Hilltopper Notebook: Tops Bounce Back in Thriller vs. La Tech, Lady Tops Sweep, Baseball and Softball on Winning Streaks
It’s that time of year where the weather thinks about warming up, spring sports are getting going, and March Madness is right around the corner. This last week was particularly good for WKU as a whole, with one of the lone blemishes being some WKU Basketball on and off court drama.
Western Kentucky Basketball continues its up-and-down roller coaster season, grinding through Conference USA shorthanded. Other than the Toppers on the hardcourt, the Lady Toppers swept a road swing, and baseball and Softball are both off to excellent starts.
WKU Basketball With an Up-and-Down Week
Tops Lay Egg vs. Sam Houston at Home, Never Make Real Run After Early Deficit
There’s not much to say about this one, other than Sam Houston is playing really well, and WKU looked like it wasn’t completely sure if it wanted to be there. WKU was down 43-25 at halftime to a team that cannot finish the regular season with a winning record. Yes, SHSU is talented and has definitely awoken, but WKU had no business being blown out by Sam Houston at home. It didn’t really feel like they had “it” Thursday night. No one scored more than 11, and only two players shot better than 50 percent from the floor.
There were some bright spots individually, however. Jack Edelen and Blaise Keita both dropped in 11, something neither has done in their respective WKU careers. Tyrone Marshall also found himself out of a funk late in the game, as well. The final tally rang up at 78-62 Bearkats. Frankly, it felt like disaster in Diddle. Cue the overreacting monologues from fans on message boards everywhere in Topper land, but the sky was falling Thursday night.
~Matt McCay
Tops Evenly Matched Against La Tech, Snap Four Game Skid With Bayless Buzzer Beater
The Tops were finally due for some divine intervention on Saturday in a huge victory over Louisiana Tech. In a Saturday night full of surprises, WKU mustered everything that was in their way and scored an impressive 64-63 win over what seemed to be a tough Bulldogs squad who got the best of the Tops 77-67 January 26th in Ruston. Saturday’s win snapped a four-game losing streak, including a disappointing loss to Sam Houston 48 hours earlier.
Braxton Bayless scored a career-high 27 points in the win, including the game-winning layup with 0.4 seconds remaining. Blaise Keita was the unsung hero of the game. Starting at center, he was called upon to contain Daniel Batcho, and for most of the game, he made him a low-level factor for LA Tech’s chances of success. Keita did tally five rebounds & blocked some pivotal shots in the Bulldogs’ comeback efforts. Tyrone Marshall led the team with six rebounds and scored 13 points. Don McHenry also scored 14 points, going 6 out of 12 from the field.
~Alex Sherfield
Hilltopper Basketball News and Notes
Kalambay Benched
In hindsight, there was some kind of drama within the program, as Enoch Kalambay only played eight first half minutes and did not see the court again despite committing zero fouls. Then he also did not play against La Tech. After being asked about it after Saturday’s thrilling win against La Tech, WKU Head Coach Hank Plona said that Kalambay was still on the team, that he was banged up a little physically, but that he needed to get right mentally and could possibly return as soon as this week at UTEP.
The situation was suspicious all week, with rumors that something was up with Enoch Kalambay’s mysterious lack of PT in the second half. Rumors as bad as, “He’s out” circulated, but Plona made it clear that Enoch is family, that he’s been with him for his whole career, and he has every intention of Enoch playing for the Tops before the end of the season.
Lander’s Back Tweaked
Khristian Lander played extremely sparingly in Thursday’s game, and none at all in Saturday’s game against La Tech. Plona was also asked about Lander’s situation, to which he said that Lander had tweaked his back Wednesday in practice, and that he had him dress Saturday to throw La Tech off. He had no intentions of ever playing him.
When asked in the postgame fist bump line by fans about his injury, Lander said, “I’ll be back next game.” Will that prove true? Not sure, but that was what he said himself.
Thedford and Faye Continue Conspicuous Absence From Court
Two double digit scorers with much-needed athleticism still sit on the WKU bench, or at least one of them did this week. Babacar Faye has been at every WKU game despite what is likely proving to be a redshirt year that will yield him yet another year of eligibility. Although that last part is not set in stone, you do the math. Will he really sit out from mid-December until now and come in with a few weeks remaining in the season to burn all of his collegiate eligibility on a team that won’t be favored in the quarterfinals? Probably not.
