WKU Women’s Basketball defeated Sam Houston State 76-60 on Wednesday, Jan. 10 in E.A. Diddle Arena, extending their overall record to 11-6.
WKU had a high scoring first half, leading Sam Houston 50-31 heading into the locker room. Sophomore guard Josie Gilvin closed the first half with a breakaway layup in the last seconds, giving the Lady Toppers the 19 point advantage.
Scoring slowed down for the Lady Toppers in the second half, but not enough for SHSU to close the gap.
Overall, WKU capitalized on SHSU turnovers with the Bearkats giving up 16 in the first half and five in the second half. However, WKU ended the game with 17 turnovers themselves along with 20 fouls.
WKU shot 50% from the field and 66.7% from the free throw line. The Lady Toppers out-rebounded the Bearkats 38-37. Additionally, the Lady Toppers had five blocks on the night.
Senior forward Odeth Betancourt, sophomore guard Acacia Hayes, senior guard Teresea Faustino, junior guard Alexis Mead and senior guard Destiny Salary started for the Lady Toppers.
Salary and Hayes were frequent names echoed in Diddle Arena during the Wednesday night matchup. Salary posted 19 points, eights rebounds and saw 32 minutes on the court. Hayes put up 17 points.
Furthermore, Mead had a strong game with eight assists on the night. Betancourt also recovered eight rebounds and put up 13 points.
As the Lady Toppers head into their third C-USA matchup of the season undefeated in conference play, Head Coach Greg Collins intends to stick to the game plan that has proven successful thus far.
“The main thing we [the team] want to keep doing is we want to be consistent,” Collins said. “There’s not a lot of changes. It’s just a matter of the change we want is improvement.”
The Lady Toppers play Saturday, Jan. 13 in Jacksonville, Alabama, facing the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
