2024-25 Shocker WBB AAC Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (6-7) vs. NORTH TEXAS (8-4)
Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 | 1:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman

SCOUTING THE MEAN GREEN
Led by 11^th-year (second at UNT) head coach Jason Burton, North Texas is 8-4 going into conference play.

Four players are averaging double figures, led by senior forward Tommisha Lampkin with 17.3 points per game. Kyla Deck (11.7), Desiree Wooten (11.3) and Ereauna Hardaway (10.1) join her in double figures. Lampkin with also the team's leading rebounder with 8.8 per game. Lampkin leads the conference in field goal percentage (58.8), double-doubles (6) and free throws (50) and ranks third in rebounds per game. Deck ranks second in the AAC in steals with 25 this season.

The Mean Green were picked second of 13 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, receiving three first-place votes. Lampkin was named the Co-Preseason Player of the year.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks trail 20-16 to UNT at the end of the 1st quarter, Keeping it close by hitting 4 three-pointers, 2 by Jayla Murray, which is not their game. UNT lookls like the better team. Better athletes and perhaps better baske---tball skills.

Murray picks up her 2nd foul early in the 2nd quarter.

North Texas may have put this game away with a 17-7 advantage in the 2nd quarter to take a 37-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The discrepancy in talent is glaring. North Texas with an advantage at every position.

The Shocks use a much better defensive effort and intensity in the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to 9 at 38-47 heading into the final quarter. Then Shocks defensive effort was just not there in the 1stt half.

The Shocks continue making North Texas uncomfortable with their defensive effort and led by Taylor Jameson pulled to within 1 point st the mid-point of the quarter at 47-48. With the Shocks down 49-52 at around the 3 minute mark Taylor rolled her right ankle and had to leave the game. When Taylor returned with 2 minutes to play North Texas had extended the lead to 10 at 59-49. The Shocks as close a 5 in the final 2 minutes but North Texas closed it out at 62-56.

The Shockers lost this game because they simply were not ready to and did not compete in the 1st half on either end off he court. Cred.it to Coach Nooner for getting the ladies fired up at half time as their effort, especially on defense was very good. The Shockers might have been able to overcome their 1st half struggles if the could have made their free throws but 9-21, including 7-17 in the 2nd half, pretty much prevented a successful comeback.

The Shockers were very good, especially for them, making 9-19 (47.4%) of their ( 3-point shots. Unfortunately, they were only 10-44 (22.7%) from inside the arc which along with the 9-21 free throw shooting pretty much sealed their fate.

Taylor Jameson lead the Shocks on both ends of the court scoring points on 6-11 shooting include 5-10 three-pointers. At 5-5 she also led the Shocks with 6 rebounds.

I guess the silver lining is that if the Shock will show up and really compete for a full 40 minutes and figure out how to make free throws they should be able to hang with most AAC teams this .

[flyingMoose]

The WBB officiating is bad, with rare exceptions.

[1972Shocker]

The WBB officiating is bad, with rare exceptions.

That is true, but not the difference in this game I don't think. But yeah, you kind of accept going in the you will see less than stellar officiating.

[flyingMoose]

That is true, but not the difference in this game I don't think. But yeah, you kind of accept going in the you will see less than stellar officiating.

Agreed. Mine was just a general observation, prompted by especially bad officiating today.

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (6-8, 0-1 AAC) at MEMPHIS (2-9, 0-0 AAC)
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 | 3:00 p.m.
Memphis, Tenn. | Elma Roane Fieldhouse
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH with Pat Strathman

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Led by seventh-year (second at Memphis) head coach Alex Simmons, Memphis is 2-9 going into conference play. Memphis owns over over NET 350 Mississippi Valley State and NET 295 Samford who are a combines 2-23 in D-1 games. However, Memphis did were somewhat competitive against 15th ranked Tennessee a couple of weeks ago losing 75-90.

Five Tigers are averaging double figures, led by senior guard Tilly Boler with 16.6 points per game. DeDee Hagemann (16.0), Alasia Smith (11.6), Hannah Riddick (11.5) and Tanyuel Welch (10.6) join her in double figures.

