‘Something good is going to come’: WSU women’s basketball upbeat after trying season
With more than three decades of coaching experience, Keitha Adams knows a thing or two about what sticking through adversity can do for a basketball team.
Never had one of her teams faced more adversity than the Wichita State women’s basketball team did last season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WSU had to postpone, and ultimately cancel, nearly half of its conference season. And in the games it did play, WSU was shorthanded — staffed with only two or three bench players — multiple times.
“There were some moments I think some people probably would have said, ‘You might need to shut this down,’” Adams said. “But that thought never once entered our minds in terms of quitting. Even though things were tough and we were struggling through it, our kids wanted to play. Our kids needed to play.”
What began as an expected breakthrough season for the Shockers in Year 3 under Adams was derailed and ended in a 6-12 campaign.
While that may seem like a disappointment, Adams said what WSU’s core — it brings back its top six scorers — gained through the rollercoaster of last season may prove to be invaluable.
“I’ve done this for long enough that I’ve seen whenever you have a group that faced adversity and hung in there with one another, something good is going to come out of that,” Adams said. “We weathered the storm and it wasn’t fun going through it, but we found our team through it. I can honestly tell you that I think we found our team.”
There wasn’t much for the Shockers to take away from the disjointed nature of last season, but they did find momentum with how they finished.
WSU rallied on the road to take down Tulsa in overtime in the regular season finale, then turned around less than a week later and beat Tulsa once again in the first round of the AAC Tournament. The Shockers then went toe-to-toe with South Florida, a top-25 team and AAC champions, down to the final moments of a 48-44 loss.
Forward Asia Strong (15.2 points, 6.6 rebounds) proved to be a recruiting coup by Adams, while fellow forward Trajata Colbert (8.7 points, 6.8 rebounds) surged late in the season. Mariah McCully is an all-conference player when in the lineup and WSU has dependable veterans in 5-foot-8, do-everything point guard Seraphine Bastin and sharpshooter Carla Bremaud.
“We played some pretty good basketball late in the season and I think that was the springboard for us,” Adams said. “We had a great spring with our returners and then we’ve had a great summer so far. We knew coming into this year, we wanted to play more up-tempo, add some post size and add shooters with the athleticism that we’ve got coming back and the experience. We feel like we have a great mix right now.”
After the summer up until this point was mostly dedicated to working with the returners, the month of August will be about transitioning the batch of newcomers — mostly international players — to the program.
Adams decided to go almost exclusively international with her 2021 recruiting class, bringing in Melissa Secchiaroli, a 5-10 wing from France; Nhug Bosch, a 5-7 guard from Spain; Jayze Waihi, a 5-8 guard from New Zealand; Tatiana Platonova, a 5-7 guard from Russia; and Jane Asinde, a 6-1 post from Uganda.
The only newcomer who has practiced with the team throughout the summer has been Wichita native Ella Anciaux, a 6-4 center from Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
“Ella has been great so far,” Adams said. “She’s come in and brought a great attitude and a great work ethic. She’s been working on getting stronger and she’s really seeming to blend in with our veterans really nicely.”
The international newcomers are expected to trickle in throughout this month. Waihi and Bosch are already in Wichita, while Adams hopes Secchiaroli, Platonova and Asinde will be on campus by the end of the month.
WSU won heated recruiting battles for Secchiaroli and Bosch, which both had high-major programs after them. Adams believes both could be immediate impact players for the Shockers with the quickness of Bosch and the shooting of Secchiaroli.
“Nhug is a quick-on-quick little guard who is somebody very competitive and is going to bring some spitfire to the mix for us,” Adams said. “She can shoot the three ball a little, too. And then with Melissa, I really like her stroke too. Those guards we’ve added all have some shooting, they’re all competitive and have some good athleticism. We’re excited to see them here.”
.jpg)