Wichita State Shockers (6-18, 3-10)  at Evansville Aces (2-21, 1-11)Worth Noting... Wichita State (6-18, 3-10) travels to Evansville Friday night and to Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon in the eighth Missouri Valley Conference weekend of the season.

-Wichita State is coming off a home weekend split with a 55-50 loss to Bradley, and a 65-62 overtime win against Loyola. 

-In the loss to Bradley on Friday night, TaQuandra Mike had a team-high 25 points to lead WSU, while Rangie Bessard led WSU with 26 points and nine boards in the win against Loyola.

-The Shockers are currently tied for eighth with Bradley at 3-10 while Illinois State is in seventh at 4-8. Drake, Missouri State and UNI are in a three-way tie for first at 10-3.

-Bessard leads WSU in overall scoring with 15.2 points a game and also on the boards with 8.2 a game in the 18 games she has played in 2015-16 since becoming eligible after sitting out after transferring from Minnesota. Another transfer, TaQuandra Mike, averages a team-second 12.0 points a game and also leads the team in steals with 49 in 24 games. Lockhart is third with 8.3 points a game overall while she leads the team in assists with 65 in the 24 games.

-Bessard also leads the Shockers in MVC-Only scoring at 14.9 points a game while Mike is second in loop games with 12.6 a game. Lockhart is third in MVC-only games with 7.8 points a game and leads the squad with 31 assists in 13 MVC games.

-WSU was led in scoring through the first six games by freshman Jyar Francis, who currently averages a team-fourth 6.0 points a game off the bench, before she missed four games with a concussion. She was cleared for the Tennessee Tech game Dec. 22.

-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, while Aundra Stovall and Brittany Martin both also played a year ago off the bench. 

-Eleven Shockers will suit up against the Aces. Freshman Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage was released against exhibition opponent Oklahoma Christian Dec. 29, to play after knee surgery prior to her arrival at WSU, and she got her first career start against Indiana State. Marija Pacar returned Dec. 11 after missing three games with a concussion, while the Shockers added Hannah Mortimer, a 5-4 transfer guard from Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kan. Mortimer was awarded a scholarship before the UNI game after showing an outstanding contribution to the team. Junior Brittany Martin was also released after a knee injury to play at Indiana State Jan. 1. WSU at times suited six players in the non-conference season due to injury this season.

Winning Coaches... UNI's Tanya Warren and Wichita State's Jody Adams each recently earned their 153rd career wins, ranking them T-11th all-time in MVC history (since the 1982-83 season).

All-Time MVC Coaching Wins
8. 170, Connie Yori, Creighton (1993-2002); 9. 167, Paula Buscher, Bradley (2001-11); 10. 155, Jim Wiedie, Indiana State (2001-10); 11. 153, Jody Adams (WSU, 2009-Pres.) and Tanya Warren (UNI, 2008-Pres.)

Newcomer Trio... WSU's newcomer trio of sophomore Rangie Bessard, junior TaQuandra Mike and sophomore Diamond Lockhart continue to lead the Shockers in scoring, and have been the Shockers' top game scorers in the last 22-straight games. Mike has 13 of those, while Bessard has eight, and Lockhart has three.

Rebounding Improving... After only out-rebounding two of its first 15 opponents, the Shockers have won the glass five times and tied once in the last nine games. Rangie Bessard's team-leading effort has contributed to winning the glass in those games, while she has led or tied for the lead in 13 of the 18 games she has played. 

Newbies... As a testament to WSU's inexperience, WSU's most experienced Shocker, Jaleesa Chapel, just reached her 25th career start against Loyola. In addition, the Shockers have won six Valley Newcomer of the Week honors. After a two-win weekend, sophomore transfer Rangie Bessard earned her third of the season, while TaQuandra Mike, Jyar Francis and Diamond Lockhart have also been named Newcomer of the Week this season.  

Swat That...Despite missing eight games, Brittany Martin has 23 blocked shots in the 13 games she's played for an average of 1.9 blocks per game. The 23 blocks have come in just 237 minutes played.

Mike Has Big Weekend... TaQuandra Mike has scored double-figures in eight-of-13 Valley games and 15-of-24 overall, including the last two games after averaging single-digits last weekend. She had 25 points and four rebounds against Bradley, and 13 points and nine boards against Loyola to average 19 points and 6.5 rebounds for the week.

