Despite the absence of junior guard Alexis Govan for the second consecutive game, the Lady Toppers came away with an 86-69 victory on the road against Troy in their second Sun Belt Conference contest of the season.

The win marks the ninth straight victory against the Lady Trojans and improves the Lady Toppers’ overall record against Troy to 15-1.

Govan, who leads WKU in scoring at 16.5 points per game, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left tibia and is expected to return later this month.

The Lady Toppers jumped out to an early 11-2 lead in the first 4:29 of the game behind seven points from junior forward Chastity Gooch. WKU used four three-pointers from Micah Jones to extend its lead before heading into halftime with a 51-37 advantage.

Gooch tallied 18 points and eight rebounds in 16 first-half minutes. Jones recorded 14 points, redshirt freshman forward Kendall Noble chipped in a career-high nine points and senior guard Chaney Means had six of the 13 Lady Topper assists through the first 20 minutes.

Troy pulled within 11 points with 11:27 remaining in the second half before a Jones layup extended the Lady Topper lead back to 13.

WKU maintained a sizeable lead throughout the remainder of the second half to secure an 86-69 road victory over the Lady Trojans.

Gooch finished with a career-high 30 points to go along with 16 rebounds while Jones and Noble added career-highs of 20 and 12 points, respectively.

The Lady Toppers will be back in action on Jan. 8 versus Georgia State at 11:30 a.m. in Diddle Arena.