Depleted Shocker women’s team finds silver lining in lack of numbers

When the Wichita State women’s basketball team plays host to Southeast Missouri at noon Friday, it will have just one player in uniform on its bench.

A rash of injuries coupled with a tumultuous offseason that saw four players leave the program have the Shockers with six players coach Jody Adams’ disposal.

That has created an us-against-the-world mentality for the Shockers (1-4), which has been encouraged by Adams. The level of adversity this team has already faced has surpassed what even they thought was coming.

Now WSU will have to not only work through its inexperience, but it must do so shorthanded.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to show everybody that we can do anything,” junior-college transfer TaQuandra Mike said. “We can fight through the bad times, we can fight through the injuries, we can fight through the struggles. We just have to play like it’s the last game we’re ever going to play.”

Giving WSU confidence is the fact that it’s already won in a similar situation.

At a tournament over the weekend Wichita State defeated host Florida International 76-62 with only five eligible players finishing out the final six minutes of the game.

“It was a wild experience, but it was fun,” said Mike, who scored a career-high 28 points in the game. “We made it fun because we played our game. We trusted each other and we all stepped up and played our game.”

Wichita State is currently without Brittany Martin, its starting center, Rangie Bessard, expected to be an impact player, and Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage and Marija Pacar.

Martin had a successful minor surgery on her leg and Adams said she is expected to return in January. Bessard, a transfer, is still waiting for final exams to be cleared by the NCAA. Lozada-Cabbage, still recovering from an off-season knee surgery, is expected to join the team soon. Pacar suffered a concussion during the tournament and is waiting to be cleared, but should return soon.

The result has been another unique coaching situation for Adams.

“These guys are so young and they’re learning so much right now, so I’m glad they’re learning through actions versus sitting on the bench and watching,” Adams said. “There’s no better learning tool than to go through it yourself and to see it in black and white.”

Adams thinks going through an experience like this will be beneficial in the long-run for this team with no seniors.

“We take it as an opportunity to change the world,” Adams said. “What I mean by that is there is going to be somebody in the stands that sits there and comments, ‘They only have six players and look at how hard they’re playing.’ This team will use the fact that they only had six and they won a game. We have another opportunity to change somebody’s respect for us now.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Depleted Shocker women’s team finds silver lining in lack of numbers."