in its second in-season tournament of the season Dec. 18-19, in Wichita. WSU faces Prairie View A&M and North Carolina A&T on consecutive days. 

Last Winter Classic... Wichita State defeated Winthrop, 66-20, on the final day behind a record-setting defense and a record-setting nine three-pointers by Alie Decker in the final game of the 2014 Winter Classic. Wichita State's defense held Winthrop to eight first-half points and a school-record 20 points for the game, the second time WSU has set the opponent low-game total this season. The Shockers also held Arkansas Pine Bluff to 26 points on Dec. 5. Decker provided the fireworks offensively with a school-record nine treys, five in the first half, which broke the record previously held by Courtney Sims against Creighton (3-3-01) and Haleigh Lankster against Loyola (12-2-09). Her 31 points, a career-high, were made on an 11-19 effort from the field and a 9-of-14 night from the arc. She also had three assists and three steals. Alex Harden backed her performance with 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Wichita State  defeated ULM, 57-42, in its opening game of the 2014 Winter Classic. Michaela Dapprich, Alie Decker and Jamillah Bonner led the Shockers with 16, 14 and 11 points each, while Decker was also the team's leading rebounder with seven. Three ULM players had eight points each in Sharnice Brooks, Jade Wharton and Chelsea Tieuel. Mason had also defeated Winthrop, 69-57, on Friday in the tournament set up for Wichita State and George Mason to play Winthrop and ULM without the two teams playing each other.

Earlier on Saturday, George Mason wrapped up its Winter Classic with a 65-53 win over Louisiana Monroe behind 26 points from redshirt junior Taylor Brown, a member of the all-tournament team. Jasmine Jackson was also selected from GMU to the all-tournament team.

Decker led a trio of all-tournament team selections for the Shockers, which also included Michaela Dapprich and Kelsey Jacobs.

On Jody Adams... Adams (Tennessee, '94) is in her eighth season at Wichita State as the only Shocker women's basketball coach to make an NCAA appearance and win an MVC regular-season and MVC Tournament championship at WSU. Her 2012-13 team accomplished all of that, then the 2013-14 and 2014-15 teams repeated the exact same feat. WSU has won three-straight MVC regular-season and MVC Tournament titles and competing in three-straight NCAA Tournaments. 
At 29-5 overall, the 2014-15 team broke the school's season win record by three games.
She is 147-87 in her eighth season at WSU and 171-97 overall in her ninth season as a head coach, which includes a 24-8 record as head coach at Murray State in 2007-08.
In addition, WSU is 88-27 (.785) overall at home under Adams, including 16-0 in 2014-15.
Adams is first on the WSU all-time wins list. She passed Linda Hargrove, who won 113 games at WSU from 1989-98, on Fri., Feb. 21, 2014 in a win against Illinois State.

WSU's Opponents Keep Winning...Six of Wichita State's eight opponents to date are .500 or better, including Missouri, which is a perfect 10-0, Richmond (6-3) and Arkansas State (6-2). Tennessee (7-3), is ranked.

Third Newcomer of the Week... Wichita State sophomore transfer Diamond Lockhart was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, it was announced Monday. She is the third Shocker this season to be honored with the weekly award.
   Lockhart, a 5-foot-5 guard from Red Oak, Texas, led the Shockers in their lone game last week, tallying a career-high 21 points on 8-of-14 (57-percent) shooting against Southeast Missouri. Lockhart also had two assists and four rebounds while she also made 50 percent (3-of-6) of her three-point attempts.

Top-10 Attendance...Wichita State's annual "Schoolhouse Rocks with the Shocks" game Dec. 4, brought in 8,474 local elementary kids and was the ninth-largest crowd in Wichita State women's basketball history. The school record for attendance is 10,612, set on Feb. 25, 2001, in a game against Missouri State.

Mix and Match...Wichita State has suited up just six players at times this season, meaning a lot of minutes played for several Shockers. Junior guard Jaleesa Chapel led the nation in minutes played per game, averaging 39.1 minutes. Sophomores Aundra Stovall (37.2 minutes/game) and Diamond Lockhart (36.0 minutes/ game) also rank in the top five in the league in minutes played. The Shocker roster is slim right now since freshman Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage has not been released to play after knee surgery prior to her arrival at Wichita State. Freshman Jyar Francis missed the Tennessee and EWU games, and junior Brittany Martin missed the last five games with injuries.

