Lady Topper Basketball Notebook: Wrapping a Bow on the Lady Topper Season
WBB: The WKU Lady Toppers fell to MTSU in the CUSA semifinals, Liberty wins CUSA, Lady Tops hoped for WBIT bid but do not get one, offseason thoughts, etc.
Semifinals Recap: WKU Fades Late, Middle Advances to Finals
Western Kentucky’s Lady Toppers left it all on the court Friday night. CUSA’s night cap, WKU and MTSU went to war in another epic battle in the 100 Miles of Hate with royalty from both programs in the house.
WKU led most of the game, with MTSU taking a few leads here and there. Regardless of those few moments, WKU controlled the game other than a few ends of quarters, including the final quarter, when MTSU went on a run at the exact wrong time for the Lady Tops.
It was an old school matchup of two conference foes who have faced each other 72 times. It was a close game until the very end when MTSU guard Jalynn Gregory hit the first of three straight threes starting with 3:05 left in the game to give Middle the first lead since the end of the first quarter. At the two minute, Jalynn hit the second three after Alexis Mead of Western had tied the score. The third dagger with 36 seconds left put Middle up six and WKU could not recover.
In the post game interview, WKU Coach Collins said those three shots were off of defensive errors leaving Gregory with space and she made the most of those three chances after going a previous one for five. Essentially, without getting too technical, the expectation was for the Lady Toppers to go over the screen and not under. Hand down, man down. Unfortunately it was too much. WKU cut it to 4 with enough time for a miracle, but MTSU made free throws and it expanded out to a final margin of eight.
The Lady Toppers were led by senior guard Alexis Mead with 19 points. Mead was clearly bothered by multiple hits to a broken nose that she has dealt with for a few weeks. Somehow she stuck it out and just put out an absolute warrior effort.
Josie Gilvin had another double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Mackenzie Chatfield and senior guard Destiny Salary added 10 points each. Salary fouled out with a few minutes to play and that really took some wind out of the sails.
Zsofia Telegdy and Mariama Sow added six points each. MTSU lives on to fight another day and will face Liberty for a chance to win its third straight CUSA Championship and NCAA tournament berth. The Lady Toppers fall to 23-9 but hopefully will get a chance to play some more in the WNIT.
WNIT? Somehow, No.
First of all, the Lady Tops are a sub-100 ranking basketball team, so there’s certainly doubt that they could get a WNIT invite. They will absolutely not get an NCAA Tournament for those asking.
64 women’s teams are invited to the NCAA Tournament. In a much more lenient second option sits the WNIT. The men’s NIT only allows 32 spots, but the women’s tournament invites 64. This means in theory, the top 128 teams in the country play in the postseason.
It stands to reason that the Lady Toppers will probably get selected, but we are unlikely to know anything official until after the NCAA Selection Show Sunday night.
Update: Unbeknownst to us creating an article saying goodbye to the Lady Toppers after a much better season than last year, the powers that be in women’s basketball have changed the hierarchy, and the WNIT is actually the third option for women’s basketball. It’s the NCAA Tournament, then the WBIT (Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament), and the aforementioned WNIT.
WKU turned down the invitation to the WNIT. Given that WKU didn’t travel the pep band for the first two days of the Conference USA Tournament, the logic is almost certainly that they are trying to save money that won’t make money.
Also, WKU continues to take this stance that WKU is above a third-tier tournament. Devil’s advocate: If you keep the kids busy, they appreciate you because you let them to continue to play, and you keep them busier for longer and they are less likely to be able to transfer.
Regardless of the excuses, here’s my question: What about the kids? You know they would keep playing if they could. That’s all I’ll say.
Where Do They Go From Here?
Regardless of the WNIT options, it’s definitely time to start figuring out what this team is going to look like next season. Coaches will be working in the background to figure out what everyone is going to do.
WKU should return some good players, but they also lose impactful players, and then the question is always, “Who transfers?”
This team was exceptionally close, so do they stick together? Maybe. That would be ideal. There should be a lot of players that could step up and fill in the gaps Mead and Salary and Sow leave. Caleigh-Rose West is also listed as a senior but may have some eligibility left.
Those are most of the known concerns. In those three or four players, you have some size and an elite point guard that stuck with WKU her entire career in Alexis Mead. In Salary, the Lady Toppers lose a strong personality that could use athleticism to make game changing plays.
Sow brought size, and if we’re looking at Caleigh, as long as she is in academically good standing, she should have an extra year because of playing at junior college Iowa Western. Recently, the NCAA announced all JUCOs will receive extra eligibility. This applies to all sports and completely juggles the possibilities for any player that ever played in a junior college.
