WKU set to play UALR in Sun Belt Conference semifinal

Austin Lanter

After a four-point win over Louisiana-Lafayette, the Lady Toppers will play Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the tournament semifinal.

UALR (22-7, 14-6 Sun Belt Conference) entered the conference tournament on an 11-game winning streak, with 10 of those wins against Sun Belt teams. The record was good enough to earn the Lady Trojans the No. 2 seed in this years tournament and a first-round bye.

The Lady Trojans are one of only 16 teams in the nation that have won at 20 games in each of the past seasons. UALR is also one of only 11 teams who have won at least 12 conference games during that same time span.

The two teams met twice this season, with the Lady Toppers coming out victorious by nine points in each game.

UALR had one player named to the all-conference team while WKU had two. Taylor Ford, a junior guard for the Lady Trojans, was named to the second team while WKU sophomores Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan were named to the first team.

The Lady Trojans are coming off of a 16-point win over Troy on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday, the team was lead by sophomore guard Taylor Gault who scored 22 points against Troy, accounting for around one-third of the teams 65 points.

The Lady Toppers were second third in the conference this year in field goal percentage shooting 42.5 percent on average. UALR, however, was second in the conference in the same category and is also first in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage on defense. The Lady Trojans only allow its opponents to shoot 33.2 percent from the field.

The two teams will meet Sunday with a trip to the conference championship game on the line. UALR has won back-to-back conference tournament titles while WKU is looking for its first title since 2008 and first under Coach Michelle Clark-Heard in her inaugural season.

The championship game will be on Monday at 1 p.m. in Hot Springs, Ark. and will be broadcast on ESPNU. The winner of this game will play the winner of the Middle Tennessee State-Florida International game, set for 12 p.m. Sunday.