Quickly

-Wichita State defeated Bradley, 65-54, Friday night to win its second-straight game for the second time this season. Illinois State lost to Missouri State, 65-60, Friday night in Springfield, Mo., and brings a 4-13, 1-5 MVC record into Charles Koch Arena.

-Illinois State was picked eighth in the Valley preseason poll. Last weekend, Illinois State lost to Drake and UNI, the Valley's top two picks. Illinois State's MVC win was against Bradley.

-The Shockers are 487-536 in conference play since 1982 in the Gateway (1982-91) and Missouri Valley Conferences (1992-Present).

On the Series and the Redbirds...Illinois State and Wichita State are meeting for the 71st time in series history, dating back to Jan. 3, 1980, a 76-74 Redbird road victory, with ISU holding a 44-26 advantage, including a 19-15 mark in Wichita. After a four-year break, the two teams have played each other every year since 1983-84. Illinois State won both meetings last year.   Illinois State's Barb Smith (Ohio State, 1986) is in her fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State and has the Redbirds off to a 4-13 start for the third time in four seasons and second-consecutive year.

Last Time Out...Wichita State women's basketball was able to hold off Bradley for their second conference win, 65-54 Friday night in Charles Koch Arena. Both teams shot 39 percent from the field, with Wichita State going 21-for-54, while Bradley shot 17-for-44. Wichita State also forced 19 turnovers while turning it over just 12 times. Rangie Bessard  led the Shockers with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Diamond Lockhart also added 11 points. Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage added a season-high nine points.

Against Evansville... Wichita State made 9-of-12 free throws in the final 1:20 to take a 74-67 win over Evansville  on Sunday afternoon inside the Ford Center. WSU (6-10, 1-3) was led in scoring by Angiee Tompkins' 16 points, while Rangie Bessard had 13 points, including three free throws down the stretch. Evansville's (7-9, 2-3) Camary Williams led the Aces with a game-high 24 points. All 10 Shockers that played scored in the game. WSU's ball movement in a five-woman platoon rotation contributed to 15 assists on 21 baskets.

Against SIU... Wichita State dropped a 77-54 loss at Southern Illinois (8-8, 2-3) as the Salukis converted on 13-of-24 three-pointers last Friday night at SIU Arena. WSU had a hot shooting start and was down one, 19-18, after the first quarter, before SIU closed the door by winning the second quarter, 16-9, the third quarter, 23-16, and the fourth quarter, 19-11. WSU was led in scoring by TaQuandra Mike's 14 points. Rangie Bessard had 12 for WSU, but SIU's Kylie Giebelhausen had 22 points to lead all scorers, which included seven three pointers. SIU's Rishonda Napier added 18 points, including six treys.

Bessard Scores/Boards... Rangie Bessard averaged 12.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in WSU's two games last week. She had 12 points and 10 boards at SIU and 13 points and eight boards at Evansville. Bessard's double-double at SIU was her third this season and her eighth at WSU

Getting Comfortable... Angiee Tompkins averaged 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 63.6 percent (7-11) last week. She also went 5-of-7 from the line for the week, and against Evansville, she had 16 points, seven rebounds and an assist. After just one double-figure scoring game in the first nine, she now has double figures in five of the last seven games.

Newcomers Score... Four of the Shockers' top six scorers are newcomers to the program with junior Angiee Tompkins (7.1), junior Tamara Lee (6.5), junior Keke Thompson (6.2) and junior Jeliah Preston (5.3) backing junior Rangie Bessard (16.0) and senior TaQuandra Mike (8.9).

Rangie Fills It Up... After 17 games, the Shockers are led in scoring by junior Rangie Bessard (16.0) and  senior TaQuandra Mike (9.1). Bessard also leads WSU on the boards with 6.9 a game. She had 17, 20, 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the first four games of the year, but was injured in the Stanford game and missed the Northeastern and Arkansas State games. In the 10 games since returning from the injury she has averaged 17.1 points a game and is averaging 16.7 a game in Valley play.

Tompkins Finds a Groove.. Angiee Tompkins had her second double-figure scoring game in the first 10 games against Incarnate Word, and has added four more since then. Shes averaged 12.6 points the last six games after averaging 4.6 ppg the first 10.

Martin Moves Up… With 15 blocks this season senior Brittany Martin has 128 for her career and is 23 from moving into the Shocker Top 10.  The Shocker record is 256 by Theresa Dreiling from 1979-83.

On the Web... Wichita State's home games this season will be broadcast on the internet at www.goshockers.com/watch/ with Steve Strain, who is in his third season calling the action for the Shockers. Steve, who is a veteran of radio and television, called women's basketball for the Texas Tech Lady Raiders from 2009-13. Strain will also call road games on KNSS 1330. Senior Jaleesa Chapel, injured prior to the first regular-season game, is assisting on the radio as analyst. She is a communications major.

Roster Notes... WSU is in its 43rd modern season of women's basketball that started in 1974-75.

-The Shockers returned all five starters from last year's squad, and 11 players overall, including leading scorer and the MVC Newcomer of the Year, Rangie Bessard. With five newcomers, but after the departure of Jyar Francis over semester break, the Shockers carry 15 players on the roster.

-Senior guard Jaleesa Chapel returned with the most experience, having played in 93 games with 31 starts the last three years, but a knee injury has ended her season.

-WSU welcomed five newcomers to the Shocker program in 2016-17, including four junior college transfers and one freshman.

-Led by the Juco All-American Tompkins, the bevy of newcomers started their WSU careers with backgrounds as proven winners: Junior Keke Thompson helped Shelton State CC to a 63-5 record in two seasons. Junior Jeliah Preston helped Blinn CC to  a 26-9 record and  a NJCAA Regional title. Junior Tamara Lee was a first-team All-Jayhawk Conference first-team honoree and helped Edmond Santa Fe to a 108-4 record as a prepster. Freshman Kayla Williams comes to WSU from Overton High in Memphis, Tenn., where she helped her team to a 102-16 high school record.