Last Time Out...Wichita State fell to Eastern Washington by a score of 67-62 on Tuesday night in Charles Koch Arena. Wichita State created 18 turnovers while they only turned the ball over nine times, but the Eagles shot 46% from the field, while the Shockers only shot 37.5%. The Shockers were led by TaQuandra Mike who had 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Rangie Bessard also contributed with 16 points and nine rebounds. The Eagles were led by Hayley Hodgins who had 23 points and shot 7-for-15 from the field and 3-for-6 from the three-point line. Delaney Hodgins led the Eagles with 12 rebounds.

Against Tennessee..Wichita State fell to the No. 15/16 Tennessee Lady Volunteers, 58-51, Friday night at Charles Koch Arena. The Shockers out-shot the Lady Volunteers, shooting 39.6 percent from the field, while Tennessee shot 38.9 percent. The Shockers were outrebounded, 37-29, but had 13 steals while Tennessee had just nine. Wichita State was led by both TaQuandra Mike and Diamond Lockhart who both had 11 points. Both Mike and Jaleesa Chapel also contributed six rebounds. Tennessee was led by Bashaara Graves who had 18 points and 13 rebounds. Andraya Carter also contributed 14 points, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

Early Season Game Quickies... WSU topped the tournament host in a 76-62 win against Florida International in the FIU Turkey Slam. Taquandra Mike scored a game-high 28 points, and was named to the All-Tournament Team. 
-The Shockers lost, 63-50, two days earlier against undefeated Richmond to fall into the consolation game.
-Prior to the tournament, the Shockers lost, 67-40, at Arkansas State, and also dropped their home-opener Nov. 18, a 57-37 loss against Missouri. WSU also opened the season with a 79-54 loss at Creighton Nov. 13.

Mike Named MVC N-O-W... Wichita State junior transfer TaQuandra Mike was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Nov. 30.
   Mike scored a Shocker career-high 28 points in the final game of the FIU Turkey Slam to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team. She led the Shockers in scoring in the two games with 14 points against Richmond and 28 against Florida International to average 21.0 points on 58.3 percent shooting (14-of-24).
   Mike also made 8-of-16 three pointers for a 50-percent effort from beyond the arc. She also added six free throws and averaged 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals in the two games.

Defense Holding…  Wichita State has held its last four of five opponents to below their season average as Richmond scored 63 points while averaging 65.5 per game, Missouri scored just 57 points while averaging 78 points headed into the game, and Shockers held Arkansas State to 67 points after the Red Wolves had averaged 77 points a game.
FIU averaged more than 70 points a game and WSU held it to 62, while SEMO was averaging 70 points a game and WSU held it to 66. Tennessee scored just 58 points after coming in with a 67.0 average per game. EWU scored three more points than its season average of 64 ppg.

Boards and Blocks… Brittany Martin took over the rebounding lead with 11 rebounds at Arkansas State and currently averages 6.0 a game, while she had 10 blocks in the first three games before her injury to average 3.3 a game. A year ago she had 25 blocks in 30 games off the bench. 

MU Breaks  WSU's 17-Game Home win Streak...Prior to the Missouri loss, the Shockers had won 17-straight regular-season home games dating to a loss Feb. 23, 2014 to Indiana State in 2013-14. The Shockers won all 16 regular-season home games in 2014-15 and went 14-2 in 2013-14 for a two-year home record of 30-2. WSU's other loss in 2013-14 was to St. Joseph's in overtime.

Francis MVC NOW... Jyar Francis, who was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week the first week of the season, had a team-leading 15 points and eight rebounds in the loss at Creighton and also led WSU in scoring in the Shockers' first exhibition. She shot 50 percent from the field (5-10) and made 4-of-9 free throws against Missouri, and also had an assist and a steal in her first regular-season game as a Shocker. WSU won its first of two exhibitions, 68-61, on Nov. 8 and were also led by Francis' 21 points. 