Getting Minutes... Four Shockers average more than 30 minutes a game led by Aundra Stovall's 34.0 a game. In addition, 10 of the 11 Shockers average more than 12 minutes a game.
 

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Evansville Basketball... (2-21, 1-11 MVC) 
Head Coach Otis Epps is in his fifth season at Evansville and carries a UE and career record of 44-103.

Series History...Wichita State leads the overall series, 24-21, and has won three-straight in the series. WSU is 10-5 against the Aces under Jody Adams. The Shockers won, 58-50, in Wichita on Jan. 24. WSU also won a year ago in Evansville, 77-63, and in Wichita, 54-44.

Last TIme vs. the Aces...Behind a strong performance by Rangie Bessard, the Wichita State women's basketball team defeated the Evansville Purple Aces, 58-50, to earn a second-straight Missouri Valley Conference victory after defeating SIU two days earlier. Wichita State was led by Bessard, scoring a game-high 26 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Aundra Stovall and Diamond Lockhart both added eight points for the Shockers. Both teams shot 40 percent from the field, but the Shockers had 16 assists on 21 field goals, while the Purple Aces had only six assists on 19 field goals. Evansville was led by Kenyia Johnson with 16 points, while Sara Dickey added 12.

Climbing the Ladder... Sara Dickey's climb up the Evansville all-time scoring list continued with a 17-point outburst against the Salukis. She was remarkably efficient in the contest, ending the day 8-of-11 from the field. The Montezuma, Ind., native has 1,528 career points, which is third in school history. She stands 98 points shy of moving up to second all-time.

Efficient Shooting... Evansville shot a scorching 54-percent from the field in the 66-63 loss to Southern Illinois. It was the best field goal percentage this season for the Aces. In fact, it was the best mark since an 86-46 win over Bradley on Jan. 12, 2015.

Camille Coleman Newcomer of the Week... Freshman guard Camille Coleman tallied a career-high 26 points on Sunday against Southern Illinois in just 19 minutes of action. She scored 20 of her 26 points in an offensive outburst in the first two quarters for the Purple Aces, finishing the contest shooting .588 (10-of-17), including burying 5-of-6 (.833) from beyond the arc. Coleman also added three rebounds and one assist against the Salukis.

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Sixth Shocker N-O-W... Rangie Bessard was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week for the third time this season the week ending Jan. 24. A sophomore forward, Bessard averaged 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in the Shockers' two wins, while shooting 51.9-percent (14-of-27) from the field. She had nine points and 11 boards against Southern Illinois and 26 points and seven rebounds against Evansville. Bessard also had three assists, one block and one steal for the week.

Sticky Fingers... TaQuandra Mike leads WSU with 49 steals in 24 games played. Alex Harden holds the WSU season steals record with 108 a year ago. 

Getting Healthy... With the return of Marija Pacar (concussion), Jyar Francis (concussion), Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage (knee) and Brittany Martin (knee), and the addition of non-scholarship Hannah Mortimer, the Shockers have adding depth to the bench. Pacar missed three games, Francis missed four games and Bessard (transfer) missed the first six games. Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage (knee) missed the first 11 games and was released to play the exhibition game Dec. 29. Brittany Martin missed eight games. WSU had 11 players eligible for the first time this season in the Shockers' two Valley game to open the regular season. In all, Wichita State's five players who missed games due to injury or transfer rules, were not available for a total of 32 games.

Defending Champions Picked Fifth...WSU was picked in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason poll to finish fifth, its lowest position in the preseason poll since 2010-11 when the Shockers were also picked fifth. WSU finished fifth that season, then finished third in 2011-12 after being picked third, before going onto three-straight titles.

Picking Up Speed... Rangie Bessard has now played her first 18 games as a Shocker. She collected her fourth double-double at UNI (19 pts/11 reb), third double-double of the season at Bradley (27 pts/18 rebounds), second double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 boards at Tennessee Tech, and also had 24 points and 10 rebounds against Prairie View A&M. She has already earned All-Tournament honors at the Winter Classic and earned MVC Newcomer of the Week honors three times in her short WSU career.

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 153-101 in her eighth season at WSU and 182-110 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 92-30 (.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.

Next Up... Wichita State travels to Carbondale, Ill., for a 2 p.m., game on Sunday against the Salukis. After that, the Shockers then face Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., for a 2 p.m., game Feb. 27. WSU defeated SIU, 57-47, on Jan. 22, but lost to MSU, 77-57 on Jan. 30.  Both games were in Wichita.