Quickly
-After starting 1-4 to open the season, WSU finished non-conference play 4-2.

-The Shockers are 484-531 in conference play since 1982 in the Gateway(1982-91) and Missouri Valley Conferences (1992-Present).

-In the all-time series, WSU is 29-49 against Drake and 35-37 against UNI. The Shockers lost both meetings to each school a year ago.

-Jody Adams-Birch is 85-59 against the MVC since 2009. She also has the 11th-most overall wins in MVC history with 160, and the 13th-most league-only wins in MVC history with 85.

-WSU closed the non-conference season with a 78-58 home loss to South Dakota State on Dec. 21st. 

-Wichita State opened the five-game homestand with 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.

-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.

-Over Thanksgiving, 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 11 games, the Shockers are led in scoring by junior Rangie Bessard (15.6) and  senior TaQuandra Mike (8.6). Bessard also leads WSU on the boards with 4.9 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, 18 against ACU, 19 against UIW and 19 against SDSU to average 18.8 the last four games. 

Tompkins Finds a Groove... Angiee Tompkins scored 13 points and had three boards against South Dakota State in the Shockers' lone game last week. She was 6-of-9 from the field in 15 minutes, and has averaged 14.5 points in the last two games. She also shot 64 percent (14-22) in those two games.

Non-Con Wrap… Wichita State improved to 5-6 in the non-conference season after a 3-8 non-conference record a year ago. WSU's five-year total is 34-24. In 2012-13, the year the Shockers won their first Valley title, the squad went 6-6 in the non-conference.

Martin Moves Up… With nine blocks this season senior Brittany Martin has 62 for her career and is 29 from moving into the Shocker Top 10.  The Shocker record is 256 by Theresa Dreiling from 1979-83.

Newcomers Make an Impact… Five of the Shockers' top eight scorers are newcomers to the program with the most recent impact coming from Jeliah Preston and Angiee Tompkins. Preston is averaging a team-third 6.9 points a game and Tompkins is at 6.4 a game.

Scoring Balance... Eight Shockers average between 2.1 and 8.6 points a game. Rangie Bessard leads with 15.6 ppg, but the next 10 players average spread is 6.5 points.
 

On Drake... The MVC Preseason favorite is 6-4 with wins against Nebraska and Iowa and losses to Creighton, Iowa State, Green Bay, and most recently Auburn. DU is coming off a successful season in 2015-16, finishing second in the MVC standings with a 14-4 league record and ending the season with a loss to UNI in the NIT. Drake received 34 of 40 first-place votes and 392 total points, out-distancing UNI (317), Missouri State (313) and SIU (306). Drake brings back a pair of first team all-MVC selections, including Preseason Player of the Year, senior forward Lizzy Wendell, who paced the MVC in scoring at 19.6 points per game last season and currently averages 21.6 ppg. DU is coached by Jennie Baranczyk who is in her fifth year at Drake with a 77-60 record.

More Series Stuff... WSU trails both series histories this weekend, carrying a 29-49 record against Drake and a 35-37 record against UNI. The Shockers lost both meetings to each school a year ago.

The Shockers are 12-7 against Drake under Adams-Birch and 6-1 in Charles Koch Arena. 
 

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.     

WSU won three-straight MVC regular-season and MVC Tournament titles while making three-straight NCAA Tournaments from 2013-2015. 

She is 160-111 in nine seasons at WSU and 184-119 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.