WICHITA, Kan. - Before turning its attention to Missouri Valley Conference play, Wichita State hosts South Dakota State in the final non-conference game of the season Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena.
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Quickly
-Wichita State (5-5) plays host to South Dakota State (8-3) in the Shockers' final game before the Christmas holiday and Missouri Valley Conference play.Â
-WSU is in the middle of a five game homestand and plays host to Drake and UNI on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1, respectively.
-Wichita State is coming off a 2-0 effort in the Winter Classic that saw the Shockers defeat Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word.
Jeliah Preston was the MVP while
Rangie Bessard and
Angiee Tompkins were also named to the all-tournament team.
-That 2-0 effort gave the Shockers wins in four of the last five games after starting 1-4.
-The Shockers' last road game was a 64-57 loss at Missouri where
Rangie Bessard scored a game-high 19 points. The teams were tied at 50 in the fourth quarter before MU out-scored the Shockers 14-7 over the final 5:20 of the game.
-Prior to that, WSU won its final game in the Cancun Challenge, a 87-73 win against Northeastern, to finish on a winning note after losing to Purdue and No. 11 Stanford.
-After 10 games, the Shockers are led in scoring by junior
Rangie Bessard (15.1) and senior
TaQuandra Mike (7.9). Bessard also leads WSU on the boards with 5.1 a game. She had 17, 20, 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the first four games, but was injured in the Stanford game and missed the Northeastern and Arkansas State games. She played at Missouri and had 19 points, had 18 against ACU and 19 against UIW to average 18.7 ppg in her last three outings.Â
On SDSU... South Dakota State's game against Bowling Green was canceled due to wintry weather conditions that hampered Bowling Green's ability to travel, so the Jackrabbits were last in action Dec. 14 at No. 8 Louisville where the visitors lost, 83-30. Louisville isn't the only Top 25 team the Jackrabbits have played as after starting 4-0. No. 13 Oklahoma defeated SDSU, 74-60, on Nov. 23. SDSU's other loss was a 67-43 home loss to Green Bay. Other games of note against common opponents were a 63-56 win to open the season against Creighton, while the Jackrabbits defeated MVC-member UNI, 61-50 on Dec. 1. The Jackrabbits are led in scoring by Macy Miller's 14.9 points a game that leads three other players with a double-digit average. Clarissa Ober leads the squad in rebounds with 8.0 a game. SDSU is coached by Aaron Johnston, who is in his 17th year at the school. He has a career record of 400-136 and is the school's career-leader. He has 13 NCAA appearances, including three at Division II and a National DII Title in 2003. A year ago, he coached the Jackrabbits to a 27-7 record.
Series Stuff... It will be the first meeting for the schools in women's basketball.Â
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Preston's Light Shines... Winter Classic Tournament MVP
Jeliah Preston shot 63.2 (12-19) from the field in the tournament and scored 21 points Friday, and 11 points Saturday, for a two-day average of 16.0 points to help the Shockers to a 2-0 record in the event. Preston had 21 points, against Abilene Christian and 11 points against Incarnate Word. She was also 6-of-9 from the arc in the two days. She had missed two games prior to the tournament with injury but had 17 points in WSU's game against Northeastern.
Winter Host... With the two wins in the 2016 Winter Classic, Wichita State is now 27-19 in in-season tournaments it has hosted over the years. Seven times WSU has won its home tournament.
Mid-Season Tourneys... WSU played its 66th and 67th in-season tournament in history when it traveled to Cancun and when it hosted the Winter Classic last week. WSU is now 72-81 in the 67 in-season tournaments the Shockers have played since 1974-75. Coach Jody Adams-Birch is now 19-11 in in-season tournaments since coming to WSU, and has won five in-season tournament titles.
Double-Digit Diva ... Junior forward
Rangie Bessard scored a game-high 19 points against Incarnate Word after putting up 18 against Abilene Christian in the Winter Classic and was named to the All-Tournament Team. She also had 19 points in the Shockers' loss at Missouri. after missing the previous two games with injury suffered against Stanford. Those games plus four of the first five she played pushed her double-digit total to seven for the year and 26 in her career. Only six times has she not scored in double-figures in games she's seen time.
Kids Rule... Wichita State pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat Arkansas State 69-51 at its annual Schoolhouse Rocks with the Shocks game in front of 9,534 fans. It was the sixth-largest attendance in school history for women's basketball. Wichita State's attendance record is 10,612 on Feb. 25, 2001, while the Shockers have had five 10,000-plus games, including three since the reconstruction of Charles Koch Arena.
Scoring Balance... Eight Shockers average between 2.3 and 7.9 points a game.
Rangie Bessard leads with 15.1 ppg, but the next 10 players average between 2.3 and 7.9 points a game.
On 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.   Â
WSU won three-straight MVC regular-season and MVC Tournament titles while making three-straight NCAA Tournaments from 2013-2015.Â
She is 160-110 in nine seasons at WSU and 184-118 overall in 10 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 90-25 (.785) overall at home under Adams-Birch, including 16-0 in 2014-15.
-Adams-Birch 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.
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