The Lady Toppers unofficially kicked off their 2021-22 season by defeating the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets 112-72 in an exhibition match at Diddle Arena on Wednesday night.

The Lady toppers controlled the game defensively and converted easy buckets in transition.  Prior to tip-off, head coach Greg Collins shared he wanted the team to come out with defensive intensity and score in transition.

“I wanted to maintain the defensive focus and intensity the entire game, you’re not playing 37 minutes, you’re playing 23, so you shouldn’t be taking plays off,” Collins said.

The Lady Toppers played suffocating defense all night, holding the Yellow Jackets to 36% shooting from the field and forcing 37 turnovers, converting those opportunities into 39 points. 

11 of 12 Lady Toppers scored in the well-balanced tune-up match, totaling 112 points on 57% shooting from the field, 45% from behind the three-point line (10-of-22). The team as a whole had 25 assists. 

“This is a good test for our team, anyone can get hot when you keep giving them the ball, but when you keep moving the ball and everyone scores we are going to be a really hard team to beat,” freshman guard Alexis Mead said.

The Lady Toppers also received 65 points of offense from their bench. Freshman forward Jaylin Foster led the non-starters in scoring. Freshman guard Mya Meredith chipped in 14 points on her birthday.

“It’s going to be really hard for teams to scout us, because at any time anyone can score and we showed tonight that we have a really deep bench and everyone meshes really well. I think it’s going to be special this year,” freshman guard Jenna Walker said, 

Senior forward Meral Abdelgawad had a solid night as she further embraces her veteran leadership role. She scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. Mead scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from deep.

Both teams played full court defense the entire game, wanting to play up-tempo. The Yellow Jackets started the game hot from the three point line, draining three shots from deep in the first quarter.

The Yellow Jackets began the second quarter with a one point lead, but the Lady Toppers locked in defensively and turned the Yellow Jackets over 11 times in the second frame alone. WKU scored 37 points in the second quarter compared to just 11 from the Yellow Jackets. Meredith and Foster provided the spark the Lady Toppers needed to pull ahead in the first half.

The Lady Toppers came out of halftime and scored five unanswered points, maintaining their momentum. Macy Blevins hit two big three pointers in the quarter to extend the lead to 30.

WKU pressed the entire game, preventing the Yellow Jackets from getting into an offensive rhythm. 

“It was fun for the kids to hear the fans cheer and support them again, it was really nice to have that again,” Collins said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

WKU will host Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 10 to officially start the season.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Marshall C. Canupp

West Virginia State University Yellow Jacket sophomore guard ZZ Russell struggles with the ball against WKU Lady Toppers’ sophomore guard Teresa Faustino (14) and senior guard Medal Abdelgawd (4) during their exhibition game on Nov. 3, 2021, at Diddle Arena.

Women’s basketball reporter Joseph Thompson can be reached at [email protected].