Julius Thedford is a fabulous freshman that was certainly going to finish second in voting for the Freshman of the Year in CUSA but dislocated a knee cap in early conference play. He has been at most of the games, but as far as we know, he was not in attendance for either game this week. He has been doing rehab with the team and is possibly going to return before the end of the season.
Lady Toppers Sweep Road Trip, Nearly Solidify Third Place in CUSA
WKU Battles Back from a 12-9 First Quarter Deficit to Win 57-45 over Sam Houston.
Sam Houston led by as many as seven in the first quarter and was looking to push the score out by more, but WKU fought back to only trail by three at the end of the quarter. The Lady Toppers took their first lead with 5:33 left in the second quarter and extended the lead to four by halftime. The Western defense was solid throughout the game allowing the Lady Bearkats 12 or fewer points per period. WKU’s offense caught fire and outscored the opponent 19-12 in both period two and three, leading 47-36 before starting the fourth frame. Sam Houston would get no closer than five as WKU held on to win by 12.
Josie Gilvin led all players with 23 points and 11 rebounds, her second double-double in consecutive games. Zsofia Telegdy and Alexis Mead added nine points each in the winning effort. Western’s defense held Sam Houston to 35.2% (19-54) from the field, 0% (0-12) from three and forced 18 turnovers.
After Trailing for 38 Minutes of the Game, WKU Outscores La Tech to win 78-73.
Just a few hours before the WKU men staged a seven point comeback win on a last second layup by Senior guard Braxton Bayless #0 to win 64-63, the Lady Toppers staged their own comeback late in the game to win by five. The Lady Techsters led by as many as eight in the third quarter, by as many as seven in the other quarters, but La Tech just could not get to a double digit lead at any point. WKU trimmed the lead to two at the end of the third period outscoring the Lady Techsters 20-15. The fourth period saw four ties before WKU took its first lead 68-66 at the 2:14 mark on a Alexis Mead three pointer. Dear Old Western would extend the lead to six 74-68 with a minute left and hold on to win by five.
La Tech freshman Paris Bradley #23 led all scorers with a career high 29 points and three other players had double figures for the Techsters. Western’s Josie Gilvin #33 had her third straight double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Acacia Hayes #10 and Alexis Mead #3 added 18 each, Destiny Salary #1 had 9, and Mariama Sow #6 added a huge eight points off the bench in the win.
~David McCay
Josie Gilvin and Alexis Mead in Rarified Air
Despite being undersized and out of her true position much of the time, Josie Gilvin has done something that hasn’t been done since Raneem Elgedawy in 2021: Three straight games with a double-double.
Alexis Mead also has made history, climbing to fourth all-time in steals in Lady Topper history, passing Dee Givens. She needs 24 to tie Tiffany Porter-Talbert for third all-time, a tall task, but frankly something she is capable of doing, especially if the Lady Tops make a run in the Conference USA Tournament.
Lady Tops Alone in Third Place
WKU is two games behind Liberty and two games ahead of New Mexico State in the CUSA standings. The magic number is two in both directions. If WKU wants a shot at Liberty, they need to stay within two games of the Flames heading into next week, and they likely need to make up at least one game. To stay ahead of NMSU, the Tops need to keep pace with the Aggies through this week.
A big matchup between WKU And NMSU looms large, as this one could seal the third seed for the Tops if they enter the final week with a three game lead on them, or this race could tighten up significantly if WKU can’t take care of business. WKU clinches no worse than third in CUSA with a win against NMSU Saturday regardless of Thursday’s results.
Baseball and Softball With Great Starts
Baseball actually lost Monday to Murray, or this would be even more cheerful. WKU’s offense hasn’t quite caught up to its pitching, so the Tops have played several close ball games despite pretty solid pitching from its experienced staff. Despite the loss to Murray, the Tops still sit at 6-1 to start the season after an 11-3 win at home against EKU. The one loss was a 2-1 pitcher’s duel.
WKU Softball started out sluggishly, losing four of five against questionable competition. However, they have awoken, slapping up nine wins in a row to put up a sparkling 10-4 record. WKU gets it first very serious test of the season with Kentucky coming to Bowling Green to take on the red hot Lady Toppers.
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GO TOPS!!!!
I am getting the feeling more and more that this guy was the wrong hire. His substitution patterns are just over the top.