Lady Topper Hoops: WKU Victorious in a Thriller at Home for Education Day, 69–65 Over UAB
Have you ever had your inside a bucket and screamed a high pitched squeal? That was Diddle Arena Thursday morning around 11:00. Western…
Have you ever had your inside a bucket and screamed a high pitched squeal? That was Diddle Arena Thursday morning around 11:00. Western Kentucky hosted UAB in a huge game for both teams. It was Education Day on the Hill, as the vast majority of the 5,122 fans were underage.
Western Kentucky (9–5, 1–2 C-USA) was on a three-game slide coming into the game after starting the season at 8–2 and looking like an at-large contender for the NCAA Tournament. After a loss to Purdue and two losses to teams outside of the top 150, WKU returns to the win column against a Conference USA Women’s Basketball dark horse in UAB (9–6, 1–2 C-USA).
Both teams are still trying to climb out of holes they have dug for themselves early in the conference season. WKU lost in a shocker to North Texas and also lost to preseason favorite Rice. UAB has now suffered losses to WKU Thursday and lost to Charlotte while defeating Old Dominion.
UAB gets a chance now with the soft part of the schedule to get back to its winning ways. However, WKU draws MTSU and then heads to ODU and Charlotte.
I digress…
WKU came out against UAB and took an early lead, rarely relinquishing it but also squandering plenty of opportunities to put the Blazers away. Despite being up as many as eight in the first quarter, the Tops and the Blazers headed into the second quarter tied at 20. Defenses from both teams would tighten up the rest of the game, with both teams allowing no more than 49 in the remaining three quarters.
WKU would again hold a decent lead in the second but would settle for leading by three at the half, 37–34. A continuing theme, UAB would take a few leads in the third, but WKU would immediately respond. Ultimately, UAB won the third quarter by one, 16–15. Bringing a two-point lead into the fourth, Diddle (and its 5,000 pubescent observers) was antsy.
Early in the fourth, hearts were pounding wondering if WKU would find a way to mess this up and start 0–3. However, after a few minutes of indecision and sloppy play by both teams, WKU took back and kept its final lead with 6:28 remaining. Although the margin would never get higher than six, very few opportunities were available for UAB to pounce and tie the game or take a lead going forward. WKU buckled down and made big shot after big shot, despite UAB often doing the same.
Ultimately, WKU would stymie the Blazers and come away with a hard-fought four-point victory in thrilling fashion after UAB had a late chance to tie or take the lead.
Raneem Elgedawy drew two early fouls and sat much of the game, having one of her worst games of the season. She also sat much of the second half, only seeing 14 minutes in a head-scratching series of decisions by Greg Collins.
Everyone else played well statistically or contributed in some way. Dee Givens was not explosive offensively, but she dropped in 75 percent shooting and (barely) led the team in scoring with 14. Four players were in double digits and Raneem (in one of her worst games all year) only had eight in fourteen minutes.
Alexis Brewer (4-of-7, 3-of-4 threes, 13 points, two assists) was excellent off of the bench. Western’s bench was a huge factor, shooting 7-of-14, 3-of-4 from three (all Brewer), and 21 points. Frankly, the bench battle won the game for WKU, as UAB’s bench played way more minutes and only logged 12 points from five players playing between five and 20 minutes.
A total nailbiter with tons of excitement, the Tops had only drawn two fouls with about 30 seconds to play. UAB had the ball to tie or take the lead, and with about seven seconds left, UAB drove, attempted to take a shot, and Whitney Creech stole the ball and WKU called time with less than six seconds remaining.
UAB had only committed two fouls by this point, so UAB fouled quickly three times, eventually sending Alexis Brewer to the line for two free throws with 3.4 remaining. Brewer nailed the two free throws and UAB missed a three at the buzzer to lose by four.
Next Time Out
As a reward for excellent performance and a gutsy win, the Lady Tops draw top 50 caliber MTSU in the next edition of 100 Miles of Hate Saturday at 2 PM in Diddle Arena. MTSU has had several huge wins, and consequently, they sit with a similar record to WKU (10–5 to WKU’s 9–5) and have an absolutely legitimate argument for an at-large bid if they keep up their great play in 2020. This is not the Middle of the past few years: This team could win deep into March.
All Rick Insell 3'3" child on a Little Tykes stool in the locker room jokes aside, this is a huge barometer game for WKU. Win and the Tops are back in the hunt and in control of their destiny in C-USA. Lose and they are now sitting at 1–3 with little margin for error. It does seem like these good teams are going to beat each other up, but with only fourteen games before pod play, losing more than about three games means your team could be on the outside looking in and unable to find a four seed for a first-round bye.
If your respective C-USA team does not achieve a first-round bye, that team has to win four games in four days against better teams. Getting a bye means only three games to a championship. It’s a huge obstacle to prevent.
WKU must be firing on all cylinders, and I daresay if Elgedawy or another major player gets in foul trouble, someone better be in serious foul trouble with Middle, as well. Otherwise, WKU may find itself down double digits in the first half.
This will be a great barometer for Greg Collins in his second year for a variety of reasons. Without question, this could be the most pivotal game of the season so far for WKU.