Terry Nooner notches first win as head coach for Wichita State women’s basketball
In his first home game at Koch Arena, first-year Wichita State women’s basketball coach Terry Nooner notched his first career win as a head coach.
Playing in front of thousands of elementary-school children and for the second time in three days on Wednesday afternoon, the Shockers easily handled Presbyterian in a 60-41 win in the Roundhouse to move to 1-1 this season.
Afterwards, Nooner was doused with water by his players when he entered the locker room.
“I told y’all this is my dream job,” Nooner said in the locker room, according to a video posted by GoShockers.com. “I wanted to be here. I’m glad for all y’all to be a part of my first win in my coaching career. I know it wasn’t perfect, but we’re always happy with a win, so we’re going to celebrate.”
Nooner, a former KU men’s basketball player who has more than a decade of Division I coaching experience in the women’s game, was hired by WSU athletic director Kevin Saal to replace Keitha Adams in April. He had spent the previous three seasons as associate head coach for the Jayhawks.
On Wednesday, the rebuilding job began for Nooner, who will try to bring a spark to a program that has gone nearly a decade since its dominant run in the Missouri Valley Conference that resulted in three straight conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances from 2013-15.
It was a slow start in Wednesday’s game for the Shockers, which missed nine of their first 10 shots and fell behind 6-2 in the opening minutes. But WSU recovered to lead 12-9 after the first quarter and extended its lead in the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 31-17 lead into halftime and led by double-figures the rest of the way.
Wichita native Tre’Zure Jobe scored a game-high 13 points, while sophomore forward Daniela Abies scored a career-high 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with 5 rebounds, a block and a steal in her second career start following a 92-68 loss at No. 23 Oklahoma on Monday.
“I’m happy to get my first win of my career,” Nooner told GoShockers.com. “It was a great experience. It’s been a lot of hard work, and it’s just a testament to our team We did a good job of following a great game plan with only one day of prep.”
Two days after leading Presbyterian with 10 points in a loss at K-State, Salina Central graduate Aubrie Kierscht scored two points for the Blue Hose.
Neither team could find their range on the Roundhouse, as they combined to shoot 33.3% from the field (42 of 126), 10% on 3-pointers (4 of 40) and 52% on free throws (13 of 25).
Jeniah Thompson played 23 minutes off the bench and the 5-foot-9 guard collected a team-best nine rebounds and four assists to go along with four points. Meanwhile, Jayla Murray nearly had a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds, freshman Salese Blow scored nine points for the second straight game and D.J. McCarty notched seven points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Up next for the Shockers (1-1) is another road trip, this time to Nashville, Tenn. to play Belmont in a 6:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Nov. 15 with streaming available on ESPN+. The Bruins are expected to be a contender in the Missouri Valley Conference and are ranked No. 20 in CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
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