Riddick is the team's leading rebounder with 8.0 per game. Hagemann leads the NCAA in minutes per game with 37.55.

The Tigers were picked seventh of 13 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. Memphis has a NET ranking of 244.

Despite a NET ranking of 244 vs a NET ranking of 172 for the Shocks, WarrenNolan.com favors Memphis with a 61% win probability and a score of 69-66.

Me thinks WarrenNolan's system places a lot of weight on home court advantage. Maybe too much, especially for run-of-the-mill women's basketball.

Looks like Memphis can score a little bit. On the other hand the Shockers at time struggle to put points on the board. Nevertheless, if the Shocks play as hard on the defensive end as they did against North Texas in the second half of that game I think they can and perhaps should win this game.

[1972Shocker]

Memphis leads the Shocks at the half 50-45 in what so far has been a high scoring game. Considering Memphis has outscored the Shocks by 18 points on three-pointers (10-18 vs 4-12) and by 5 from the free throw line (6-6 vs 1-3) the Shocks are doing well to be trailing by only 5.

This kind of a high scoring game probably favors Memphis. Memphis already has 3 players in double figure points and a 4th with 9 points. I'm thinking the Shocks need to find a way to slow Memphis down in the 2nd half and guard the 3 point line better.

The Shocks slowed Memphis down in the 3rd quarter but slowed down themselves even more. Memphis leads 66-57 heading into the 4th quarter. Memphis extended their lead to 17 at 75-58 with 7 minutes to play and still led by 17 at 86-69 with 3:20 to play before a late spurt led by Princess Anderson pulled the Shocks to within 10 points as the game ended with Memphis winning 93-83.

I did not watch the game live but Taylor Jameson and Jayla Murray only played 15 minutes each. Taylor played 13.5 minutes in the first half and then left the game after only playing 1.5 minutes in the 3rd quarter never to return. She had rolled her ankle in the 4th Quarter of the North Texas game so I'm wondering if that was limiting her. Looks like Jayla was dealing with foul trouble picking up her 2nd with 7 minutes to play in the 1st half and her 3rd 1 minute into the 3rd quarter before returning to the bench. Jayla only played about 5 minutes after that all in the 4th quarter.

Jayla had a +/- if -16 in her 15 minutes and KP Pare had a -14 in her 19 minutes of play. Princess Anderson entered the game for the 1st time with about 7 minutes to play and proceeded to score 11 points was the only Shocker with a positive +/- for the game at +7.

The Shocks next 3 games are @ UAB, home vs USF and @ UTSA. If they can't get by UAB they are probably staring at an 0-5 start in AAC play as USF and UTSA appear to be the top 2 teams in the AAC this year.

[1972Shocker]

So Taylor took a big knee to her left quad with about 3 minutes to play in the first half. Taylor tried to go in the 2nd half with a heavily wrapped thigh but was unable to make a go of it after about a minute and a half. This definitely was a major blow to the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (5-9, 0-2 AAC) at UAB (8-5, 0-2 AAC) - Excludes Non-D1 Games
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 | 5:00 p.m.
Birmingham, Ala. | Bartow Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH with Pat Strathman

SCOUTING THE BLAZERS
Led by 12^th-year head coach Randy Norton, UAB is 8-5 (0-2 AAC) entering the matchup. Two Blazers are averaging double figures with Maddie Walsh leading the team with 12.7 points per game and Sara Bershers averaging 10.1 Jade Weathersby is the team's leading rebounder with 8.9 per game. Walsh ranks fourth in the AAC in blocks per game with 1.36, and Journey Armstead ranks third in the conference in assists per game with 4.9.

The Blazers lead the AAC in assists per game (16.1), blocks per game (5.1), and three pointers per game (9.4).

UAB was picked ninth of 13 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll.

Warrennolan.com has UAB's chances of winning at 73% with a predicted score of 71-64.

