Lady Toppers fall to the Lady Panthers 71-68

FIU outscores WKU 46-30 in the second half in front of 1153 fans to sweep the season series for the first time in 10 years.

Mar 03, 2024

The Western Kentucky Lady Toppers (15-15, 6-9 CUSA) have lost five in a row and eight of the last ten. Due to current tiebreakers, WKU finds themselves in fifth place currently awaiting other results this week. With only one game to go in the regular season, Western Kentucky desperately needs a win heading into conference tournament for myriad reasons, one of which being seeding. The Lady Toppers are massively struggling to score points without sophomore guard Acacia Hayes, and frankly it looks bleak without her presence. However, although yesterday will go down as yet another come-from-ahead loss, WKU actually looked like the better team than FIU. Can WKU put that effort out again against Liberty this coming Saturday and seal a five or six seed?

Tops Melt Down Against FIU, 71-68

Because we don’t want to relive it, we’ll be quick here. In case you don’t know what happened, WKU finally looked like itself yesterday. They were running, trapping, smiling (for once), and playing great defense while also having actual (or any) flow offensively for the first time since Acacia Hayes went down with injury against MTSU in January.

WKU held as much as a 16 point lead as late as 1:52 left in the third quarter. From there, WKU allowed FIU to score 31 points while only scoring 12 themselves. WKU committed seven of its 19 turnovers in the final 11:52. FIU had some serious luck, too in order to make this comeback a reality. There’s always something that’s just a little bad luck, and yes, that happened. WKU had a three and two other baskets literally bounced straight up off of the rim and settle into the basket from more than ten feet away. How rarely is it that a basket like that happens three times in a quarter? So there was a little bit of bad luck there for sure. Go figure that FIU shoots 27 percent from three and nails the three to win the game with ten seconds left.

But WKU had a 16 point lead with a quarter or so to play, melted down the 16 point lead to 12 before the end of the third quarter, quickly handed FIU life to start the second half, allowing a 6-0 FIU run to start the second half and some serious footing in the early third quarter, and finally, WKU was nursing a six point lead most of the fourth quarter just absolutely started throwing it away in the final two minutes. Every time down the court (or not even into the frontcourt), WKU would throw the ball away. Greg Collins had two timeouts and didn’t call them. For some reason, Josey Gilvin has looked to Caitlin Staley the last two games in crunch time and has not delivered a good pass in a good situation, nor has Caitlin handled the adverse situations in those moments. WKU had a chance to extend the game with ten seconds left, barely looked aware of what to do after a lengthy break plus a timeout, and ended up hoisting a desperate Destiny Salary three with four seconds left that barely touched backboard.

The CUSA Race Dynamics

Pending mid-week games, the current CUSA standings show MTSU (24-4 14-0 CUSA) will be the number one seed. A heavy favorite in their last two games this season and in the upcoming CUSA Tournament, if MTSU doesn’t ultimately cut down nets March 16, it will be the most shocking conference tournament loss since perhaps before most of the team in CUSA joined the league. Florida International (19-9) and Liberty (15-14) are tied in second at 10-4 in CUSA play. Louisiana Tech (12-17 6-8 CUSA) is now in fourth. WKU (15-15), Jacksonville State (11-16), and UTEP (11-17)is n are now tied in fifth. New Mexico State (11-17 5-10 CUSA) is in 8. Sam Houston (7-19) (2-12 CUSA) will stay in ninth place.

There are races within races within CUSA. There will be some shuffling especially in the last positions 4 through 8 in these last 1 or 2 games of the regular season. For WKU, we had thought the Tops would avoid the 8-9 matchup since Jacksonville State beat NMSU guaranteeing WKU could not fall below both teams, even if they lose. However, if WKU loses to Liberty, La Tech wins one of two between Sam Houston and MTSU, JSU beats Sam Houston, UTEP beats FIU, and NMSU beats FIU, WKU would actually fall to eighth place. Now, you do the math. If any one of those things go in WKU’s favor, they get at least the seven and probably the sixth. WKU likely owns tiebreakers on everyone but New Mexico State.

All of that being said, if WKU can win, they’ll be in great shape to get a four, five, or six seed. However, if WKU loses, they could potentially fall as low as eighth, but because of sheer odds, the Tops would likely not land below the six spot if they lose next Saturday.

Acacia Hayes Could Possibly Suit up In Huntsville

According to Coach Collins and other sources, Acacia Hayes’ rehabilitation has gone better than expected. There is a chance that she may return to play during the upcoming CUSA Tournament, which opens March 12th in Huntsville, Alabama. As of publication, WKU should finish no worse than a 6 seed, meaning they likely will not play until at least March 13th. Understating the obvious, Acacia has been a key player all season. Her return would definitely be a boost to the team and fan base. Acacia still leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg). Hopefully, she will be able to elevate the team to their full capability for the rest of the season, whether it is from the bench or in the game.

