WKU Women’s Basketball prepares to enter conference play, traveling to Lynchburg, Virginia to face Liberty University on Jan. 6 at 1p.m. CST in their first CUSA matchup of the season.
WKU currently holds a 9-6 record and sits third in the conference behind Middle Tennessee State and Florida International, respectively. Liberty holds a record of 5-10, placing them last in the conference.
Liberty sits dead last in C-USA in points per game averaging 62.4 a contest. The Flames leading scorer, redshirt junior Bella Smuda, averages 13.2 points per game. Smuda also has a total of 135 rebounds in the season.
As a team, the Lady Toppers average 68.1 points per game which is fifth best in the conference.
WKU tends to be a second half team, often putting up the most points in the third and fourth quarters. Over the course of the season, the Lady Toppers have collected 611 total points after halftime compared to 411 total points in the first two periods.
Key Lady Toppers in the 2023-2024 lineup are senior guard Teresa Faustino, senior guard Destiny Salary, senior forward Odeth Betancourt, junior guard Alexis Mead and sophomore guard Acacia Hayes.
Hayes tends to see the most time on the court averaging 30.7 minutes per game. Both Mead and Faustino see ample playing time as well.
Individually, Salary and Hayes are the leading scorers for the Lady Toppers. Salary averages 16.8 points per game with Hayes close behind, averaging 16.5 points per game.
Sophomore guard Karris Allen leads the team in rebounds with a total of 76 this season, averaging 5.4 per game.
Betancourt shoots a cumulative 50% from the field. She is the team’s second leading rebounder with 64.
Sports reporter Molly St. Clair can be reached at [email protected].
