Radio -- Online:
GoShockers.com -- Steve Strain (15 Minute Pregame Show)
ESPN3: Watch -- Larry Morgan, Laura Leonard
Live Stats --
StatBroadcast
Social Media ---Twitter:
@GoShockers,
@GoShockersLiveFacebook:
facebook.com/WichitaStateUniversityAthleticsInstagram:
instagram.com/goshockersExposure:
goshockers.exposure.co
Quickly...Wichita State (5-15, 2-7) travels to league-leaders Drake (14-6, 7-2) and Northern Iowa (14-7, 7-2) Friday night and Sunday afternoon, respectively, on the Shockers' third Missouri Valley Conference road swing of the season. UNI defeated the Shockers, 55-44, on Jan. 8, while Drake defeated WSU, on Jan. 10, 87-56.
-The Shockers are coming off a three-game homestand where they went 2-1. After defeating SIU and Evansville in Wichita, WSU dropped a 77-57 loss to Missouri State on Saturday. WSU defeated SIU, 57-48, on Jan. 22, and Evansville, 58-50, on Jan. 24, for its first two Valley wins. Lockhart scored a game-high 19 points and was backed by Mike's 14 points against SIU, and
Rangie Bessard had 26 points and seven boards in the win against Evansville.
-
TaQuandra Mike had 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in the Shockers' game against Missouri State on Saturday. She shot 38 percent (6-16) from the field, made one three-pointer and all five free throws she took.
-Bessard leads WSU in overall scoring with 14.9 points a game and also on the boards with 8.3 a game in the 14 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 12.1 points a game and also leads the team in steals with 44 in 20 games. Lockhart is third with 83 points overall while she leads the team in assists with 57 in the 20 games.
-Bessard also leads the Shockers in MVC-Only scoring at 14.4 points a game while Mike is second in loop games with 13.1 a game. Lockhart is third in MVC-only games with 7.6 points a game and leads the squad with 23 assists in nine games.
-WSU was led in scoring through the first six games by freshman
Jyar Francis, who currently averages a team-fourth 7.3 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 Bulldogs. 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.
-After playing just one home game in November, WSU played just one game on the road in December at Tennessee Tech. Six of the Shockers' seven games in December were at home, while four of five November games were away from Wichita.
Newcomer Trio... WSU's newcomer trio of sophomore
Rangie Bessard, junior
TaQuandra Mike and sophomore
Diamond Lockhart continue to lead the Shockers in scoring with 14.9 points, 12.1 points and 8.3 points, respectively, through 20 games. The same trio lead in Valley-Only play, and have been the Shockers' top game scorers in the last 18-straight games. Mike has 10 of those, while Bessard has five, and Lockhart has three.
Improving at the Stripe... Wichita State is ranked in 76th in free throw percentage in the national stats, making 72 percent of its free throws or 162-of-225. The Shockers have been even better in MVC-Only games, shooting 77 percent from the line, which is the second-best in the league. The Shockers continue to improve at the line and have made 52 of their last 60 shots from the line in the last five games in league play.
Rebounding Improving... After only out-rebounding two of its first 15 opponents, the Shockers have won the glass three times and tied once in the last five games.
Rangie Bessard's team-leading effort has contributed to winning the glass in those games, while she has led in 10 of the 14 games she has played. She has 8.3 per game overall and 8.1 per game in Valley-Only games.
Newbies... As a testament to WSU's inexperience, WSU's most experienced Shocker,
Jaleesa Chapel, just reached her 21st career start against Missouri State. 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 22 blocked shots in the 11 games she's played for an average of 2.0 blocks per game. The 22 blocks have come in just 221 minutes played.
Stepping Up to The Valley... TaQuandra Mike has scored double-figure in six-of-nine Valley games and 13-of-20 overall. Mike has also scored in double-figures in 13 of her last 17 games, including a stretch of seven-straight. In comparison, she had a total of nine points in the Shockers' first three regular-season games.
Getting Minutes... Five Shockers average more than 30 minutes a game led by
Aundra Stovall's 35.3 a game. In addition, 10 of the 11 Shockers average more than 10 minutes a game.
League-Only Success... Wichita State has had the most success in league-only play in the past five seasons. The Shockers are 68-22 since 2010-11. Notably, seven current MVC members have been .500 or better during that span, including Wichita State, UNI (61-29), Missouri State (53-37), Illinois State (48-42), Indiana State (48-42), Drake (47-43) and Evansville (46-44).
On Drake...Series History...The series is led by Drake, 49-29, overall. Drake won the last meeting, a 87-56 decision in Wichita Jan. 10. The two teams split the home-and-home series a year ago with WSU winning, 80-59, in Wichita last Feb. 27. DU handed WSU its only MVC loss in 2014-15, a 64-61 decision in Des Moines, Iowa. The two teams did not meet in the MVC Tournament.
Drake Basketball... (14-7, 7-2 MVC) Head Coach Jenny Baranczyk is in her fourth season as a head coach, and also her fourth season at Drake. She carries a 62-52 record at the school. Prior to coming to Drake, she was an assistant coach at Colorado, Marquette and Kansas State. She played collegiately at Iowa.
Drake advanced to the 2015 WNIT postseason tournament making its first trip since 2012. The Bulldogs were knocked out in the opening round by Eastern Michigan.
Top-10 In Sight...Lizzy Wendell's 25 points on Sunday in the win over Loyola puts her at 1,621 for her career and 11th all- time at Drake as she trails former standout and the 2012 MVC Jackie Stiles Player of the Year, Rachael Hackbarth (2008-12), who scored 1,661 points for the 10th best career total in program history. The junior is also on the verge of cracking the top-25 of all-time scorers in Missouri Valley Conference history.
Around the MVC...-At the halfway point in the MVC schedule, a three-way tie for first-place exists between Drake, Missouri State and UNI, each with a league record of 7-2. Southern Illinois (6-3) and Loyola (6-3) remain just one game behind, while Indiana State also sits above .500 in Valley play at 5-4.
-Interestingly, no Valley team has a current home MVC winning streak longer than three-straight games (Indiana State and Southern Illinois), while Missouri State and UNI each have won two consecutive Valley home contests. Most recently, Drake and Wichita State each had home MVC winning streaks of 10 games, spanning the 2014-15 seasons.
-The league has had nine different regular- season champions in the past 12 seasons (CU/ILS-2003, MSU-2004, MSU-2005, INS- 2006, SIU-2007, DU/UE/ILS-2008, ILS-2009, ILS-2010, UNI-2011 and MSU-2012; WSU/ CU-2013; INS/WSU-2014; WSU-2015). Bradley and Loyola are the only league teams not to have won a regular-season MVC championship.
-The 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament will move to the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill., for the first of a three-year contract with the Quad Cities Con- vention and Visitors Bureau.
Affectionately coined "Hoops in the Heartland," the four-day event will showcase all 10 Missouri Valley Conference schools as they compete for the Valley's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
-Earlier this year, ESPN and the Missouri Valley Conference announced a 10-year extension to their current media rights agreement that will provide increased coverage of conference events across ESPN platforms through the 2023-24 academic year. The co-branded The Valley on ESPN3 network will allow for all home women's basketball contests to be available for viewing on ESPN3.
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 44 steals in 20 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 14 games as a Shocker. She collected her third double-double of the season at Bradley (27 pts/18 rebounds), her 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 152-98 in her eighth season at WSU and 181-107 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 returns home to face Bradley on Feb. 12 and Loyola Feb. 14. Loyola defeated the Shockers, 60-55, on Jan. 15 in Chocago, and Bradley defeated the Shockers, 50-44, on Jan. 17 in Peoria, Ill.
