Wichita State women open MVC tournament looking for spark

The breakthrough that Wichita State’s women’s basketball team was unable to achieve during the regular season is still possible in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

The first step forward is avoiding three losses to the same team, which the Shockers couldn’t do last year. As the tournament’s No. 5 seed, real improvement can’t be measured if they don’t escape Friday’s 2:30 p.m. opener against Southern Illinois in Moline, Ill..

The Salukis (16-13), the No. 4 seed, won both meetings against WSU (14-15), including a 23-point victory in Carbondale, Ill.

“This tournament is another chance for us to showcase what we have,” said WSU forward Rangie Bessard, who was named to the 11-player All-MVC first team this week. “We have a lot of talent on this team.

“A tournament is one-and-done, and that’s not what we want to be. We lost to Bradley three times last year. We lost to SIU twice already, and we don’t want that to happen again.”

The Shockers are at full strength, a relative term since that hasn’t been a reality since senior Jaleesa Chapel was injured in preseason practice and didn’t play all year. Jyar Francis, Marija Pacar and Ellie Lehne all left the team during the season.

Lehne’s departure was at the center of events that led to coach Jody Adams-Birch parting ways with the school and Linda Hargrove taking over on an interim basis. WSU lost its final two games against top-two seeds Drake and Northern Iowa on the road, but Bessard and point guard Keke Thompson have recently returned from short-term injuries.

“I feel like we’re getting close to (a peak), I don’t feel like we’re there yet,” Bessard said. “I feel like we have a lot more that we can give, a lot more than we can do. This team, talent-wise, is strong, and we definitely haven’t reached our peak yet. When we do, we’re going to be a team that can’t be stopped.”

WSU had three coaches, including assistant Kirk Crawford, who coached while Adams’ status was being decided, during a five-game winning streak in January. That vaulted the Shockers into the mix for third place, but then they lost 3 of 4 and fought to stay in the upper half of the standings.

A three-game winning streak preceded two losses to end the regular season, and WSU’s inconsistency leaves questions about how they’ll fare in the tournament. Or at least against SIU, since Drake, undefeated in the conference, likely awaits in the semifinals.

“I think it was challenging for us,” Bessard said of the in-season coaching changes. “But at the end of the day, we’re still on scholarship, it’s still our job. This is how we represent the university. We just have to come together and say, listen, we still have a lot of work to do.”

The game most important to keeping WSU out of the top three was the 61-58 home loss to SIU on Feb. 12, the Shockers’ fourth of five conference losses by five or fewer points.

Now WSU has a chance to avenge it and earn a signature moment from a season of upheaval.

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know the players and watching them grow and interact,” said Hargrove, who previously coached WSU from 1989-98. “Hopefully we can finish on a positive note and all have a real positive experience down the stretch.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Wichita State women open MVC tournament looking for spark."