WSU women look to build on first conference win

After starting 0-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference, Wichita State’s women’s basketball team was looking to prove … well, anything, really.

The Shockers took care of several needs in Sunday’s 74-67 win at Evansville. The first win was a nice box to check, though perhaps not as satisfying as rallying to win on the road without contributions from several important players.

WSU scored 30 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win, following a quarter when Evansville held a 19-4 advantage and seemed to be continuing the Shockers’ second-half misery.

WSU (6-10, 1-4 MVC) will try for its second straight win as it hosts Bradley (5-11, 1-4) on Friday at Koch Arena. The Shockers conclude the weekend with a home game Sunday against Illinois State.

“We had others to step up and contribute to the team like we knew they could,” WSU senior TaQuandra Mike said of the win at Evansville. “Of course, I had an off night. Some of us struggled from the field. It’s just that we couldn’t connect. So the other ones stepped up and did what they did, what we knew they could do.”

Rangie Bessard (16 points) and Angiee Tompkins (13) were the only WSU players to score in double figures, but the Shockers got important baskets by Tamara Lee, Jeliah Preston and wide-ranging contributions from Marija Pacar.

As she has done throughout the season, WSU coach Jody Adams-Birch made significant changes to the starting lineup, adding Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage and freshman Kayla Williams, who had played 22 minutes in the previous three games combined.

Mike, who didn’t start for the first time since Nov. 25, played 14 minutes and scored one points while struggling with foul trouble. No Shocker played more than 20 minutes, so WSU got to show off its fledgling depth.

In those cases, the importance of players like Mike is heightened. She is second on the team in scoring and rebounding, and she leads in assists and steals.

“When it comes to scoring, that’s really not a big priority to me,” Mike said. “It’s defensive and offensive rebounding, steals, and also assists. Assists lead to points, so just because I’m not scoring doesn’t mean that I’m not getting points. As many assists as I get, I’m adding up points at the same time.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 7:16 PM with the headline "WSU women look to build on first conference win."