Lady Toppers come up short against Liberty

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU women’s basketball (5-13, 1-6 CUSA) dropped a 55-53 decision to Liberty (9-8, 3-3 CUSA) on Thursday evening in E.A. Diddle Arena. The Lady Toppers will have a quick turnaround, hosting Delaware on Friday at 6:30 PM after the game was moved up due to weather.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Trinity Rowe, Torri James, Tia Shelling, Salma Khedr and Zsofia Telegdy were the first five on the court for WKU for the third consecutive game. The Lady Toppers jumped out to a 4-0 lead early, but the Flames outscored WKU 17-6 through the rest of the first quarter. The two teams went back and forth in the second quarter, and the Flames took a 33-23 lead into the second half.

The Lady Toppers came out strong in the third quarter, opening the frame on an 8-0 run that became part of a bigger 13-1 run to give WKU a 2-point lead. Just before the break, Liberty made a pair of free throws to tie the game going into the fourth quarter.

Telegdy put WKU ahead at the 8:49 mark, but Liberty tied the game on the next possession. Torri James made a basket to put the Lady Toppers back ahead, but the Flames rattled off a 6-0 run to go ahead by four with 6:29 left. The two teams traded baskets before Liberty scored four straight to take a 52-47 lead with 2:09 left in the game. A three from Telegdy cut the lead down to two with 1:49 left and then another three from Khedr gave WKU a 53-52 lead with 1:01 left. After empty possessions from Liberty and WKU, the Flames capitalized on their final possession to make a three with 9.4 seconds left to clinch a 55-53 win after WKU came up short in the final seconds.

QUOTABLE

“They fought hard,” said head coach Greg Collins. “We asked them before the game to play with pride, play hard, play with tremendous effort so that at the end of the game, regardless of the outcome, you’re proud, the fans are proud and your family is proud of what you did. They did that. We were just a possession, a shot, or a stop short.”

NOTABLES

• Salma Khedr led the team in scoring for the fifth time this season with 18 points. Over the last five games, the sophomore is averaging 14.2 points per game. It was her ninth double digit game of the season and the fifth time this season that she’s scored 15 or more.
• Zsofia Telegdy notched her second career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Telegdy has scored in double digits in five of the last six games and nine times total on the season.
• Trinity Rowe finished with six assists. It was the fourth time this season the sophomore has had five or more helpers.

UP NEXT

The Lady Toppers will host Delaware on Friday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 PM. The game was moved up due to predicted winter weather in the Bowling Green area.

The Blue Hens are 8-10 on the season and 2-4 in CUSA. Delaware has won two straight games coming into Friday’s game, including a 61-48 win at Middle Tennessee on Thursday night. Ande’a Cherisier is the team’s leading scorer, scoring 13.1 points per game. Lay Fantroy is the team’s leading rebounder, pulling down 8.2 boards per game.

It will be the first ever meeting between WKU and Delaware.