WSU vs. Newman Jets (0-0)

[teldridge24]

Hey guys, this is Taylor Eldridge - the guy who covers the Wichita State women's basketball team for the Wichita Eagle.

I figured I already keep notes on my lap top during the game that I might as well blog from the games and give you guys my thoughts.

So every home game this season I'll be able to give you a head's up on what's going on. Should be an interesting year with all the new faces, but I believe the new faces are reasons to be optimistic.

This group will be the most athletic team in the Valley, hands down. How well that equates to wins remains to be seen. But if I had to pick, I would go under on the 9th place prediction.

The only question is who is going to score? My pick is Haleigh Lankster. I think she has a breakout year this year on both sides of the ball.

Well that's all for now. We're about 6 minutes away from starting this one, so check back in to see how the Lady Shox are doing.

[teldridge24]

Wichita State 19, Newman 3 - 15:45 remaining

Wow, what a start for the Shockers. They came out absolutely on fire.

WSU is 7-for-7 from the field and 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. Just crazy right now.

Haleigh Lankster has spotted up from the trey three times and has sank all three. Her shooting stroke looks a lot smoother this year. Morgan Boyd came in off the bench and made a nice jumper off a screen and then rolled in two three's as well. Jessica Diamond has the other score on a nice hanging jumper.

These Shockers are definitely more athletic and so far, look to have more shooters. That's an improvement right there from last year.

[teldridge24]

Wichita State 23, Newman 7 - 11:52 remaining

These newcomers are looking good right now.

Jessica Diamond in the face looks like a mini-Kiki Stephens I think. She has a good game, though. She's going to be a good point when Marisah is on the bench this year. Dannah Kemp also appears to be splitting some time for that role, as well.

Morgan Boyd is the interesting X-Factor if you will of all the newcomers. She looks like a scorer. That alone makes her the most interesting because that's what WSU needs the most. She's not afraid to shoot and if WSU can get her open on some screens, then she is going to score some points.

Sheena Johnson got the surprise start in the game and I haven't really noticed much from her so far. She's going to be a lock-down defender though. I know Newman isn't exactly a MVC team, but you can just tell. She wants to play defense.

The bigs - Chynna Turner, Michelle Price and Jazimen Gordon - have all rotated pretty frequently so far. Turner got the start in today's game. Hard to say how that rotation will shake out right now.

WSU is pressing right now and are speeding up the pace.

[teldridge24]

Wichita State 34, Newman 8 - 7:37 remaining

Jessica Diamond makes a nice steal and than passes it ahead to Morgan Boyd, who finds Jazimen Gordon running the court and Gordon finishes on an athletic move for an And-1. Haleigh just made an insanely athletic play - Marisah's pass upcourt was going way out of bounds, but Lankster saved it with one hand and threw it back in. They called the edge of her foot out, but still...that was impressive.

Gordon corrals a rebound, but doesn't bring it down strong and Newman gets the jump ball call. Jody's not happy - in goes Turner for her. Kemp knocks down a wide open three in the corner. Diamond nails a jumper at the top of the Newman zone and Johnson scores on a transition layup from a Kemp steal. Just like that, WSU is up 34-8. Can they break 50?

WSU is sticking with its man-to-man defense. So far, penetration is still getting in the lane - a problem - but the on-ball defense is much better. WSU has forced 5 of the 12 Newman turnovers. At times the Shockers' offense gets stuck in lulls, but nothing like last year. It looks like this year's group is going to be able to score more frequently.

[teldridge24]

Wichita State 42, Newman 12 - 3:59 remaining


Turner shows off some range with a 15-foot jumper from the corner. Lankster makes another crazy-insane athletic move driving in the lane, side-stepping a defender and finishing with a layup. She adds another layup with a nice pass from Turner after an offensive rebound. Price lingers after a rebound and gets a steal and dishes it to Henderson. MH misses both her free throws - a problem last year. She's a better shooter than that, so its troubling why her percentage is like that.

The defense continues to impress me. I like the on-ball pressure WSU is applying. That allows the others to gamble more because the passes aren't going to be as accurate. The Shockers have gotten lost a couple of times, but Newman hasn't made them pay for it. Still, 16 turnovers and forcing 7 of them is a nice sign.

[teldridge24]

Wichita State 49, Newman 19 - Halftime

Kemp scores on another transition layup from a steal from Johnson. Marisah gets back to the line and sinks her first, but misses her second. Price scores in the post. Price gets fouled on a rebound and goes to the line, makes both - she has a pretty stroke.

