WKU Womens Basketball is set to make its return to Diddle Arena on Halloween night, Oct. 31, as the Lady Toppers will host the Lane College Dragons in an exhibition contest.
“I think this team has a lot of potential,” Head Coach Greg Collins said. “I’m excited to see this team play.”
WKU is looking to head into this season riding on the momentum they created down the stretch in last year’s campaign. The Lady Toppers went 13-5 in their last 18 regular season games and built on that run with a trip to the Conference-USA championship game.
The Lady Toppers aren’t the only group that believes this 2023 squad can build off the momentum from last season. Behind heavily favored Middle Tennessee State, WKU finds themselves tied for second with Liberty in the conference’s preseason polls.
“Whether they pick us 12th or second or first, you still got to go out there in play,” Collins said. “Don’t put a lot of stock in what somebody else has said.”
Offensively, the Lady Toppers are coming off a high-scoring season. WKU ranked first in the conference in scoring offense averaging 73 points per game. The Lady Toppers also led the conference in total three pointers made with 193.
WKU retains many of their key talents from last year’s squad. Despite losing three of their top five scorers to the transfer portal, the Lady Toppers return the leading scorer from last years team, Acacia Hayes, as well as all C-USA preseason team member Alexis Mead.
WKU also welcomes four new freshman talents. Highlighting the freshmen is guard Navaeh Foster. Foster joins the squad as a member of AP’s all-state first team in the state of Indiana, and a top ten ranked prospect in the Hoosier state.
“They just keep getting better, almost every day you can see improvement,” Collins said of the freshmen. “Really excited about all those editions.”
The new-look C-USA comes into play for this year’s women’s basketball season. Four new teams join the running for a C-USA title including Liberty, New Mexico State, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State. Despite the conference losing six teams, C-USA still retained four of its top five teams from last season.
“I think the top is still very competitive,” Collins said. “I think this conference is still just as competitive if not more so than it was.”
Along with the tough competition in the conference, the Lady Toppers face a tough slate of non-conference games. WKU will play at least three Power 5 opponents including Vanderbilt, Kansas State and Oregon State in their non-conference slate. The Lady Toppers do have an opportunity to play more top tier talent in the Gulf Coast Showcase as Iowa and North Carolina are also taking part in the mid-season tournament.
Sports reporter Jake McMahon can be reached at [email protected].
