Lady Toppers fall to FIU on senior day

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU women’s basketball (8-21, 4-14 CUSA) dropped a 64-60 decision to FIU (19-10, 12-6 CUSA) on Saturday afternoon in E.A. Diddle Arena to close out the 2025-26 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Seniors Tia Shelling, Caleigh-Rose West, Mya Pratcher, Zsofia Telegdy and Yendri Acosta started the game for the Lady Toppers.

The two teams went back and forth to start the game. After FIU tied the game, 7-7, with 3:56 left, WKU used a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead. The Panthers scored the final four points of the quarter to cut it to one going into the second quarter.

The Panthers opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run to take a 25-14 lead with 5:47 left in the quarter. West made a three that stopped the run and Trinity Rowe followed up with a three of her own after a made FIU basket. The Panthers scored again on the next possession, but a layup from Torri James and another three from Rowe cut the lead down to four with 1:24 left. Both teams stalled offensively. FIU made a free throw and scored a basket with 19 seconds left to take a 32-25 lead into halftime.

FIU opened the third quarter by outscoring WKU 11-5 to take a 13-point lead. From there, WKU outscored the Panthers 13-6 to make it a six-point game going into the final quarter.

WKU was down 12 with 5:28 left when the Lady Toppers came storming back with a 10-0 run, fueled by two threes from Rowe and baskets from Shelling and James. FIU scored on the next possession, but WKU cut it back to two with 38 seconds left. The Panthers were able to score with 18 seconds left and WKU’s final possession came up empty.

QUOTABLE

“I was proud that the girls kept fighting,” said head coach Greg Collins. “A lot of teams in this situation – we’re not proud of this record, t’s not what we’re accustomed to – but I’m proud they kept fighting. I told them at the end, they competed like we were competing for a championship, knowing that we weren’t going to get to play again. A lot of teams wouldn’t have done that.”

NOTABLES

• Trinity Rowe had a season high 24 points, one point shy of her career high. The sophomore was 7-of-9 from the 3-point line. She’s the first Lady Topper to make seven threes in a game since Dee Givens made seven at FIU on Jan. 17, 2019.
• Tia Shelling had 11 points for her eighth double digit performance of the season. She was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
• Salma Khedr scored 11 points as well. It was 15th double digit performance of the season.
• The Lady Toppers made a season high 11 threes in the game.