‘Go get it’: How three words sparked WSU women’s turnaround

In the practice following a close-but-not-enough loss at Central Florida, Wichita State first-year coach Keitha Adams delivered a fiery speech to her women’s basketball team.

“I need to feel from this team that we really, really want it,” Adams said. “We just need to go get it. I probably said it 200 times. Go get the rebound, go get the loose ball, go get the win. We just had to go get it.”

Since the “go get it” phrase took over practices, Wichita State has rattled off four straight victories, including a 64-56 win over then-No. 23 South Florida on Sunday at Koch Arena — a top-25 victory so rare that WSU’s athletic department is still researching to confirm if it’s the program’s first.

Wichita State (9-12, 4-3 American Athletic Conference) can tack on more wins with road games at Memphis (7-12, 2-4) on Saturday and at East Carolina (10-9, 2-4) on Tuesday.

“We had a couple games earlier this season we could have won, but we had to think: did we want it bad enough?” WSU senior Rangie Bessard said. “Were we willing to do the little things and extra things to pull out the win? (Against USF), coach called a timeout and said, ‘This is where I want to feel that you want it.’ We looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s go get it.’”

Before the fourth quarter started, Wichita State faced a 52-44 deficit to a ranked team. Although the Shockers had played well in their previous three wins, all three came against teams with a losing record in conference play. This was the first time WSU’s new mentality was being tested by a legitimate contender and a program that has played in the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons.

WSU dominated the final quarter, outscoring USF 20-4 to win the game by eight. The Shockers’ defense forced empty possessions on 16 of USF’s 18 trips, while they grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

“We knew that we had to elevate our game if we wanted to win,” said WSU point guard Diamond Lockhart, who is averaging 10.4 points. “They’re a great team and they came prepared, but we knew if we wanted to win we had to go get the extra possessions and go get the 50-50 balls. Also, our coach saying, ‘Yes, we can’ in the huddles and her believing in us really helped us.”

During WSU’s four-game winning streak, its defense is holding opponents to 54 points on average with 35-percent shooting from the field and 26-percent shooting on three-pointers.

It hasn’t been a change in scheme, Adams said she believes WSU’s players have found their passion after the team’s 0-3 start in a new conference.

“They’ve been putting their hearts in it,” Adams said. “When you put your heart into something, it makes a big difference.”

It’s always more fun after victories, but Adams has made sure the team keeps its hunger in practices. Even with five days between games, Adams scheduled a light practice on Monday following the marquee win over USF the day before.

Bessard, who is averaging team-highs in points (18.6) and rebounds (7.9), said Adams still has no problem stopping a practice and making the team run if she feels like the “go-get-it” mentality is dissipating.

“She always tells us that if we don’t want it in practice, then we won’t want it in a game,” Bessard said. “When she says things like that and puts us on the line, then it changes our perspective because then we start to think about how we could lose if we don’t do all of the little things.

“At the end of the day, we want to be the team that everyone is saying we wanted it more.”

The four-game winning streak has revived a season that had rocky moments when WSU, which was picked in the preseason to finish 10th out of 12 teams in the AAC, started 0-6 and then lost its first three games in conference play.

But after Adams’ motivational speech, WSU has the confidence of a team that believes it can finish in the upper-half of the conference.

“We know if we come out and we play hard for each other and for our coach, then we can get the job done and we can beat anybody,” Lockhart said.

“When you play hard, good things happen,” Adams said. “We just have to play really hard and want it more than the other team and really put our hearts into it and continue to be focused and have great practices. I’m a firm believer in you play the way you practice. We’ve turned the page now and we’ve just got to go get it now.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 6:29 PM with the headline "‘Go get it’: How three words sparked WSU women’s turnaround."