Hopefully, the Shockers' Taylor Jameson will be sufficiently recovered from her bruised thigh to compete effectively in this game.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers got off to a horrible start at UAB and looked like they were on their way to getting blown out. The trailed 22-10 with 1 minute to go in the 1st quarter and looked like the had not done any scouting whatsoever of the Blazers. Jordon Jackson hit a corner three at the buzzer to make it 22-13 at the end of the 1st quarter.

The Shocks still trailed by 10 at 26-36 with 4 minutes to play in the 1st half but a 10-2 run by the Shocks capped by a tough jumper in the lane by Taylor Jameson closed the gap to 2 points at 36-38 with 45 seconds to play. However, Jameson was given a Technical Foul for taunting/trash talking and UAB hit both free throws to take a 40-36 lead into the halftime locker room.

Jayla Murray scored 13 of her 15 first half points in the 2nd quarter hitting 5-6 from the field including 1 three-pointer and going 2-2 from the line. Taylor and Salese each contributed 5 points as did Mia Sissoka coming off the bench.

The Shockers took control of the game in the 3rd quarter outscoring UAB 27-16 to take a 63-56 lead into the 4th quarter with Jayla adding 7 points to her total and Salese adding 8 points on a combined 4-7 from the field including 2-2 on three pointers and 5-5 from the free throw line.

UAB quickly cut the lead to 3 points with a couple of baskets to open the scoring in the 4th quarter but the Shocks answered with baskets from Salese and Bre-Mode and UAB never got closer than 5 points as the Shocks (primarily Salese) put the game away at the free throw line to close out a solid 82-70 road win.

Jayla and Salese were terrific as each of them scored 24 points. Jayla was 9-16/2-4/4-4 and led he Shocks with 9 rebounds while playing 35 minutes. Perhaps her best overall game as a Shocker. Salese, who scored 19 of her 24 points in the 2nd half was 6-12/2-6/10-10 and chipped in 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Taylor chipped in 9 points.

The Shocks who have struggled recently from the free throw line and have been inconsistent all year at the line hit 20-26 (76.9%) today.behind Salese and Jayla's combined 14-14. So the rest of the team was only 6-12.

The Shocks had 15 assists on 28 baskets and only turned it over 8 times. The Shocks outrebounded UAB 45-41.

If the Shocks can play like they did over the final 3 quarters consistently the can win some games in this league. But so far consistency has proved to be a bit challenging.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

A few player observations:

Not quite sure what make of Princess Anderson. She is a bit of a wild child with her style of play but I thought she seemed to be getting that more under control. But her playing time has been all over the place so far this season. She only got 7 minutes against D-2 Oklahoma Christian where she was hunting shots to an extreme. She did get 19 minutes against Belmont and played better while contributing 14 points. Then in the nest 5 games she only played a total of 12 minutes including no playing time against OU and Missouri. She then got her shot against Prairie View and Kansas playing 23 and 28 minutes and having her 2 best games of the season. She then dropped off to only 9 minutes against Western Kentucky. She averaged 14 minutes a game over the final 3 non-con games averaging 12 points in those games and seemingly was settling into her role on the team.

However, she only played 3 minutes against North Texas in the AAC opener and only played 7 minutes in the loss to Memphis all at the end of the game with the game already out of reach. She was pretty productive in those 7 minutes with 11 points. Then in Saturday's win over UAB she did not play at all. She was suited up and on the bench but never removed her warmup jersey. In those 3 AAC games Jasmine Peaks who was injured has played a total of 64 minutes (compared to 10 for Princess). So perhaps its just a matter of Jasmine bring more of what HCTN is looking for. Princess appears to be a much better scorer that Jasmine, but Jasmine looks to be the better playmaker. Princess has an 3 assists to 21 turnovers while Jasmine has 20 assists to 12 turnovers.

---

Mai Sissoko, a 6-2 junior forward from Cloud County CC, got off to a slow start and looked pretty lost early on. She only played in 39 minutes her first 6 games and then did not play at all in the final 7 non-conference games which suggests an injury was involved.

She did get into the AAC opener against North Texas for 5 minutes but was 0-1 from the field and 0-2 from the line but did grab 3 rebounds. At that point she was 1-12 from the field and 0-4 from the line with 12 rebounds and 5 turnovers in 44 minutes of play.

However, she must have been showing HCTN some good things in practice as she played 24 minutes in the last 2 games against Memphex and UAB in which she scored 15 points on 7-12 from the field and 1-2 from the line while grabbing 14 rebounds with no turnovers.

Mai has some rough edges to her game but she looks to be the most mobile and athletic of our 3 post players (Mai, Aisha and Ella) and has showed some promise in the past 2 games. Hopefully, we will see continued improvement and playing time for her.

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The Lady Shocks have two players on the roster who have not played at all and one player has only played 1 minute.

Kyleigh Ortiz, a 5-6 junior guard via Coffeyville CC, went down with an injury 1 minute into her Shocker debut in the season opener and has not played since. Not sure what the nature of her injury is but it must be significant. Not sure if she plans on playing this year or is looking at medical redshirt year.

Carla Budane, a 5-11 redshirt junior forward out of Mozambique, joined the Shockers for the 2nd semester of the 2020-21 season which was the Covid season. Played in 15 games in 2021-22 then redshirted in 2022-23. Only played in 4 games last year. Carla has been on the bench but not suited up for a good part if not all of this season so far. Not sure whether Carla is injured. However, she is now in her 9th semester at Wichita State and most likely will be getting her degree at the end of this semester. If that happens and considering Carla has not played much as a Shocker she may very well be done at the end of this season.

Fiona Diomande, a 5-11 freshman guard from France, has not played this year either. Could be injured but my best guess in her case is she and Coach Nooner have decided for her to take a redshirt year.

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With the relatively recent preliminary injunction in place that rules NJCAA play does not count against NCAA eligibility the Shockers have a number of players who could be impacted as long as this ruling is in effect or becomes permanent.

Most immediately impacted would be Seniors Ornella Niankan and Aicha Ndour who both played 1 year of juco ball. If both Ornella and Aicha decide to take advantage of this situation, assuming it remains available to them, then the only two players who complete their eligibility this year are Taylor Jameson and Ella Anciaux.

Coach Nooner signed two juco players in November for next year:

Bella Belong, a 6-3 forward from Yaounde, Cameroon, was named All-Conference in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference as a freshman after averaging 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for South Plains College. She ranked third in the conference in offensive rebounds. Belong has opened her 2024-25 sophomore campaign averaging 13.1 PPG and 11 RPG through first ten games for the Texans.

"Bella is a long, athletic post player with incredible potential," Nooner said. "She runs the floor like a guard and has the kind of upside that excites us as coaches."

Jaida McDonald, a 5-11 forward from Dallas, Texas, currently plays for Pensacola State College. As a freshman, McDonald averaged 12.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game and was named Second Team All-Panhandle and a WBCA Second Team All-American. Through 18 games this year Jaida is averaging 14.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG.

In high school, McDonald played for Skyline High School, where she started all four years and averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior. She was named Second Team All-District and the Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

"Jaida is a hard-working, athletic, and versatile forward who brings intensity to every play," Nooner said. "Her ability to score and defend multiple positions, along with her skill finishing around the basket, is exactly what we're looking for."

While you never quit shaving, if that Juco eligibility ruling remains in effect, Coach Nooner may be pretty much done recruiting for next year. We'll have to see what Carla Budane will do and who, if any, we lose to the transfer portal.

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Other players who would be impacted by this juco elogibility ruling if it stays in place would be:

Redshirt Junior Jayla Murray - Played 1 year at Florida Southwestern and took a medical redshirt her 2nd year at Florida Southwestern due to a knee injury in her 8th game.
Redshirt Junior Jasmine Peaks - Redshirted her freshman year at Eastern Florida the played 2 years at Indian River.
Junior Miamouna Sissoko - Played 2 years at Cloud County CC.
Junior Princess Anderson - Played 2 years at Pratt CC.
Junior Kyleigh Ortiz - Played 2 years at Coffeyville CC and may take a medical redshirt this year.