Graduate student Tre’Zure Jobe walked to the press conference wearing a wheat crown, basketball scepter and a sash after Wichita State beat Saint Louis University, 78-59. The “queen of the court” was given her hardware by head coach Terry Nooner.
Nooner said he has three awards to give out to the players, “queen of the court,” “rebounding ring” and “defensive stopper” after a win.
“We just wanted to make sure we recognize them and just come up with something fun. I think it’s just a fun motivation,” Nooner said.
Jobe opened up the game with a three-pointer. She went on to lead the Shockers with 24 points.
During the first quarter of the game, Wichita State was able to make 22 points from a 12-0 run that helped set the tone of the match.
“I thought it was one heck of an effort by the team,” Nooner said.
Jobe said that before the game, the coaching staff encouraged the team to have confidence in every play and shot they took.
“(Nooner) says every time anyone any one of us take the shot, we got to have confidence, and I think that helped me out a lot tonight,” Jobe said.
She said that the confidence helped the team make quicker decisions, something that Nooner has emphasized.
“We’re making the easy play, making quick decisions, keep(ing) an open mind and making the extra pass,” Jobe said. “Just utilizing everyone on the court and everyone being able to touch the ball each possession, I think that really opened the floor for us for us.”
The Billikens put on 15 points on the board during the second quarter of the game, but the Shockers were able to keep making shots to bring the score to 38-24 by halftime.
Despite a low shooting percentage, senior Jeniah Thompson focused on her rebounding and defense for the game; she attained a career-high of 15 rebounds. Thompson, who had her first start of the season, also contributed five assists.
“I wasn’t hitting my shots on offense, so I was like I got to do something to contribute to the team and defense and rebounding has always been big for me,” Thompson said.
Freshman Salese Blow assisted the Shockers with 17 points, and sophomore Daniela Abies contributed 14.
“I’m happy that we were able to see some success from just focusing on our defense,” Nooner said. “I think it was all about our defense and the kind of pressure we put on him and the fact that we were able to follow the game plan for four quarters.”
After a disappointing loss against Southeastern Louisiana, Nooner said he had to take a step back and go back to defensive fundamentals.
“We knew the last game that just wasn’t us as a team, that wasn’t our identity, we know what kind of toughness we had,” Nooner said. “We had to do just defensive practices and conditioning.”
Nooner said he had time for a pity party after the SLU loss but had to come back and realize that he had to reset the clock and begin again.
“I really had to look at myself internally and figure out what can I do to coach them better and make them play better,” Nooner said.
Wichita State women’s basketball will face off against Houston Christian on Monday, Dec. 4, at Charles Koch Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
