Wichita native Jaila Harding breaks Shocker women’s basketball 3-point record
The Wichita State women’s basketball team didn’t just pick up a win on Saturday at Koch Arena. The Shockers had a piece of history rewritten by a hometown shooter.
Senior guard Jaila Harding, a Wichita native and former City League star at Southeast, broke the program’s single-season 3-point record while leading the Shockers to a 62-61 victory over UTSA. Harding finished with a team-high 19 points and four 3s, pushing her season total to 75 — surpassing Courtney Sims’ long-standing mark of 73 from the 1999-00 season.
For Harding, the milestone landed in the most fitting place possible: at her hometown school, in the Roundhouse with her name now attached to the best single-season shooting season in program history.
Harding tied the record on a 3 coming off a baseline out-of-bounds play in the third quarter, then broke it a few minutes later with another set play: this one coming off a screen and where she spotted up from the right wing for a triple that fittingly swished with 4 minutes, 54 seconds left in the period.
Harding, a 5-foot-8 graduate transfer from New Mexico State is one of the top volume shooters in the country, ranking 29th nationally in made 3s entering the weekend. She leads the American Conference in 3-point attempts and has been one of the league’s most consistent perimeter scorers, averaging 2.7 3-pointers made per game while shooting 34.1% from beyond the arc. She’s hit four or more 3s in nine games this season and tied her career high with six in both matchups against Tulsa.
With four-regular season games still to play, plus the conference tournament, Harding’s new record figure is almost certainly going to climb.
And for WSU, that production mattered on Saturday: It helped the Shockers close out a rare win in a difficult season.
WSU improved to 6-21 overall and 3-11 in the American Conference, while UTSA dropped to 12-13 and 7-7.
The Shockers looked in control early in the fourth quarter, stretching the margin to 10 before UTSA chipped away. The Roadrunners trimmed it to 60-59 with 1:27 left, but Abby Cater steadied WSU with a pair of free throws to extend the lead. UTSA answered with a jumper with 35 seconds left to cut it to 62-61.
WSU couldn’t add to the lead on its final possession, leaving the door cracked for one last UTSA push. But the Shockers slammed it shut at the horn when Jaida McDonald blocked a potential game-winning shot attempt at the buzzer, sealing the one-point victory.
This story was originally published February 21, 2026 at 3:30 PM.
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