WBB 2023-24 AAC Games

[1972Shocker]

Blow Snags Third AAC Freshman of the Week Award, Abies Named to Honor Roll

For the third time this season, the American Athletic Conference named Salese Blow the conference Freshman of the Week following her performance in the Shockers' 68-65 win over UAB.

The freshman from Murphy, Texas hit four three pointers and recorded three assists in the comeback win over the Blazers to wrap up her first collegiate regular season.

The conference also named Daniela Abies to the AAC Honor Roll for the fourth time. The sophomore from Malaga, Spain recorded her 10th double-double of the season, scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds against UAB.

[WstateU]

Blow Snags Third AAC Freshman of the Week Award, Abies Named to Honor Roll

For the third time this season, the American Athletic Conference named Salese Blow the conference Freshman of the Week following her performance in the Shockers' 68-65 win over UAB.

The freshman from Murphy, Texas hit four three pointers and recorded three assists in the comeback win over the Blazers to wrap up her first collegiate regular season.

The conference also named Daniela Abies to the AAC Honor Roll for the fourth time. The sophomore from Malaga, Spain recorded her 10th double-double of the season, scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds against UAB.

Good pieces to the puzzle... we'll probably need competitive NIL to keep them here.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Abies Named AAC Third Team All-Conference

Wichita State sophomore forward Daniela Abies was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Conference Third Team, the conference announced Friday morning.

The Malaga, Spain native averaged 13.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in conference play and 12.6 points and 9.1 rebounds overall.

She leads Wichita State in scoring and rebounding, starting all 17 conference games and averaging 31 minutes.

Abies is ranked second in the conference in total rebounds (267) and third in rebounds per game (9.2). She ranks 24^th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game with 3.9.

Abies has finished in double figures 18 times this season with 10 double-doubles, leading the team in scoring eight times and in rebounding 22 times. She scored a career-high 23 points against UAB and recorded a career-high 16 rebounds against Memphis.

Abies and the Shockers are set to take on Florida Atlantic in the first round of the AAC Tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Dickies Arena.

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2023-24 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HONORS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Temira Poindexter, F, Tulsa

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Danae McNeal, G, East Carolina

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Vittoria Blasigh, G, South Florida

COACH OF THE YEAR
Jason Burton, North Texas

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Delanie Crawford, G, Tulsa

SIXTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Dyani Robinson, G, North Texas

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
DesiRay Kernal, F, North Texas
Romi Levy, F, South Florida

AMBASSADOR AWARD
Chantae Embry, F, SMU

ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM
Dazia Lawrence, G, Charlotte
Danae McNeal, G, East Carolina*
DesiRay Kernal, F, North Texas
Tommisha Lampkin, F, North Texas
Temira Poindexter, F, Tulsa*

ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM
Madison Griggs, G, Memphis
Romi Levy, F, South Florida
Tiara Young, G, SMU
Tiarra East, G, Temple
Delanie Crawford, G, Tulsa

ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM
Denim DeShields, G, UAB
Mia Moore, G, UAB
Malia Fisher, F, Rice
Aleah Nelson, G, Temple
Daniela Abies, F, Wichita State

ALL-NEWCOMER TEAM
Mia Moore, G, UAB
Tatyana Wyche, F, East Carolina
Alasia Smith, F, Memphis
DesiRay Kernal, F, North Texas*
Romi Levy, F, South Florida

[1972Shocker]

AAC Conference Tournament Bracket:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/theamerican.sidearmsports.com/documents/2024/3/5/2024_WBB_Bracket_Final.pdf

[1972Shocker]

Congrats to Dani on her 3rd team honors. Being one of the top 15 players in the league is not that easy in a 14-team league so that is probably a little more impressive than it might normally be.

Looks like the AAC has dropped the All-Freshman team and replaced it with an All-Newcomer team. With all the transfers these days that will make it tough for Freshmen to make.

[1972Shocker]

The 13th seeded Lady Shocks opened play in the first play-in round of the AAC Tournament this afternoon against the 12th seeded FAU Ows. The Shocks trailed by 4 at 37-41 with 12 minutes remaining in the game. From that point on the Shocks outscored the Owls 27-9 to walk away with a 64-50 win to move into the 2nd play-in round. A good part of that advantage came late in the game. After FAU scored to make it 52-50 with 3:43 to play they did not score again as the Shocks finished on a 12-0 run during which FAU was 0-4 from the field and 0-6 from the free throw line.

In those final 12 minutes Dani Abies scored 14 points and 7 rebounds on her way to a 22 point, 22 rebound double-double.

When Salese Blow re-entered the game with 54 seconds to play in the 3rd quarter she had 3 points on 1-9 from the field and 1-1 from the line. Salese hit a 3 pointer with 9 seconds left in the 3rd quarter to put the Shocks up 45-41. The Shocks had the lead the rest of the way. Salese finished with 11 points although she was only 3-13 from the field but she did hit 4-5 from the line. However she did have 5 of the Shockers' 18 turnovers.

Jayla Murray had a pretty solid game on 5-9 from the field and 2-3 from the line with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers.

These are the 3 key players HCTN needs to bring back next year.

The Shockers are scheduled to play 5th seeded USF at 2:00 pm CT although the AAC only allows 2 hours between games. This is the 2nd game of the day so it will probably be closer to a 2:30 CT start if that.

