Lady Toppers Fall in Overtime Thriller
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Another tough battle ended in a loss for WKU women’s basketball. The Lady Toppers dropped a 79-74 decision to Charlotte on Thursday afternoon in overtime. After falling behind by 10 in overtime, WKU battled back to get within one with 40 seconds left but were unable to complete comeback.
“This one stinks, because they did everything well enough to win the game,” said head coach Greg Collins. “There were just some plays down the stretch that hurt us. Some were our own doings, some were my fault. At the end of the day, we’ve been talking about before you learn how to win big games you have to learn how to not lose big games.”
WKU moves to 14-7 on the season and 7-3 in Conference USA. Charlotte holds on to its top spot in the C-USA East division with a 6-1 record in league play.
WKU had four in double figure points. Meral Abdelgawad secured her 11th 20-point game of the season with 20 points along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Macey Blevins had her ninth double digit game of the season with 13 points. Alexis Mead dished out a game high six assists along with her 10 points. Hope Sivori came in off the bench to provide 10 points.
Gabby McBride enjoyed a career game with career high six points and two steals and tied her career best in rebounds with five and assists with two. Jaylin Foster led the Lady Toppers on the boards with nine rebounds, tying her career high. Mya Meredith added eight points and seven rebounds.
The game got off to a sluggish start with Charlotte shooting 23 percent from the floor and WKU shooting 35 percent. The Lady Toppers led 15-8 and were also outrebounding the 49ers 15-8 at the end of the first period. Charlotte outscored WKU 19-12 in the second quarter to tie it up going into halftime.
The Lady Toppers had their best offensive quarter in the third, scoring 26 points and shooting 63 percent from the field. Abdelgawad and Blevins each had eight points in the frame and Mead dished out four assists. WKU was able to push their lead out to 53-45 heading into the fourth.
With 4:40 left in the fourth quarter, Charlotte scored five straight points on a free throw and two baskets to cut the game to three points. Mead scored on the following possession to give WKU a five-point lead, but the 49ers came down and hit a three to get within two. Meredith put WKU ahead by four on the next play with a layup, but WKU gave up a pair of free throws with 1:16 left. After a WKU turnover, Charlotte was able to get off a pair of threes before the ball was tied up and the possession turned over to the Lady Toppers. With seven seconds left, WKU ran a play but was unable to score and then fouled with less than two seconds left. Charlotte made both free throws to send the game to overtime.
Charlotte started overtime on a 10-0 run. Sivori made a pair of free throws and then made good on an and-one to cut it to five. Abdelgawad then got an and-one of her own to get WKU within four. With 40 seconds left, Mead made a three from the corner to cut it to one and then drew an offensive foul to get the ball back. It looked as if a layup from Abdelgawad gave WKU the lead, but she was called for a travel. Down one with six seconds left, WKU was forced to foul. Charlotte made both free throws. With five seconds left, WKU turned the ball over.
