WICHITA STATE (0-0) vs. NEWMAN (0-0)
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman
No TV or Live Stats
"Fear the Wheat" Canvas Trick-or-Treat Bag Giveaway (First 150 kids)
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State soft launches the 2025-26 women's basketball season with an exhibition game against Division II Newman.
The game will not be televised, but fans can listen at GoShockers.com/Listen.
The Shockers have won all four exhibition games under the leadership of head coach Terry Nooner, defeating Missouri Southern in 2023-24, Regina twice in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Northeastern State once in Charles Koch Arena in 2024-25.
Wichita State enters year three of the Nooner era with four returners and 11 newcomers.
The Shockers return just 9.6 percent of their scoring from last season but bring an abundance of experience to the court with eight graduate students on the roster, tying ULM for the most graduate players on a Division I roster this season.
With only one underclassman on the roster, the Shockers are 93 percent upperclassmen, the second-highest percentage of upperclassmen in the NCAA (DI), and they bring 44 seasons of combined collegiate basketball experience.
For the third-straight season, Nooner has brought a Wichita native home for their final season of collegiate basketball – Tre'Zure Jobe in 2023-24, Taylor Jameson in 2024-25, and now Jaila Harding, who shot 35.7 percent from behind the arc both of her last two seasons at New Mexico State.
Wichita State returns Bre'Yon White, the Shockers' second leading rebounder from last season, who grabbed 154 boards, averaging 4.8 per game.
Taya Davis joins the Shockers after averaging 6.6 points and 4.7 assists per game in her senior year at Fordham, ranking second in the Atlantic-10 in assists per game.
 
C.A.R.E. PILLARS
Coach Nooner emphasizes the value of team culture, recruiting student-athletes who fit in with the team's core values of character, accountability, respect and effort.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Wichita State's roster features four foreign players, two from France, Sophie Benharouga and Fiona Diomande, one from Mali, Maimouna Sissoko, and one from Cameroon, Bella Belong.
 
THEY HAVE HISTORY
Two newcomers reconnect with former coaches as Taya Davis played for current Wichita State assistant coach Antwain Scales from 2022-23 in his final season as head coach at Garden City CC, and Sophie Benharouga played for current director of operations and assistant coach Uyen Tran from 2022-23 while she was an assistant coach at Morehead State.
 
UP NEXT
The Shockers officially open their season on Monday, Nov. 3 against Lincoln at 6 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena.