Shockers v Southern Illinois (Friday, 7pm) and Evansville (Sunday, 2pm)

[1972Shocker]

I wonder if Southern Illinois was looking forward to Sunday a bit.

Seemed that way. I was a little worried when SIU started the 3rd quarter on that 13-0 run but after that things definitely got a bit stagnant for both teams. In the last 5 minutes of the game the only points SIU scored were the 3 free throws by Macklin with 39 seconds remaining in the game.

[flyingMoose]

Game article from the Eagle. It notes the variety of defenses the Shockers used.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers continue their conference homestand against the Purple Aces of Evansville on Sunday afternoon, hoping to extend their win streak to two.

Evansville, after their loss on Friday to Missouri State, is 1-5 in the Valley and 2-15 overall. They are led by Sara Dickey, a member of the Preseason All-Conference Team. She is averaging 16.5 ppg, the only Purple Ace in double-digits and the only one to start all seventeen games. They shoot 36% from the field against their opponents 47% and are outscored by 15 per game. Their RPI after last night's games is 280.

With last night's win, the Shockers got their RPI back under 300 at 289, still an ugly number. The team shoots 38% from the floor versus an opponent mark of 41.5%. The Shocks are outscored by 8.5 ppg. Rangie at 14.4 ppg and TaQuandra at 12.0 continue to lead the scorers.

The Evansville game notes are here. The streaming video is here. The LiveStats are here.

[flyingMoose]

Finally, Shocker game notes.

[Shox1979]

With the AFC championship game on at the same time, and the wife and youngest daughter feeling under the weather, we are sitting today out. Maybe I'm a bad fan, but having trouble getting excited about today's game. A 4 win team against a 2 win team doesn't do much for me. Unless the teams are 4-0 and 2-0 (not 4-14 and 2-15).

[1972Shocker]

Evansville has one pretty good player in 5-11 Jr. G Sarah Dickey who averages 16.0 PPG. However they are not real big and Rangie could have a big game against the Aces.

Shocker 58 - Evansville 50. Shocks did a good job on Dickey holding her to 12 points and Rangie did have a very good game leading the Shocks with 26 points and 7 rebounds.

Shockers climb out of the Valley cellar moving past both Bradley and Evansville and into 8th place only a 1/2 game behind Illinois State in 7th. I can see the Shocks easily finishing 7th as Evanville, Illinois State and Bradley are pretty weak. Not sure if they can make it into 6th though and avoid the tournament play-in round but we'll see.

[1972Shocker]

Northern Iowa takes sole possession of 1st place with a 79-73 win at Drake. Drake has now lost 2 games on its home court.

[flyingMoose]

Loyola wins at Illinois State by a score of 57-41. The Southern Illinois at Missouri State game has a 7pm start because of a 3pm men's game.

[flyingMoose]

The Southern Illinois at Missouri State game has a 7pm start because of a 3pm men's game.

Missouri State 82-77 Southern Illinois

Next weekend completes the first half of the conference schedule. The head-to-head matchups among teams with two or fewer losses are:

UNI at Loyola on Friday and
Drake at Loyola on Sunday.

[1972Shocker]

I see that with Drake's loss at home to UNI that the Valley now has no teams in the Top 100 of the RPI rankings. MSU (104), UNI (108), Drake (112) and SIU (146) are the only Valley teams in the Top 150.

Clearly, the tournament in the Quad Cities will determine the Valley's sole NCAA participant. 7th place looks like a good possibility for the Lady Shocks but climbing into 6th place (and avoiding the play-in round in the Valley tournament) might require a couple more unexpected wins and/or some help from Indiana State or perhaps even SIU (Dyana Pierre left the court late in the MSU game with some kind of injury). Who knows, after this weekend Loyola may be back in the middle of the pack and within reach if they falter in the 2nd half of the conference race.

The Shocks do have a rough road immediately in front of them hosting MSU next Saturday with a road trip the following weekend to Drake and UNI. A Shocker win in any of those games would certainly qualify as unexpected.

[WstateU]

The following video was posted in the men's forum; thought it was worth posting here also... good job ladies!

[molly jabali]

on a somewhat unrelated note,on the men's board, I enjoyed the mens/womens teams being filmed together sending soldiers off...as I stated there, made me feel better about our women's team...lots of smiles. MAYBE.....

[1972Shocker]

on a somewhat unrelated note,on the men's board, I enjoyed the mens/womens teams being filmed together sending soldiers off...as I stated there, made me feel better about our women's team...lots of smiles. MAYBE.....

This is nothing new. Our student athletes from all sports have being doing community service and outreach activities for many years. We are and have been blessed with student athletes who are, for the most part, very fine young people who represent Wichita State and our community exceedingly well. I'm proud of all of them.