Lady Topper Notebook: Tops Sweep the Week, C-USA Top Half Still Jumbled
The Western Kentucky Lady Toppers have been fighting an uphill battle through all of conference play. After dropping two on the road to…
The Western Kentucky Lady Toppers have been fighting an uphill battle through all of conference play. After dropping two on the road to current conference undefeated Rice and a head-scratcher at also-ran North Texas, WKU was in a huge, unexpected hole.
According to season performance up to that point, WKU was a favorite in both, although Rice is actually a very good that is proving it right now at 9–0 in C-USA. North Texas was the real surprise, though. UNT is now 3–6 in C-USA and 9–12 overall. Not only is that a bad loss for the at-large resume (Lady Tops are considered the First Four Out by ESPN), but it also dug the Tops into a must-win type of situation early in the year.
Thankfully for Western fans, the Tops stepped up and won three of four against conference favorites UAB, MTSU, Old Dominion (loss), and Charlotte. Thanks to that four game stretch, it put the Tops back in the hunt and has given the Tops current tiebreakers on all three of the teams they defeated. ODU seems to be running away with the two seed, up two games with nine games to play and looking dominant.
Now WKU finds itself in a much nicer position, though. With these two wins, Western now sits in fifth, tied with MTSU and UAB in the loss column but a half game back of those two. Charlotte and UTEP sit a game below the Tops at 5–4. Now if WKU can simply beat UTEP, Middle, and Charlotte along with winning maybe as few as three other games, WKU would still probably be looking at a bye in the C-USA Tournament.
In other words, the Tops could likely mess up a few times and still have a chance to get the most important piece to winning a championship from the regular season: Getting a C-USA Tournament bye by being a top four seed.
So what did WKU do this week?
Thursday vs. FAU, W 68–59
The Lady Tops were heading into the week needing to take care of business. Although the Lady Tops traded leads with FAU and led by as few as one point with 4:33 remaining in the first half, WKU would win each of the first three quarters by at least three points each.
Ultimately, WKU would explode to a 26 point third quarter, doubling up the Owls 26–13 coming out of the break. Up 20, Western would then go on cruise control in the fourth, allowing FAU back within single digits with 33 seconds remaining. Ultimately, WKU would win by nine points, never truly feeling significant scoreboard pressure after midway through the second period.
Raneem Elgedawy and Dee Givens were the only Lady Toppers in double figures, but they did both score 25 or more points. Raneem threw in 28 points on 16 shots and grabbed 18 rebounds in 28 minutes. Dee had 25 points on 18 shots, still missing a significant portion of her threes (3-of-12 shooting from three) but also grabbing six boards.
Whitney Creech was the only other Topper of positive note, scoring nine with five assists (to one turnover) and four rebounds. Everyone else was 2-for-20, 0-for-10 from three, and dropping in a total of six points.
Clearly, WKU can’t function with three players making the difference in the game (WKU won by nine and the rest only scored six points). Sherry Porter and Meral Abdelgawad — both of the other starters — were struggling Thursday. The other three had to be great to overcome their anemia. With a bench that is not a point producing unit, it puts pressure on the five starters to throw something up on the scoreboard.
Ultimately, WKU shot 36 percent from the floor, had three players that contributed anything of significance, and beat a decent team by 20 after three quarters. In near garbage time, the Owls stormed back to give themselves a remote chance, but it was all window dressing. WKU was pretty much going to win after a few minutes into the second half.
Saturday vs. FIU, W 71–51
This was much more of a struggle than the final score indicates, but runs at the end of each of the quarters ruined the Golden Panthers’ upset bid. FIU (5–16, 2–8 in C-USA) had momentum from upsetting Marshall in Huntington Thursday, so they came out looking great and shutting WKU down.
