Lady Topper Hoops: WKU Struggles Against KWC, Steal It in the Fourth Quarter, 72–60

Western Kentucky women’s basketball is underway, but certainly, not in the fashion Head Coach, Greg Collins probably envisioned. WKU faced…

Western Kentucky women’s basketball is underway, but certainly, not in the fashion Head Coach, Greg Collins probably envisioned. WKU faced Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition and nearly left the building with an embarrassing exhibition loss.

The Lady Toppers struggled mightily in the first period, with Raneem Elgedawy starting out extremely cold and Dee Givens picking up three early fouls.

Wesleyan led by as many as ten in the first period before settling for a seven-point lead at the end of the quarter. The Lady Tops came out a little bit differently in the second, trimming down the lead by one and ultimately heading into the halftime break down a manageable six points.

Perhaps the tale of the first half is really told by looking at KWC’s three-pointers. WKU was 5-of-16 from behind the arc in the first half. However, Kentucky Wesleyan converted on 8-of-16, including a piping hot 6-of-10 in the first quarter.

Things cooled off for the Panthers in the second half, only shooting 6-of-25 and 4-of-17 from three. Western really ramped up the intensity in the second half, barely allowing K-Dub the chance to breathe. Western may not have had its best offense, but ultimately took control in the fourth with a 14 point run with 2:39 remaining in the game.

WKU ended up winning by 12 and led by as many as 15, but the game was absolutely in doubt until the final few minutes. For perspective, WKU only led for 8:17 of 40 minutes of game time.

News and Notes

• Dee Givens, despite foul trouble, continues where she left off last year. While she did take 22 shots, she scored 19 points, leading all scorers.

• Raneem Elgedawy was absolutely appalling in the first quarter, flipping up several strange-looking bricks in the general direction of the rim. She settled down and produced 50 percent shooting (6-of-12), scoring 15 and grabbing 16 boards. Ultimately, that is a mammoth amount of production, especially considering the slow start.

• Western’s defense seems much improved. WKU’s 2018–19 squad was on the verge of producing its worst defensive effort in recorded history before jelling down the stretch and pulling an ability to play defense out of nowhere. WKU only gave up 60 this game, which would have been tied for the sixth least all year last year and the lowest until its tenth game last season. Surely, this is a welcome sign for Topper fans. That’s already bucking a serious negative tendency.

• Whitney Creech had an all-around decent game, although she still continues with her shooting issues, going 2-for-8. At least she was not afraid to shoot the basketball. She did attempt two three-pointers, an improvement on last year when she did not attempt one for nearly half of the season and only attempted ten all year. Whitney scored 5,000 in high school and they weren’t all layups. Let it fly, girl! Creech added six rebounds and seven assists for a decent outing from the point guard position.

• WKU continues to struggle to defend the three-pointer. The Tops gave up 38 percent to KWC, something they battled mightily last year for much of the season.

Reaction

The Lady Toppers better not repeat this effort in 2019–20. Too many more scares from Division II and Greg Collins will be under some serious scrutiny. Sure, the Tops held them to 60 points, but that was only because they probably got chewed out by Collins at halftime. Whatever happened at halftime worked and the Tops came out ready to prove something in the second, allowing way less than 30 percent shooting in the second half.

WKU probably had an ability to hold Wesleyan under 50 if it came out with intensity and really got in their grille from the beginning. There was a tangible ho-hum type of start to the game, and a team that’s hungry to win doesn’t do that in its first chance to play someone else.

There are encouraging signs, like the usual suspects showing up and contributing, along with new faces making an impact, as well. Defensively, it’s a good job and hopefully a sign of good things that Western can hold an opponent that was mega hot at the beginning of the game to 60. That number will work on most nights.

All of those things are positive, but the Tops must come out ready to go the rest of the season. That was your warm-up. Congratulations. Your reward is the 9th ranked Louisville Cardinals on the road.

Last season, WKU got absolutely shred defensively in what was again the opening game of the season, giving up 104 points at home to the Cards. Can WKU improve on that effort from last season? Obviously WKU should have similar firepower, not losing a serious offensive contributor from a year ago. Can they play better defense?

Let’s find out Tuesday in Louisville.