WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State plays host to Creighton in the season-opener for the Shockers at 2 p.m., Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
Quickly
-WSU won its two exhibitions in the preseason, a 58-49 win against cross-town opponent Newman University and a 67-65 win against Cameron last Sunday.
-Creighton is coming off a 63-56 loss at South Dakota State on Friday night in Brookings, S.D., in its season-opener. The Bluejays rallied in the fourth-quarter, 24-25, after dropping the first three quarters, by five, one and 10 points, respectively, but fell short.
-The Shockers and the Bluejays met a year ago with Creighton taking a 79-54 win. WSU trails 33-24 in the series.
-In the second exhibition,
Diamond Lockhart drove the court off a
Rangie Bessard rebound to score the game-winner and give the Shockers a 67-65 win against Cameron on Nov. 6. Bessard led WSU with 17 points, while
Keke Thompson,
Angiee Tompkins and Lockhart backed her with 14 points, 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Bessard had 13 rebounds for the double-double.
-In the first exhibition, Bessard led WSU with 19 points and nine boards in the Newman win, while Lockhart matched her on the glass with nine boards of her own. Thirteen Shockers played in the game, including all five newcomers. Junior college transfers
Tamara Lee,
Keke Thompson and
Angiee Tompkins got their first Shocker starts, while
Jeliah Preston and freshman
Kayla Williams came off the bench in their first time in a Shocker uniform. Returnees
TaQuandra Mike and
Jyar Francis did not play due to injury.
-Thirteen Shockers played in the game, including all five newcomers. Junior college transfers Lee, Thompson and Tompkins got their first Shocker starts, while Preston and Williams came off the bench in their first time in a Shocker uniform. Returnees Mike and
Jyar Francis did not play due to injury.
-The Shockers return all five starters from last year's squad, and 11 players overall. With five newcomers, the Shockers carry 16 players on the roster.
-Senior guard
Jaleesa Chapel returns with the most experience, having played in 93 games with 31 starts the last three years.
-WSU welcomed five newcomers to the Shocker program, including four junior college transfers and one freshman.
-The Shockers were picked fifth in the MVC Preseason vote of coaches, SIDs, Radio play-by-play and beat writers for the second-straight year. The two fifth-place picks are the Shockers' lowest position in the preseason poll since 2010-11 when the Shockers were also picked fifth. WSU has only been the favorite once, in 2014-15, in the 33 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.
Newcomers Add Plenty of Experience
Led by the Juco All-American Tompkins, the bevy of newcomers start their WSU careers with backgrounds as proven winners: Thompson helped Shelton State CC to a 63-5 record in two seasons. Preston helped Blinn CC to a 26-9 record and a NJCAA Regional title. Lee was a first-team All-Jayhawk Conference first-team honoree and helped Edmond Santa Fe to a 108-4 record as a prepster. Williams comes to WSU from Overton High in Memphis, Tenn., where she helped her team to a 102-16 high school record.
Adams-Birch
Adams-Birch (Tennessee, '94) is in her ninth 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 won three-straight MVC regular-season and MVC Tournament titles while making three-straight NCAA Tournaments.
She is 155-105 in eight seasons at WSU and 171-113 overall in nine seasons as a head coach, which includes a 24-8 record as head coach at Murray State in 2007-08.
The 2014-15 team broke the school's season win record by three games at 29-5.
In addition, WSU is 88-24 (.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.
On the Web
Wichita State's home games this season will be broadcast on the internet at
www.goshockers.com/listen with Steve Strain, who is in his third season calling the action for the Shockers. Steve, who 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.
Shocker Honors
Wichita State's returnees earned honors in 2015-16, led by Bessard, who was named to the 2016 MVC Honorable Mention Team and Newcomer of the Year after earning three Newcomer of the Week Honors during the regular season.
In addition, Bessard and Lockhart were named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Second Team.
Earlier this year Lockhart was also honored with the Valley's State Farm Good Neighbor Award.
Other honors in 2015-16 included:
-Mike, Francis and Lockhart as MVC Newcomers of the week once each.
-Mike and Bessard were named to the Winter Classic All-Tournament Team and Mike was named to the FIU Turkey Slam All-Tournament Team.
Shockers Picked Fifth in Valley
Wichita State's women's basketball team was picked fifth in the 2016-17 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll, and Bessard was named to the Preseason Team, it was announced Oct. 25.
Wichita State is the only league team to return all five starters to the floor this season after finishing the 2015-16 campaign 8-22 overall and 5-13 in MVC action. The Shockers did not have a senior on last year's team and will look to ride that experience back up the league standings this winter after winning three-straight titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Bessard earned honorable mention all-MVC honors in 2015-16, and was also named the conference's 2016 Newcomer of the Year.
Bessard led the Shockers during the season, averaging 15.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Mike also averaged double figures for Wichita State a year ago, averaging 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per outing. Lockhart (7.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists), senior guard Chapel (4.5 points, 3.5 rebounds) and junior guard
Aundra Stovall (4.2 points) also return to the backcourt for the Shockers after starting in the majority of the contests a year ago.
Drake has been tabbed as the preseason favorite in the MVC's women's basketball race in the annual survey of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media.
MVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
| School (First-Place Votes) |
Total |
| 1. Drake (34) |
392 |
| 2. UNI (4) |
317 |
| 3. Missouri State (2) |
313 |
| 4. SIU |
306 |
| 5. Wichita State |
248 |
| 6. Indiana State |
199 |
| 7. Bradley |
141 |
| 8. Illinois State |
123 |
| 9. Evansville |
109 |
| 10. Loyola |
52 |
2015-16 MVC Preseason Team
Rangie Bessard, WSU
Caitlin Ingle, Drake
Rishonda Napier, SIU
Madison Weekly, UNI
Lizzy Wendell, Drake (Pre-Season POY)
