Wichita State women’s basketball showed off a frenetic pace as the team disrupted any sense of offense by Division II Northeastern State University on Wednesday night.
The Shockers won the season-opening exhibition game, 81-46.
“We played a little bit faster this year to showcase our new people,” head coach Terry Nooner said. “Get all our players a chance to play in front of a crowd.”
The new identity showed almost immediately as the Shockers forced a five-second inbounding violation on Northeastern within the first 30 seconds of the game. The Shockers would go on to force three violations in the game.
Senior center Aicha Ndour claimed the first bucket of the season off an offensive rebound.
Wichita State made only one 3-pointer in the first quarter, but it did not matter as the Shockers imposed their will inside, leading 25-9.
The French-speaking frontcourt pair of Ndour and junior forward Maimouna Sissoko combined for 10 of Wichita State’s 25 points in the period. Despite starting the game, Ndour would only play 10 minutes due to foul trouble.
The 3-point shooting came alive for the home team as graduate student guard Taylor Jameson knocked down two 3-pointers in the second quarter, raising her fingers in the air to celebrate.
“Growing up as a kid, I always used to look up to the (Shocker) players,” Jameson said. “So being able to finally put my actual uniform on and see my name on the back of the jersey, it means a lot being able to do it in front of my family.”
Sophomore guard Jordan Jackson and junior guard Kyleigh Ortiz soon joined the party with their own outside shots.
Free throw shooting was a question mark as Wichita State shot an abysmal 45.9% from the charity stripe.
“I think the blessing and the good part of it is that we were able to create 37 free throws,” Nooner said. “We want to shoot over 70%, so if we can get our percentage up, then that’s going to be huge.”
The Shockers kept their hands busy on defense, making 14 steals and forcing 31 turnovers from the RiverHawks.
After a foul call went against Northeastern State, a warning was given to the RiverHawks head coach in the first half for arguing with the officials, causing the WSU student band to chant, “Coach, get back!”
The Shockers closed out the half leading, 44-23. The Shockers shot 48.5% from the field compared to a putrid 28.6% by the RiverHawks.
The suffocating defense by the Shockers shut the RiverHawks out for four straight minutes to open the second half.
Junior guard Jasmine Peaks came down hard holding her ankle after committing a foul but came back toward the end of the third quarter.
“I think she twisted her ankle a little bit,” Nooner said. “That’s been a lingering thing prior to the past week or so. But she’s kind of used to it, so she bounced back.”
The Shockers went cold from the 3-point line in the third quarter, going 1-6 from deep, the only make being from Jackson.
Despite being up 30 in the fourth quarter, the Shockers relentlessly chased with the full-court press. The aggressive defense forced turnovers but did result in six Shockers ending with three or more fouls.
Jameson showed off some NBA range, hitting a deep 3-pointer in the fourth to make it 70-35. Twelve Shockers got time on the court over the course of the game.
“Forcing turnovers is definitely something that we look to do, and it helps our offense,” Jameson said. “It helps us to be able to score in transition and be able to get out and play fast, like we’d like to do.”
Wichita State’s regular season will tip off in Charles Koch Arena against Oklahoma Christian University on Monday, Nov. 4, at 11 a.m.