Shockers Picked Fifth...The Shockers were picked fifth in the MVC Preseason vote of coaches, SIDs, Radio play-by-play and beat writers. Missouri State was picked as the favorite, and the Lady Bears are coming off another successful season, advancing to the 2014-15 MVC Tournament championship as they closed out last season winners of 10 of their final 12 games, and received 22 of 40 first-place votes and 373 total points, out-distancing Drake (347), UNI (320) and Southern Illinois (297). It is the Shockers' lowest position in the preseason poll since 2010-11 when the Shockers were also picked fifth. Despite winning the league, the league tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons, WSU has only been the favorite once, in 2014-15, in the 32 years of the poll. The Shockers were chosen second in 2012-13 and 2013-14 and came away with the title at the end of loop play.

On the Web... Wichita State's home games this season will be broadcast on the internet at www.goshockers.com/watch/ with Steve Strain, who is in his second season calling the action for the Shockers. Steve is a veteran of radio and television, called women's basketball for the Texas Tech Lady Raiders from 2009-13. Strain will also call road games on KNSS 1330. WSu is also on ESPN3 in all home games with Chris Solwecki and Denning Gerig calling the action.

On the Central Oklahoma Exhibition... Wichita State defeated Central Oklahoma in their first exhibition game of the season, 68-61.
     The Shockers were led by freshman Jyar Francis who finished the game with team-highs in points at 21 and rebounds with six. Sophomore Diamond Lockhart also contributed 20 points.

Titles and Championships...Wichita State, which had a school-record 29-4 in 2014-15, earned its third NCAA Tournament bid in school history with an 85-71 win over Missouri State in the championship game of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Charles, Mo. The NCAA Tournament appearances was Wichita State's third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance to go with three-straight MVC Tournament titles and three-straight MVC regular-season titles. 

Home Court Advantage...Wichita State is 17-4 over the last 21 games and won 17-straight regular-season home games dating to a loss Feb. 23, 2014 to Indiana State in 2013-14. The Shockers won all 16 regular-season home games in 2014-15 and went 14-2 in 2013-14 for a two-year home record of 30-2. WSU's other loss in 2013-14 was to St. Joseph's in overtime.

First Time in Four Years... For the first time in four years, WSU will be without All-everything Alex Harden. Harden, who completed her career as WSU's career-leading scorer and honors as an Honorable Mention All-American, was drafted as the 18th overall pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2015 WNBA draft. She ended her career as the most decorated Shocker women's basketball player in history.

NCAA Tournament History...WSU is 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament, each under Jody Adams, who brought the Shockers their only tournament appearances. She had one appearance in her only year at Murry State and carries a 0-4 NCAA record. WSU lost at Texas A&M, 71-45, in 2013, at Penn State, 62-56, and 78-66, at Cal a year ago in NCAA Tournament play.

MVC Title History...The Shockers, which finished the regular-season with a record of 26-4, including a 17-1 mark in league play, clinched its third-staight Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball regular-season title in program history. WSU closed out the regular season on a nine-game winning streak and broke a regular-season win record, MVC regular-season win record, and tied an overall win record. WSU secured a piece of its third-straight Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship with a 66-54 win against UNI, then earned the out-right title with a 77-63 win at Evansville. 

20-Win Progression Under Adams ...  Wichita State ended up with a 29-4 overall record in 2014-15, which was the most wins in a season (29) and most wins in a regular season (26). The 2013-14 team had 26 wins and seven losses including postseason. The Shockers won just nine games a season prior to Adams' arrival, and 13 her first season in 2008-09, while the 2013-14 team lost just seven games, only the second season in Shocker history the team had single-digit losses. Wichita State has won 20 games or more for four-straight seasons and at least 26 games for two-straight. WSU has won 20 games six times overall since 1974-75.

Three ... Wichita State clinched a piece of its third regular-season title with wins against Drake and UNI in 2014-15, and claimed it outright at Evansville. WSU had no MVC regular-season or tournament titles or NCAA Tournament appearances prior to Jody Adams' arrival at WSU.

16-0 at Home in 2014-15... WSU completed the regular-season at home undefeated for only the second time in history with a 16-0 record. WSU's other undefeated record at home was 11-0 in 1999-00, while the Shockers have just one, one-loss home record, and that was 8-1 in 1975-76. At 16-0 in 2014-15, WSU had the most home wins in a season by two wins as the 2013-14 team had 14 wins, but two losses.