Lady Toppers bounce back with comeback win in OT against Wichita State

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU women’s basketball bounced back with a 73-71 overtime win over Wichita State on Tuesday night in E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Lady Toppers (2-1) were down as much as 15 points in the third quarter to the Shockers (1-2) but clawed back to force overtime and claimed the victory in extra time behind four double-digit performances.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Torri James, Tia Shelling, Salma Khedr, Tatum Boettjer and Zsofia Telegdy were the first five on the court for WKU.

Wichita State scored the first points of the game, but WKU tied it up after a jumper from Mya Pratcher and a free throw from Tia Shelling. A three from the Shockers put Wichita State back ahead, but four straight points from Salma Khedr put WKU back on top. The Shockers hit another three, but the Lady Toppers closed out the quarter on a 9-2 scoring run to take a 16-11 lead into the second quarter.

Jeniffer Silva scored the first points of the second quarter, but Wichita State responded with a 9-0 run. Another Silva basket stopped the scoring drought, but the Shockers came back with four straight points. Silva scored again, but Wichita State closed the quarter with eight straight points to take a 32-22 lead into halftime.

WKU cut into that Wichita State in the third quarter, outscoring the Shockers 20-13 in the frame. Wichita State scored the first four points of the period, but a three from Shelling got WKU in the scoring column for the quarter. After trading baskets, the Lady Toppers rattled off an 8-0 run to get within six with 2:49 left in the quarter. The Shockers drained a three with 2:21 left, but WKU scored the final six points to cut it to three before the fourth quarter.

The two teams went back and forth in the fourth quarter. The Lady Toppers retook the lead for the first time in the second half on a 3-pointer from Shelling with 6:31 left to play. A minute later Wichita State retook the lead. That led to both trading baskets down the stretch. With 1:59 left, WKU was down one when Silva made a bucket off a feed from Shelling to put WKU back ahead. The Shockers came right back and made a shot of their own to retake the lead. Both teams had empty possessions in the final minutes. Wichita State had the ball after an out-of-bounds call against WKU with 14 seconds left with a one-point lead. The Lady Toppers quickly fouled with 11.2 seconds left. Silva came up with the steal on the Wichita State inbounds and immediately called a timeout with 9.9 seconds left. Telegdy found James in the paint on a designed play, and she was fouled on the shot. James went 1-of-1 from the free throw line, tying the game with 6.1 seconds left. The Shockers got the rebound after the missed free throw and called a timeout. A Wichita State player looked down court to make a lob, but Telegdy came up with a steal to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, WKU scored the first three points on free throws. Wichita State cut it to one with a layup with 2:11 left to play. The teams traded baskets, but a 4-0 run from WKU with just under a minute left put WKU ahead by four. The Shockers cut it down to two with a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left. The Shockers fouled on WKU’s next possession and Pratcher knocked down 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to put WKU ahead by three with 31 seconds left. Wichita State came right back and scored to cut it one with 21.4 seconds left. The Shockers fouled again, and Shelling made 1-of-2 from the line to go back ahead by two with 19.4 seconds left. WKU held strong on defense on the Shockers’ last possession, not letting Wichita State get a shot off.

QUOTABLE

“We may not win a lot of style points, but I don’t really care about style – just get to the end of the game,” said head coach Greg Collins. “Those games are always fun when you get to overtime. We kept talking about it in our huddles, that we’re learning. We’re trying to improve. Jen (Jeniffer Silva) got a big deflection on the out-of-bounds and got the ball and I called timeout. Then Zsofia (Telegdy) got a steal, and we dribbled with four seconds to go. We’re learning. I told them if you get a steal in the front court, we’ll take it, but if you get a steal in the backcourt, we’ll call a timeout. So, we’re learning from that. What we did learn, is we took care of the ball in the second half. We had 11 turnovers at halftime, and we had six turnovers in the entire second half and overtime. That’s what we’re learning.”

NOTABLES

• Tia Shelling led WKU in scoring with a career high 20 points to go along with six assists, four rebounds and two steals. The senior went 3-of-4 from the 3-point line on the night. She’s now had 5-plus assists in two of WKU’s three games this season.
• Jeniffer Silva notched her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a career high four blocks. Both the points and rebounds were career highs as well. She has scored in double figures in all three games for WKU so far this season.
• Torri James put up a career high 16 points and five rebounds. She went 12-of-14 from the free throw line. She’s the first Lady Topper to make 12 free throws since Dee Givens made 12 against North Texas on March 9, 2019. Her 14 attempts are the most since Meral Abdelgawad attempted 16 against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 10, 2022.
• Zsofia Telegdy joined the others in double figures with 12 points, a season high.
• Mya Pratcher pulled down a season high nine rebounds and tied her career high in blocks with two.
• WKU attempted 38 free throws in the game, the most for a WKU team since taking 39 against Colorado on Nov. 17, 2014. The Lady Toppers attempted 30 more free throws than Wichita State. WKU is 82-36 under Collins when taking more free throws than the opponent.
• The Lady Toppers outrebounded Wichita State, 43-36. WKU improves to 70-18 under Collins when outdoing the opponent on the boards. WKU had a season low 17 turnovers in the game. The Lady Toppers had 11 in the first half, but limited miscues in the second half and overtime with only six.
• Four players finished with double digit points for the second time this season.
• Through three games, the Lady Toppers have had three different leading scorers (Tatum Boettjer, Jeniffer Silva and Tia Shelling). WKU has won 36 games (36-70) under head coach Greg Collins when trailing at halftime. It was also the 15th game (15-82) the Lady Toppers have won under Collins when trailing with five minutes left in regulation. The Lady Toppers shot 46.9 percent (23-49) from the field during the game compared to Wichita State’s 38.7 percent (29-75). WKU is 91-16 under Collins when outshooting their opponents 98-34 when shooting better than 40 percent from the field.
• WKU improves to 81-21 under Collins when scoring 70-or-more points.

UP NEXT

The Lady Toppers continue their homestand with Indiana State on Friday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Diddle Arena.