I don't think the Shocks match up very well with USF. USF trounced the Shocks 79-57 in mid-February in Tampa. The Shocks did upset USF last year in the tournament when USF was the top seed. That said a Shocker win would again be a very big upset.

This was the first time this season the Shockers won back-to-back games against AAC compedtition. I have to give the coaches and players credit. They could have easily just mailed it in at the end of the season, especially considering they no long had the services of Sierra Morrow. However, they kept plugtint away and that, in my mind, is a positive despite this being a very tough year.

Abies Breaks AAC Single-Game Tournament Rebound Record, Shockers Advance to Second Round

[1972Shocker]

14th seeded Tulane beat 11th seeded SMU (who finished 5 games ahead of the Green Wave in regular season play) 68-62 to send the Mustangs off to the ACC on a sour note losing 4 of their last 5 games with their only win over in that stretch in overtime over the Shocks.

Tulane will play 6th seeded Charlotte in tomorrow night's late game.

[1972Shocker]

I have not been watching the game but have been following on live stats.

Despite USF shutting down Dani offensively, the Shocks are hanging around trailing 47-52 with about 7:30 to play. Dani has only scored 4 points although she does have 11 rebounds.

Shocks have tied it up at 60-all leaning mostly on freshman Salese Blow for their scoring although a good team effort by the Shocks. Whether or not the Shocks legs will hold up for another 2:15 remains to be seen.

61-all with 1 minute to play. The Shocks look a bit tired.

With the Shocks trailing 62-64 with 23 seconds to play HCTN called time out to set up a play. It was a total fail and I did not make sense to me. USF then pulled away with free throws late including a foul by Ornella Niankan 92 feet away from the basket with 1 second to play. Final score: USF 69 - WSU 62.

Salese led the Shocks with 20 points. Ornella chipped in 12 points. Dani ended up with 8 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists. Tre'zure added 7 points in 18 minutes of play and Ella contribuited 6 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

I can't in the least bit fault the Shockers effort and heart. I think they pretty much spent all they had left in the tank.

[1972Shocker]

Keitha Adams had a very similar year back at UTEP to what Terry Nooner had at Wichita State in his first year. UTEP finished 11-18 but 2 of those wins were against Non-D1 teams and CUSA was ranked 14th in the NET conference rankings. The Shocks finished up at 10-22 and the AAC was ranked 7th in the NET conference rankings.

Jane Asinde had a good year for UTEP as you would expect in that conference Jane led the Miners with 16-5 ppg and 9.2 rpg in her final season of college basketball.

Doesn't look like any of the recruits who followed Keitha to UTEP did much this year.

[shoxlax]

I’m calling it. Nooner will have us competitive in the conference by year three.

[WstateU]

I’m calling it. Nooner will have us competitive in the conference by year three.

He has a staff that should be able to recruit. Ultimately, it’s all about the ‘Mary’s and the Susan’s’ or better yet, the Alecia’s, Letitia’s, and Rihanna’s.

[1972Shocker]

He has a staff that should be able to recruit. Ultimately, it’s all about the ‘Mary’s and the Susan’s’ or better yet, the Alecia’s, Letitia’s, and Rihanna’s.

A Caitlyn or a Jackie would work okay.

And I agree recruiting will be the key.

We have 9 players who could come back next year although only 5 of those were key contributors this past year. Dani Abies, Jayla Murray, Salese Blow, Raissa Nsabua and Ornella Niankan. Ella Anciaux did play quite a few minutes late but that was kind of out of necessity as Sierra Morrow vanished into thin air before the final 5 games of the season. I don't think Ella is the answer although she is the kind of young lady you need to have on your bench I think. Carla Budane and Sophia Goncalves played a total of 23 minutes this year and Jordan Jackson did not play at all.

So if everyone returns and are on scholarship (which is yet to to be determined) Coach Nooner will have 6 scholarships available. He signed 3 guards in in November. 5-5 freshman point guard KIyleyah Parr, 5-6 juco shooting guard Kyleigh Ortiz (Coffeyville CC), and 5-7 juco shooting guard Princess Anderson (Pratt CC). I do not know if the 2 "shooting guards" have the skills to fill in at point guard or not. But it is looking like we will have a 5-5 freshman guard at the point next year.

So at this point it appears the Shocks will continue to be an undersized team depending on how he uses his remaining 3 scholarships (possibly more depending on whether or not all 9 of the potential returning players do, in fact, return). Note we do have two 6-4, big body players (Ella and Sophie) but from what I have seen they simply lack the athleticism to be key contributors.

[flyingMoose]

Ella needs to develop a baby hook. Something in addition to what she has now.

[1972Shocker]

10th seeded Rice won the AAC Tournament with a 61-41 win over 9th seeded East Carolina to "earn" the AAC's autobid. There were no at-large bids for the AAC as expected.

Rice will be a 14th seed in the NCAA Tournament and will enjoy a first round game against 3 seed LSU in baton rouge.

Personally, I think the AAC needs to drop the women's tournament and give the regular season champion the autobid. The attendance at the women's tournament was next to non-existent. if you want to have a tournament have a 2-day event with the top 4 finishers in the regular season participating. Let the higher seeded team host each game and perhaps have a rest day between the semifinals and the championship game.