The Lady Toppers (17-9, 10-5 C-USA) lost back-to-back games after losing 75-55 to Old Dominion (20-6, 10-4 C-USA) Saturday afternoon at Chartway Arena in Norfolk,Va. 

The Lady Toppers’ shooting woes from the Charlotte loss carried into the matchup against the Lady Monarchs. They shot 19-of-57 and 2-of-16 from behind the three-point line. 

WKU started slowly, seeing ODU get off to a 10-2 run to begin the game. The Lady Toppers had a hard time moving the ball against the Lady Monarchs, only mustering eight assists for the game and turning the ball over 18 times. WKU did score well inside, scoring 34 points in the paint. 

“It’s hard for us to stay in ball games when we’re not really making any shots,” WKU head coach Greg Collins said. “It just seems like layups won’t go in, threes aren’t going in, and we missed free throws and that just makes it worse. I think it’s a little bit of a hangover from our game at Charlotte, like we still are not seeing that ball go in.”

The WKU defense was mediocre against Old Dominion. The Lady Toppers struggled guarding the Lady Monarchs on the perimeter, ODU shot 28-of-72 from the field and shot 6-of-22 from behind the three-point line. Old Dominion also won the rebound battle 51-39 and scored 11 points in transition. WKU’s defense allowed 34 points in the paint and only forced 11 ODU turnovers.

“We lost some of our rotations, we couldn’t get back to our zone fast enough,” Collins said. “When we were in man, they would dribble right by us too fast and too quickly. That’s what you see with juniors and seniors who are just bigger and faster than us.”

Senior forward Meral Abdelgawad scored 16 points in the loss, and freshman forward Jaylin Foster nearly had a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. The standout player of the game was ODU senior guard Aziah Hudson. She scored 22 points on 4-of-5 (80%) shooting from behind the three-point line.

WKU got off to a slow start in the first quarter, only scoring seven points. The Lady Toppers started the second quarter on a 6-0 run and started to look like their usual selves. Abdelgawad scored six points in the quarter, and WKU outscored ODU 12 to 11 in the second quarter. Despite outscoring the Lady Monarchs in the second quarter, the Lady Toppers still trailed 33-19 at halftime.

WKU scored 19 points in the third quarter while shooting 7-of-17 (41.2%) and seemed to be getting back to their usual high-octane offense. The defense was the problem. They allowed 26 Lady Monarch points on 10-of-17 (58.8%) shooting from the field. WKU had five turnovers in the third period and ODU had one. ODU led 59-38 going into the fourth quarter.

Collins’ squad played hard in the fourth, but it was not enough to beat the Lady Monarchs. WKU outscored ODU 17-16 in the final quarter but lost the game 75-55.

The Lady Toppers have a week until their next game where they play Middle Tennessee Saturday at 2 p.m. in Diddle Arena.

“We’ll take Monday off, and we’ll come back and get back to work on Tuesday,” Collins said. “We are going to get ready for Middle Tennessee. Hopefully, we’ll make some shots at home.”

Women’s Basketball Reporter Joseph Thompson can be reached at [email protected].