The halftime analysis

Ball Handlers
Marisah Henderson got most of the work, playing the most minutes (15) than any Shocker. She looked like her usual self, finding the open person (4 assists) and she's been pretty polished (only 1 turnover) so far. When she's been on the bench or moved off ball, Jessica Diamond is taking over. Diamond is an athletic guard that isn't afraid to shoot. She is going to get a lot of open looks mid-range, so if she can knock that down then she'll be deadly. She's just 2-for-7 right now though. Henderson and Diamond have combined for a 8-to-3 A:TO ratio though. Dannah Kemp looks like she is going to be handling the ball some this year, as well. Kemp looks for her three-point shot - 1-for-4 right now - a lot and she's pretty sound with the ball. She's not the play-maker that Henderson is, or as athletic as Diamond but she looks to be a good mix and a solid backup option.

Perimeter Players
Haleigh Lankster is going to be a special player. She's only a sophomore, but she's already showing signs of being able to score at will. It looks like she has improved her shooting stroke (3-for-4 on 3's) and when she attacks the basket, she's hard to stop. She has 13 points and on defense her length is really disrupting the passing lanes. Sheena Johnson was the other that got the start and she hasn't done much offensively - she does have 4 points, though - but her work comes on the defensive end. She is going to be the team's lock-down perimeter player this season. She is really getting after it, diving for loose balls, applying good on-ball pressure. Her assignment, Newman's Rainey Nickel, has scored when penetrating though, so she'll need to work on cutting that off. Morgan Boyd, if she's going to come off the bench like she did today, will be the 6th man of the year in the Valley. She's a natural scorer. She's 4-for-6 right now and has shown a good outside stroke - 2-for-2 on 3's - and a good mid-range game. Not sure what she can do defensively, but she's one of the more advanced offensive players WSU has.

Posts
Haven't really heard from Ashley Gladden much. After starting, she's only played 6 minutes in the first half. Don't know what's up with that. Freshman Chynna Turner has some surprising athleticism in the post. She's still developing her passing out of the post, but she appears to be one of the team's best rebounders (4 at half). Michelle Price and Jazimen Gordon have come off the bench and split time for 7 minutes each. Both have 4 points right now. Gordon is obviously athletic and she is intriguing. She needs to get stronger to play down low for Jody, but she's a very intriguing player down low.[/b]

[1972Shocker]

Impressive initial outing for the Lady Shocks hammering the Jets 97-46.

Overall I will give the Ladies a B+. I suppose that may be a little critical when you have such an inexperienced group that put up 97 points and more than double up their D-II opponent.

The two areas of concern for me were our free throw shooting (which I think will be better than we showd today) and perhaps more importantly our lack of a strong inside game on both ends of the court. I think the latter will take some time to develop. Other than that I have to say Wow!

These Ladies can and will get up and down the court and we appear to have a very good perimter game with a lot of scoring options.

Haleigh was outstanding today. Chynna is surprisingly athletic and can get up and down the court for a big girl. Jessica will be a special player before she is through. Dannah Kemp showed well also.

Morgan Boyd looks like a slightly bigger version of Haleigh, although I don't remember her playing much if at all the second half. Not sure if she was hurt or ill or what the story was there.

All of the JUCO transfers will make posistive impact (Alicia Sanchez pending).

The Freshman looked good for the most part. Interestingly, our highest rated Frosh, Michelle Price, has been the least impressive to me the two times I have seen the Ladies so far.

Arrow definitely pointing up for the Shocker Ladies. Only ingredient that needs to be added to the mix are Shocker Fans. Maybe 500 in attendance today. We talk the talk all the time about what good fans we are. Not it's time to walk the walk.

:goshocks:

[1972Shocker]

One interesting point -- HCJA said in her post game show that they only put in their zone offense yesterday. Sure enough Newman played a lot of zone. Shocks perimenter game and ability to score (44 points) off turnovers were more than enough to take care of that issue.

[ShockerFever]

What is Newman supposed to do this year?



I can't remember the last time the women's team came close to reaching 100 points, exhibition or not.

[The Mad Hatter]

The main things to remember about the lack of inside game are that:

A. Newman played zone almost the entire (if not the entire game), and we had not worked on zone offense until yesterday. We have been focusing on defensive in the practices thus far, and we will be much better attacking the zone inside once we get some practice time in.

B. We are youngest in the post, so it will take some time for the freshman to get comfortable, but they all have talent and will get a lot better.

[WuDrWu]

Fever, the Lady Jets (Jettettes?) are picked 4th (out of 8th) in the Heartland Conference.

They did not have a particularly successful 08-09.

[1972Shocker]

Fortunately, we have a non-conference schedule conducive to letting the youngsters grow up some. However, I still think the interior game may prove to be somewhat of a challenge for us this year, but we may be strong enough on the perimeter to overcome that as long as we don't give too much away on the boards. Not to mention that this team can flat get up and down the court without turning the ball over every time they try to run.

:goshocks:

[ShockerFever]

Thanks for the answers Doc.

[wsushox1]

Taylor, you do great work. You rocked the CC coverage..