Wichita State women’s basketball has a new scoring record. Here’s who broke it
Abby Cater didn’t just carry the Wichita State women’s basketball team Tuesday night. She rewrote history.
The fifth-year senior poured in a program-record 42 points to lead the Shockers to a 66-59 win over Memphis at Koch Arena, delivering an all-time great performance that helped snap a seven-game losing streak in the process.
Cater accounted for 63% of her team’s scoring while shooting 15-of-29 from the floor, 4-of-6 beyond the arc and a perfect 8-of-8 at the foul line. She added seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 37 minutes.
“She was in attack mode for the night,” WSU head coach Terry Nooner said. “She’s one of the best finishers in our conference and one of the best drivers in our conference. She just really had it going tonight.”
In a program with supreme scorers like Kareema Williams, Alex Harden, Marguerite Keeley and Allison Daniel, Cater’s name now stands alone. Cater’s 42 points on Tuesday edged Williams’ longstanding single-game record of 41 points, set in 1992.
“When we recruit kids here, we talk about trying to be a legend,” Nooner said. “Legacy is important. So for her to now have her name in the record books … she can bring them here and say she has her name in the record books.”
What made the outburst so out of the blue was Cater’s season arc. She entered the game averaging 10.2 points per game and had scored just six points three days earlier at South Florida. Her 3-point shooting had also been a struggle, as she was just 4-for-31 on the season before matching that total in Tuesday’s game.
But Tuesday’s performance was centered around her aggression.
Cater took eight straight shots for WSU at one point in the first quarter and had 12 points in the opening 10 minutes. Most of her damage came attacking the rim, where she scored nine of her 15 field goals. It was a relentless, downhill attack that Memphis struggled to contain all night.
That approach was no accident. Nooner said he pulled Cater aside during shootaround and urged her to be aggressive, believing Memphis would defend her tightly without much help behind the play. Cater wasn’t so sure, as defenses have sagged off her this season because of her shooting struggles, but Nooner’s read proved prophetic.
Nooner said that the play style was a perfect fit for the 5-foot-7 guard from PG County, Maryland.
“When I coached at Maryland, I went to those high school games and those AAU games,” Nooner said. “The type of basketball that they play out there is tough and gritty and it’s aggressive. I think the way Memphis played kind of took her back to those days, where you have to attack. You can’t play soft. She’s a tough player. And she showed that tonight.”
Cater said afterward that the style of play made her feel like she was back at home.
“I feel like it definitely prepares you,” Cater said of her hometown. “Because when you’re out there, you’re playing against tough, crafty, shifty people. Everybody out there has that dog in them. So I’m thankful to be from there. It’s just in me.”
Cater felt like she was turning a corner late in nonconference play after combining for 47 points in back-to-back games before fracturing her left thumb in mid-December. The injury sidelined her for a game and lingered far longer than she wanted, limiting her ability to use her left hand.
“It just got to a point where it just didn’t matter anymore,” Cater said. “I had to go fight through it and just figure it out. I couldn’t think about how much my thumb was hurting or how I couldn’t use my left hand as much. I just had to go out there and get it.”
Just over a month later, she finally looked like herself again.
The Shockers needed every bit of it. This was not a runaway performance built on a lopsided score. WSU and Memphis — two of the bottom teams in the American — were locked in a back-and-forth tussle, tied at 57 with under two minutes remaining.
That’s when Cater delivered the finishing blow. She broke the tie with an old-fashioned 3-point play, then followed it with another driving layup to extend WSU’s cushion. She tied the scoring record and then broke it at the foul line with 20 seconds left, calmly knocking down two free throws to seal the win.
“At halftime, my teammates were joking with me about a 40-ball,” Cater said. “I was like, ‘What? Y’all tripping.’ Then I looked up at the scoreboard during the second half and I saw 30. I was like, ‘Hold on, there’s a lot of time left.’ But the biggest thing was I just kept being me.”
WSU picked up just its fourth win of the season and snapped a seven-game losing streak, earning its first conference win after six losses to open American play. Memphis dropped to 7-12 overall and 1-5 in the league.
“Honestly, it was just a great feeling to get a win,” Cater said. “We haven’t gotten a win in a minute, so that felt really good.”
As for the record itself, Cater is still processing what she did.
“I don’t really think it has hit me yet,” she said. “Maybe when I see my name somewhere it might. But I just feel like I had a good game today. That’s all.”
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