WKU is 2-4 since Acacia went down with her injury against MTSU. Honestly, that’s becoming a concerning record, and signs of a WKU skid were evident before Acacia went down, most notably with a horrifying overtime loss to Sam Houston, who had not won a Division I game in exactly two months when WKU played them. However, the WKU offense is the obvious loser in all of this. At least WKU could score with Acacia around, dropping in 81 against Sam Houston, for example. Since her injury, WKU is yet to score 70 points in a game, while with Acacia, the Tops scored at least 70 in 9 of 22 games. Having Acacia in any capacity would massively boost the Lady Tops if she were to come back at all before the end of the season.

Give a gift subscription

What Went Right against FIU

Steals - The Lady Toppers snagged 16 steals and were +3 against the Lady Panthers during the game. This is five above WKU’s average and one of the keys to keeping them in the game until the end.
Turnovers - Western Kentucky turned Florida International over 20 times in this game. FIU averages 18.3. This was a key to WKU’s early success.
Points in Paint - WKU scored 30 points in the paint but were -2 (32-30) against the Lady Panthers. This is a good sign offensively for WKU. Western needs this type of production for the rest of the season.
Three point Shooting Percentage: Holding FIU to 27.3% is good, considering FIU averages 31.5%.
Fast Break Points - WKU scored 18 fast break points. That’ll do every time. There’s no question WKU looked like its old self against FIU. They were aggressive and creating problems before FIU could settle into its offense and running out for easy buckets.
I’m trying to find more positive things, so I think we have to say this: Ultimately, WKU was the clearly better team for 37 minutes. They just didn’t finish. However, to see Western look like Western again was refreshing, and if it wasn’t for the ending meltdown, Lady Topper fans would be buzzing anew with hopes in CUSA Tournament in ten days.

What Went Wrong

Points off Turnovers Margin - The Lady Toppers were able to score 22 points off 20 turnovers, which is fine enough, but FIU scored 22 points off of 18 WKU turnovers. Unfortunately, that is net 0 margin. For WKU to be successful, this margin must be higher +8, especially when you are struggling to score in the half court.
Turnovers - WKU averages 15.2, so the 19 committed today especially since 10 turnovers were in the second half. Also, in a game like this, possessions are precious, and throwing up a hideous brick would be better than turning the ball over and give the team a chance to grab an offensive board.
Fouls - In this game, WKU committed 16 fouls. That’s being nearly in the bonus every period on average.
Fastbreak point margin - 18 to 12 a +6 is not enough. This stat needs to be around a +8 at absolute minimum.
Rebounding margin - This has been a negative almost all season as this team does not rebound well. But at -8 (42-34), the Lady Toppers were starving themselves of possessions, ultimately contributing to the collapse.
Second half - The Lady Toppers led the Lady Panthers 21 - 15 after the first period. WKU Extended the lead to 38-25 at the end of the half. After the half, FIU cut the lead to five 38-33 before a Teresa Faustino layup at the 7:42 mark. The Lady Toppers extended the lead up to 16 (56-40) with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. FIU cut the lead to 48-56 by the end of the third quarter. Another 3 minute drought, sees WKU lead cut to three before Odeth Betancourt hit a jumper to go back up by five with 6:48. WKU extends the lead to 62-68 on a Josie Gilvin layup with 2:53 left. WKU would not score again as FIU went on a 9-0 run, including Angena Belloso making the winning three point jumper with ten seconds left.

FIU was led by Kaliah Henderson’s 23 points and Olivia Trice’s 18 points.

WKU was led by Teresa Faustino’s 18 points, Alexis Mead's 17 points, and Josie Gilvan’s 11 points.

Next Time Out

The Western Kentucky Lady Hilltoppers (15-14, 6-8 CUSA) try to halt a five-game losing streak on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at E. A. Diddle Arena when they host the Liberty University Lady Flames (18-9, 9-4 CUSA) at 2pm on Senior Day. Both teams are battling for seeding at the CUSA Tournament, of course. Liberty needs to keep pace with FIU, and WKU needs to avoid an epic meltdown and get some kind of confidence heading in to postseason play. The Tops have not played good basketball since mid-January. It should be an exciting matchup if the Lady Toppers show up like they did against FIU. This time (all appendages crossed), hopefully they just finish the deal.

For anyone who is not able to make it to Diddle Arena, the game will be on ESPN+ at 1:00 pm CT. You can also tune into @thetowelrackwku on Twitter/X for build-up, live tweets, and reactions. While you’re at it, go ahead and check out the RedOut Podcast on Twitter/X and on YouTube. As always, we are your #1 source for unfiltered and honest WKU content!