Ultimately, WKU would figure the FIU Golden Panthers out, outscoring them 65–39 after a 12–6 start for FIU. However, FIU would hang around and not surrender the lead until late in the second quarter. WKU would go on a 15–3 run to end the second quarter after the final media timeout at 4:50 in the second quarter.
WKU would come in the third quarter and sputter, struggling to extend its lead. However, with a little less than three minutes remaining in the third, Western would go on another 9–0 run to finish the frame. With a 17 point lead, the Lady Tops would hold no less than a 14 point advantage, stretching it out to as many as 25 points and finishing with a final margin of 20, 71–51.
The Lady Toppers were much more balanced this game, especially in the first half. Each of the five starters had at least five points and a rebound heading into the halftime break.
Sherry Porter did go down holding some kind of leg injury in the second half. She would not return to the game. No news has come out about her status, nor has she posted or said anything on social media. Despite the injury, it was great to see her get out of recent slump. Sherry dropped in nine points this game, something she had not done since December 15 when she dropped in 18 at Samford. Sherry has had four games with zero points since then, including the previous two before snapping out of it at FIU.
Dee Givens and Raneem Elgedawy were good again against FIU, combining for 40 points and 19 rebounds. Raneem had her 14 rebounds three minutes into the fourth quarter, again amassing a ridiculous rebound total. This marks the tenth time Elgedawy has grabbed at least ten rebounds. By averaging 16 this week, she raised her rebounding average to 10.5 per game. Raneem now leads the Lady Tops in scoring, as well, raining in 17.5 points per game while averaging less than 30 minutes per game.
Lady Tops One Spot from At-Large Bid
The Lady Tops moved another spot closer to the field, while conference mate Old Dominion moved more squarely into the field, as well. Middle Tennessee, who WKU beat, is also from C-USA. WKU also played and defeated Oklahoma and Samford on this list.
Rice is leading the conference, so Creme has them as the automatic bid from C-USA. Charlotte is also a quality team that could work its way onto this list by winning the rest of its games. Charlotte will play arguably the toughest schedule remaining in C-USA, still needing to face Old Dominion, Rice, WKU, and MTSU before the end of the season. Charlotte gets ODU, WKU, and MTSU for a second time this season.
It seems increasingly likely if these teams continue to dominate inferior competition that at least two of these five teams will end up in the NCAA Tournament in March. That would be incredible for Conference USA. All five of these teams mentioned sit comfortably in the top 100 in the current NCAA Women’s Basketball RPI.
Coming up This Week…
WKU takes on Louisiana Tech in Ruston Thursday. Then they head to Southern Miss on Saturday. Although both are 3–6 or worse in conference, both pose unique threats and create match-up issues for WKU. Southern Miss is always incredibly coached by their legendary leader, Joye Lee-McNelis. La Tech slows the game down, scoring and allowing points in the mid-60s. WKU will need to produce enough to overcome two teams that scrap defensively and create problems in different ways. Both of these squads should be respected by the Lady Tops.
If WKU can again sweep this week, the Lady Tops will either sit within two games of first place or be in no worst than a tie for fourth.
Around C-USA…
With UAB and Middle both facing Rice this week, at least two losses will fall somewhere in the top four of the league. If WKU can just hold serve and take care of business, the Tops will be in an even better spot than current. Most likely, WKU would be sitting a game ahead of MTSU and UAB, but Rice is due to lose at some point to all of these quality teams in C-USA. If any of the top five sweep, they will all jump at least one spot or put themselves in a much more dominant position.
Charlotte and ODU both face UTEP, so this is another chance to either jumble up the standings or create a clear gap between the top four or five in the league. If ODU can extend its winning streak (seven in a row) this week, the Monarchs could sit in first with a Rice stumble, or without a doubt, they will sit no less than two games ahead of third place. Old Dominion gets Rice at home next week, so that match-up could decide that regular season conference champion.
There are lots of exciting games on the women’s side of Conference USA Women’s Basketball this week, so stay tuned for more information on these exciting match-ups.