Wichita State Shockers (7-18, 4-10)  at SIU Salukis (16-9, 9-4)Worth Noting... Wichita State (7-18, 4-10) plays at Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon in the second game of the eighth Missouri Valley Conference weekend of the season. The Shockers have won four of their last eight conference games after a seven-game losing streak. 

-The game can be heard on KFH 1240 AM/98.7 FM or at GoShockers.com.  Wichita State baseball can be heard on KNSS 1330 AM on Sunday.

-WSU is coming off a 44-31 win at Evansville behind 16 points from Rangie Bessard and 12 from TaQuandra Mike. WSU held the Aces to 31 points, which ties for the second least points allowed in MVC history, and to 22.9 percent shooting. Sara Dickey, the fourth-leading scorer in the MVC with 16.5 points a game was held to four points and no Ace scored in double-figures.

-Last weekend, Wichita State split the two-game home pair 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 broke a seven-game losing streak with a 57-48 win against the Salukis on Jan. 22 in Wichita.

-The Shockers are currently tied for eighth with a 4-10 record, while Illinois State is in seventh at 4-9. UNI leads with an 11-3 record with Drake and Missouri State tied for second at 10-4.

-Bessard leads WSU in overall scoring with 15.2 points a game and also on the boards with 8.2 a game in the 19 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 52 in 25 games. Lockhart is third with 8.1 points a game overall while she leads the team in assists with 71 in the 25 games.

-Bessard also leads the Shockers in MVC-Only scoring at 15.0 points a game while Mike is second in loop games with 12.6 a game. Lockhart is third in MVC-only games with 7.5 points a game and leads the squad with 37 assists in 14 MVC games.

-WSU was led in scoring through the first six games by freshman Jyar Francis, who currently averages a team-fourth 5.9 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 Salukis. 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 and 154th 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. 154, Jody Adams (WSU, 2009-Pres.) and Tanya Warren (UNI, 2008-Pres.)

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SIU Basketball... (16-9, 9-4 MVC) 
Head Coach Cindy Stein is in her third season at SIU and carries a 38-43 records at SIU and a 320-253 record in 19 years as a head coach.

Series History...Wichita State won, 57-48, on Jan. 22 in Wichita behind 19 points from Diamond Lockhart and 14 points from TaQuandra Mike. Rangie Bessard had 11 rebounds in the win, as well.  WSU trails 36-33 in the series that started in 1981. 

Friday vs. Missouri State...Rishonda Napier scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Southern Illinois women's basketball team to a 69-61 win over Missouri State Friday night inside the SIU Arena. The victory over the Lady Bears is the first for Southern since Jan. 19, 2012. With the win, SIU clinches back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1994-95 & 1995-96 seasons and snaps a nine-game skid to Lady Bears.

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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 23-straight games. Mike has 13 of those, while Bessard has nine, and Lockhart has three.

Rebounding Improving... After only out-rebounding two of its first 15 opponents, the Shockers have won the glass six times and tied once in the last 10 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 19 games she has played. 

Newbies... As a testament to WSU's inexperience, WSU's most experienced Shocker, Jaleesa Chapel, just reached her 26th career start against Evansville. 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 24 blocked shots in the 14 games she's played for an average of 1.9 blocks per game. The 24 blocks have come in just 248 minutes played.

Mike Has Three Big Games... TaQuandra Mike has scored double-figures in nine-of-14 Valley games and 16-of-25 overall, including the last three games. 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 last weekend, and had her first double-double with 12 12 points and 11 rebounds at Evansville.

Getting Minutes... Four Shockers average more than 30 minutes a game led by Aundra Stovall's 33.3 a game. In addition, 10 of the 11 Shockers average more than 12 minutes a game.

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 52 steals in 25 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 19 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 154-101 in her eighth season at WSU and 183-110 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 faces Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., for a 2 p.m., game Feb. 27. WSU lost to MSU, 77-57, on Jan. 30 in Wichita.