The Lady Toppers fell 83-77 in overtime at the preliminary round to Old Dominion on Tuesday evening in Frisco, Texas. WKU played the Monarchs three times in six days and the season came to an end on the neutral court.

“I was proud of how hard they fought,” Collins said. “It all comes down to execution and sometimes we’re our own worst enemies.”

The Lady Toppers shot 46% from the field, which was better than their opponents, who shot 41% from the field. The Lady Toppers also outrebounded the Monarchs 45-36. The Monarchs had 14 turnovers, whereas the Lady Toppers had 25.

WKU senior Raneem Elgedawy broke her career-high scoring 31 points and freshman Ally Collett tied her career-high of 16 points in the season finale against the Monarchs.

“As well as Raneem played tonight, we need her to play like that every night,” Collins said. “There’s things I know Raneem’s gonna work on in the offseason.”

The Monarchs won the opening tip-off and ODU junior Ajah Wayne would drill a three-pointer in the first possession. Elgedawy put in a layup to give WKU their first points of the evening.

At the first media timeout, the Monarchs were 1-of-7 from the field and the Lady Toppers had an 8-6 lead. With less than three minutes left in the first frame, the Monarchs were 1-of-10 from the field and were held scoreless by WKU for two minutes.

However, the Monarchs would go on a 6-0 run over the next two minutes to take a two point lead over WKU. However, WKU redshirt sophomore Myriah Haywood made a jumper with 11 seconds left to tie the game 14-14, and a foul on WKU junior Meral Abdelgawad would give her an opportunity to shoot at the line to take the lead. Abdelgawad would hit both to give WKU a 16-14 lead by the end of the first frame.

Haywood would start off the second quarter by hitting another jumper in the first minute to extend WKU’s lead to 18-16.

With 4:54 left before halftime, the Monarchs were having scoring problems as WKU was on a 13-3 run over the last five minutes. The Lady Toppers led 29-19 by the second media break.

With 50 seconds on the clock, the Monarchs had turned the ball over four times in the last six minutes. The Lady Toppers led the Monarchs 31-23 at halftime.

Elgedawy was WKU’s best first-half offensive performer, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds. Behind Elgedawy was WKU junior Meral Abdelgawad, who put nine points on the board and had five rebounds. 

At halftime, the Lady Toppers were 50% from the field while the Monarchs were 27% from the field. The Lady Toppers had 11 turnovers whereas the Monarchs had nine turnovers. The Lady Toppers were winning the rebound battle, outrebounding Old Dominion 21-17.

“All season we’ve been in a lot of close ball games,” Collins said. “I’m really proud of the resiliency and how they keep fighting.”

By the third quarter, the Monarchs started to get back into the game as senior Victoria Morris made a jumper to give WKU their first points of the third frame. Graduate Maggie Robinson would drill a three in the third minute of play to make it a three-point game and to put the Monarchs on a 6-0 run.

The Lady Toppers were scoreless from field goal range for the first four minutes of the third frame, notching their only point from WKU senior Fatou Pouye from the free-throw line.

By the third media timeout, the Lady Toppers only had a two-point lead as the Monarchs had put a dent in the halftime deficit, now trailing 35-33.

The Lady Toppers were not only on a scoring drought that lasted for the past two minutes, but they were 0-of-4 from the field and had committed five turnovers over the last four minutes.

In the last few minutes, the Lady Toppers lost the lead and would call a timeout shortly after trailing 40-37. The Monarchs were on a 9-2 run.

The Lady Toppers managed to get back into the game, hitting a few key shots in the final minute to trail the Monarchs 45-43 by the end of the third quarter.

Elgedawy made a layup in the first minute of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 45-45. Elgedawy would score another layup on the next possession to give WKU the advantage.

The Lady Toppers would take a 65-60 lead over the Monarchs with 20.5 seconds left, but a last minute run from the Monarchs would tie the game up 65-65 with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Lady Toppers would not score and the game would head into overtime.

Overtime

The Lady Toppers would win the overtime tip-off but would be unable to score on their first possession, but would draw the foul in the next possession to give WKU a 66-65 lead over the Monarchs.

With 3:08 left in the extra frame, the Monarchs had snatched the lead from WKU, now having a 71-67 lead. With 1:32 on the clock, the Lady Toppers trailed 73-71. At 28.9 on the clock, WKU called a timeout as Collett hit a three as the Lady Toppers trailed 79-77. 

With 20.1 seconds, the Monarchs took an 81-77 lead over WKU from the free-throw line. The Lady Toppers would pass the ball over to Ally Collett who would miss the three-pointer. WKU fouled Old Dominion at 5.7 seconds. 

The Lady Toppers fell short in overtime 83-77. WKU fell three times in six days to the Monarchs to conclude the 2021-21 season. 

Women’s basketball beat reporter Drew Toennies can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @drew_toennies.