By:
Indiana State Sycamores (13-15, 9-8) at Wichita State Shockers (7-21, 4-13)
Time: 2 p.m., Central
Date: March 5, 2016
Location: Wichita, Kan.
Arena: Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
-Saturday is Wichita Eagle Family Day where four tickets, four hot dogs, four bags of popcorn and four drinks are only $32.-The Shockers are currently tied for eighth with Bradley at 4-13 behind Illinois State's 6-11 seventh-place Valley mark. UNI clinched a part of the league title with a 14-3 record and would win it outright with a win at Evansville Saturday. Drake and Missouri State are tied for second at 13-4.
-Irregardless of the outcome of Saturay's game, the Shockers play Bradley at 4 p.m., March 10, in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship inside the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill. "Hoops in the Heartland" is in the first season of a three-year contract with the Quad Cities Convention and Visitor's Bureau.-On Thursday, WSU lost to Illinois State, 53-49, as the Redbirds clinched the seven-seed for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. TaQuandra Mike had 17 points and Rangie Bessard had 13 in the loss.-Last weekend, WSU lost at Missouri State, 74-45. Rangie Bessard led WSU with 14 points as the only double-figure scorer. Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage led the Shockers on the glass wiht five rebounds.-The Shockers have split the last two, two-game Valley weekends, losing to Bradley (55-50) before defeating Loyola (65-62, OT) in Wichita on Feb. 12/14 and winning at Evansville before dropping an 80-66 loss at SIU on Feb. 19/21.-WSU lost at SIU, despite 23 points from Rangie Bessard and 19 from TaQuandra Mike. The 66 points were the most for the Shockers since winning 76-62 at Florida International 22 games previous.
-WSU's last win was 44-31 at Evansville behind 16 points from Bessard and 12 from 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.-Bessard leads WSU in overall scoring with 15.4 points a game and also on the boards with 7.7 a game in the 22 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 12.3 points a game and also leads the team in steals with 54 in 28 games. Lockhart is third with 7.6 points a game overall while she leads the team in assists with 76 in the 28 games.-Bessard also leads the Shockers in MVC-Only scoring at 15.3 points a game while Mike is second in loop games with 13.0 a game. Lockhart is third in MVC-only games with 6.9 points a game and leads the squad with 42 assists in 17 MVC games.-WSU was led in scoring through the first six games by freshman Jyar Francis, who currently averages a team-fourth 5.6 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 Sycamores. 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... Wichita State's Jody Adams each recently earned her 154th career win, ranking her 12th 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. 157, Tanya Warren (UNI, 2008-Pres.); 11. 155, Jim Wiedie, Indiana State (2001-10); 12. 154, Jody Adams (WSU, 2009-Pres.) Combined Wins... Wichita State is the only Valley school to have both the winningest men's and women's basketball head coach in school history at the current helm. Jody Adams has 154 wins on the women's side and Gregg Marshall on the men's side has 228 wins for a combined total of 382 wins. That total is also tops in the league with UNI in second at 372 and Evansville third at 193 total wins combined.
MVC Success Last Five... Wichita State has had the most success in league-only play in the past five seasons. The Shockers are 68-23 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).
Mike Filling It Up... TaQuandra Mike has scored double-figures in 12-of-17 Valley games and 19-of-28 overall, including the last six-straight games. During that time she has had her first double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds at Evansville, and most recently had 19 points at Missouri State and 17 against Illinois State.
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 26-straight games. Mike has 14 of those, while Bessard has 11, and Lockhart has three.
Splitsville... The Shockers have split their last two, two-game Valley weekends, losing to Bradley (55-50) before defeating Loyola (65-62, OT) in Wichita on Feb. 12/14 and winning at Evansville before dropping an 80-66 loss at SIU on Feb. 19/21. WSU dropped the 80-66 loss at SIU, despite 23 points from
Rangie Bessard and 19 from
TaQuandra Mike. The 66 points were the most for the Shockers since winning 76-62 at FIU 22 games ago.
Offensive Prowess... Sophomore newcomer
Rangie Bessard has scored in double-figures in 10 of the last 11 games and 16 times in the 22 games she's played.
Defensive Low... In WSU's last win, the Shockers held the Evansville Aces to 31 points, which ties for the second-least points allowed in MVC history. The 15 first half points and the 16 second half points allowed were the least this season for Shocker opponents. In addition, the 18.5 percent second half and 22.9 percent for the game is the best field goal percentage defense for WSU in 2015-16.
Indiana State Basketball... (13-15, 9-8 MVC) Head Coach Joey Wells is in his second season at ISU and carries a Sycamore and career record of 30-28 overall. Series History... ISU leads 36-32 with the last meeting a 59-53 Sycamore win on Jan. 1, which was the MVC-opener for both teams. WSU had won six of the seven games previous to this season.Indiana State Notes-With just one regular season game left, the Sycamores are still fighting for position in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference tournament in Moline next week. A win for ISU (or Loyola loss) would secure a fifth-place finish as it sits tied in the league standings with Loyola coming into the Saturday afternoon matchup. The Sycamores hold the tie breaker over the Ramblers, who the Sycamores swept in the season series. Loyola hosts Bradley in its Senior Day celebration on Saturday.-Redshirt junior forward Joyea Marshall worked the boards in Thursday's game versus Missouri State where she notched her 10th double-digit rebounding game of the season with a game-high 11 boards. Eight of those double-digit games have come during conference play as she's done it in three out of the last four games. Marshall continues to be the team's leading rebounder with 8.0 boards per game. That's the league's second best average as she averages 8.4 boards per MVC contest.-Redshirt senior Cierra Ceazer continues to carry the Sycamores' offense this season. She's tallied 22 of 28 games this season including back-to-back efforts this weekend against Evansville (13) and Southern Illinois (19).
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 13 games. Rangie Bessard's team-leading effort has contributed to winning the glass in those games, while she has led or tied for the team lead in 14 of the 22 games she has played. Newbies... As a testament to WSU's inexperience, WSU's most experienced Shocker, Jaleesa Chapel, just reached only her 29th career start. 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 27 blocked shots in the 17 games she's played for an average of 1.6 blocks per game. Getting Minutes... Four Shockers average more than 30 minutes a game led by Jaleesa Chapel's 33.4 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 54 steals in 28 games played. Alex Harden holds the WSU season steals record with 108 a year ago. Shockers Battled Adversity Early... 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 added depth to the bench. Pacar missed three games, Francis missed four games and Bessard (transfer) missed the first six games. 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 22 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 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 154-104 in her eighth season at WSU and 183-113 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 92-31 (.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 will travel to Moline, Ill., for the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championship at the iWireless Arena as the eighth- or ninth-seeded team and will face Bradley at 4 p.m., March 10.
