WKU Women’s Basketball rode a fast start through their home-opener Saturday, dominating the Kentucky State Thorobreds 104-49.
The Lady Toppers pulled out fast scoring a layup in just the first four seconds of play. They turned a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter into a 40-18 lead halfway into the second quarter, creating enough separation to put the nail in the coffin early.
It was an efficient scoring night for the Lady Toppers as they shot 52% from the field to go along with 50% from three-point range.
WKU was led by graduate guard Destiny Salary who had 18 points along with three rebounds and three assists. The Lady Toppers had four other players in double figures behind Salary with senior forward Mariama Sow pouring in 17 points off the bench.
“It was good for some of those, Destiny, Acacia (Hayes) hit some threes, to see those shots fall in… Acacia is not an 0-6 shooter and Destiny isn’t a 3-10 shooter so it was good for them to kind of see the ball go in tonight,” Head Coach Greg Collins said.
WKU made it hard for Kentucky State to get anything going on the offensive end as they forced 36 turnovers, 19 being steals.
“If you want to be disruptive on defense you have to put yourself in spots to get deflections… I think Acacia really got in that spot and Mackenzie (Chatfield) tonight really showed if you read it well enough you’ll put yourself in places to get steals,” Collins said.
FIRST HALF
The Lady Toppers wasted no time getting their offense going, taking a commanding 16-4 lead halfway through the first quarter. WKU was able to get out and run, scoring their first points of the game in just four seconds.
To begin the second quarter WKU went on a quick 14-2 run to take a comfortable 40-18 lead going into the media timeout. It was all Lady Toppers in the second quarter, outscoring Kentucky State 31-11 going into halftime with a dominating 58-25 lead.
The active hands from WKU were too much for the Thorobreds as the Lady Toppers came away with seven second quarter steals. The Lady Toppers turned defense into offense scoring 16 points off of turnovers.
SECOND HALF
The Lady Toppers did not let up out of halftime as they came out with all of the energy going on a 17-6 run before a media time out. WKU was led by guard Alexis Mead who had seven of the team’s 19 points in the third quarter to extend the Lady Toppers lead to 35 at the end of the third 77-42.
The Thorobreds could get nothing going in the fourth quarter due to the stifling defense of the Lady Toppers which forced four turnovers just six minutes into the quarter. WKU took an 89-42 lead going into the media timeout after Sow put up seven of the team’s 12 points. After the media timeout WKU did not let up, only allowing seven points in the fourth quarter while the Lady Toppers piled on 27 points to take a dominant 104-49 win.
WKU will travel to Marcon, Georgia to take on the Mercer Bears, Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Sports Reporter Peyton Reid can be reached at [email protected].
