Shocker women’s basketball stuns conference contender on road for winning streak
After months of searching for traction, the Wichita State women’s basketball team finally has it.
The Shockers won their second straight game Tuesday night, knocking off one of the American Conference’s top contenders on the road with a 63-54 victory over East Carolina at Minges Coliseum. For a team that didn’t have a Division I win until mid-December, the result felt like it could be a turning point for the Shockers.
WSU entered with a 4-16 record and was 1-6 in conference play, while ECU sat near the top of the league standings at 15-6 and 7-1 against American foes. The Pirates had won five in a row and hadn’t lost at home in nearly two months, riding an eight-game winning streak inside Minges Coliseum, while the Shockers were winless in six tries on the road.
The Shockers snapped it all.
It marked the first winning streak in American Conference play under third-year coach Terry Nooner, who entered the game with a 10-33 league record. It was also the program’s first time winning back-to-back conference regular-season games since the 2019-20 season.
The win came one week after WSU ended a seven-game skid with a 66-59 home victory over Memphis, a night remembered for Abby Cater’s record-setting 42-point outburst. There was no historic scoring performance this time. Instead, the Shockers leaned on balance, toughness and defense.
WSU held ECU to 38% shooting and forced 17 turnovers, grinding the Pirates down possession by possession in the fourth quarter. Senior center Maimouna Sissoko provided a major spark off the bench, scoring a career-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Wichita native Jaila Harding added 11 points, while Cater finished with a stat-stuffing line of 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals.
The Shockers appeared in control early in the second half, building a 38-28 lead early in the third quarter. But ECU showed why it had been one of the conference’s steadiest teams, closing the quarter and opening the fourth on a 10-0 run to seize a 49-47 advantage.
That swing didn’t rattle the Shockers.
With the score tied at 51 and just under eight minutes remaining, WSU delivered one of its most impressive stretches of the season. WSU scored 12 consecutive points while holding the Pirates scoreless for more than eight minutes, as the home team missed 11 straight shots, effectively ending the game with defense.
Sissoko broke the tie with a basket inside, then Cater took over the momentum with five straight points to push the lead to 58-51 with 4:29 remaining. From there, WSU iced the game from the foul line as ECU continued to come up empty on offense. The Pirates’ only points during the final eight minutes came on a desperation 3-pointer with eight seconds left.
Context makes the result even more stunning. WSU entered the day ranked No. 280 in the NET rankings, while East Carolina checked in at No. 116.
It has still been an underwhelming season overall for Nooner in his third year and one week doesn’t erase months of frustration. But for the first time all season, the Shockers are stacking positive results and showing signs of cohesion on both ends of the floor.
The Shockers will try to keep that momentum rolling Saturday at Koch Arena, where they host UAB at 2 p.m. The Blazers are the only winless team in the conference and suddenly, WSU looks like a team eager for another opportunity to prove that this late-season surge is real.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 7:24 PM.
.jpg)