This affects players like Don McHenry, Caleigh-Rose West, and without looking, plenty of WKU players on the football and baseball rosters.
Potential Returners
WKU loses their two best players. Now, WKU does have a solid core that could return. Josie Gilvin made a monstrous step in the right direction this year, looking like a player on the edge of a massive senior season. Acacia Hayes is an obvious proven star. If she can be healthy, she is the most natural pure scorer on the Lady Toppers roster.
Zsofia Telegdy is also a huge piece that comes back and could average double digits next season. A center that can shoot? Yes please. Improve the rebounding and get better down low offensively, and she could be an impact player that teams fear in CUSA.
Mackenzie Chatfield is another player that stands to take Mead’s place as a starter. Taller and bigger than Mead, Mead’s tiny frame could sustain damage and at times could be a liability just from a length standpoint. Chatfield took a massive step forward this season from barely playing to part-time starter.
Mya Pratcher, Caleigh-Rose West, and Salma Khedr were all players that saw significant action this season that could definitely be part-time or full-time starters. Salma made her way out of the rotation, while Caleigh made her way in.
Friday, Tia Shelling made an appearance out of the blue at the end of the game, which was really interesting. She had not played since the FIU game the second to last game of the season, so it was a strange decision to put her in considering she has taken seven shots all season. Anyway, she received the next most minutes.
Lady Topper Needs for Next Year
The Lady Toppers lose (at least) two double digit scorers. They lose one of their biggest players (Mariama Sow), as well. Coming into the season, it looked like WKU was going to have huge size, and they just ended up playing fairly average sized players. With Alexis Mead graduating, WKU’s size will improve at guard. But WKU still needs size. With only a few players taller than 6’2” that played any minutes of significance, if WKU wants to compete with players from other teams like MTSU’s 6’7” Anastasia Boldyreva and Liberty’s 6’6” Bella Smuda, the Tops need to find some big girls that can run. Those two graduate, but the rest of the conference continues to find big bodies, and WKU hasn’t had a legitimate 6’4”+ girl of any account in a long, long time.
WKU also needs to find a true point guard, they need shooters, and they need to replace the athleticism and quickness they lose in their departures. Destiny Salary brought a little bit of everything, and Alexis Mead was the straw that stirred the drink. These are huge losses, but if they can keep their core and find a few nice pieces in addition to developing players, with Boldyreva and Smuda graduating, the Tops could be the class of CUSA next season.
Collins Heading into Year Seven
WKU Head Coach Greg Collins is an incredibly nice man. We heard so many good things from officials, CUSA personnel, players’ families, and others while we were down in Huntsville. Also, asking him questions was an interesting exercise, because when he talks to you, you really feel like he has respect for you. I’m way more impressed with him after having those interactions last week in Huntsville.
However, Greg Collins is heading into his seventh year. It’s no secret he was an internal replacement for Michelle Clark-Heard, who won four conference championships in her six seasons on The Hill, truly catapulting WKU right back into a mid-major power.
Collins started in 2018 as the head coach and has not won a regular season or conference championship in six seasons. Now, some bad luck has happened without question. One year, players got stuck out of the country because of COVID. Last year, Acacia Hayes went down to injury late in the season and the wheels fell off. Other seasons, the Tops had some decent results. A few years ago, WKU found its way to the championship game and played fairly well against MTSU before falling just short.
It’s fair to ask when Collins’ team takes the next step, and it’s also fair to ask if this last season was his best chance in all of his years during his tenure. This coming season could be, if they could keep their players and bring in some key pieces. This offseason should be interesting, but watch to see how the transfer portal goes. If WKU can keep its core and minimize the damage, they could roll with a few good recruits and take back over CUSA. If they have some bad luck, it could set back the program several years with no championship in sight.
Liberty Wins CUSA, Snaps MTSU’s Championship Streak, Gets 13 Seed in NCAA Tournament
Liberty Women’s Basketball did The Lord’s work last Saturday, beating MTSU in a thrilling battle. On behalf of all Topper fans (and the rest of CUSA), thank you Liberty!
Liberty hung around Middle all season, being within a game or two of the Blue Raiders. Heading into the final weekend, they needed to sweep the week against WKU and MTSU and they would be conference champs. They did it, winning the tiebreaker with MTSU, earning Conference USA’s number one seed. They confirmed their regular season by beating MTSU in the finals of the CUSA Tournament.
Liberty gets a respectable 13 seed and draws Kentucky at Kentucky. They have their work cut out for them Friday night, but they certainly have the depth, size, and athleticism to compete with some of the Power Five teams in women’s basketball.
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