Lady Toppers Drop Regular-Season Finale, Will Face ODU on Tuesday

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU women’s basketball found itself again on the losing end of another thriller at Old Dominion on Friday evening in Norfolk, Virginia, 57-55.

Raneem Elgedawy was WKU’s leading scorer with 14 points and 16 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. Meral Abdelgawad put up 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting along with nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Hope Sivori had 11 points, six assists, three rebounds and a steal.

The two teams traded baskets to start the game, but Old Dominion outscored WKU 17-10 in the first quarter thanks in part to a 9-0 Monarch run at the end of the frame.

The Lady Toppers started the second quarter with a 10-0 run to retake the lead. The teams went back and forth the rest of the quarter with WKU taking a 29-24 lead into halftime.

Old Dominion used an 11-2 run to start the third quarter to take a four-point lead. The Monarchs outscored WKU 23-10 in the third period, taking a 47-39 lead into the final quarter.

Abdelgawad started the fourth quarter with back-to-back layups to cut that lead to four. A few minutes later, WKU went on an 8-0 run to take a 53-52 lead with 2:42 left. Both teams went on a scoring drought for the next minute, but Old Dominion made a layup at 1:14 to go back ahead. Elgedawy scored 37 seconds later to put WKU back ahead. Old Dominion made three free throws to end the game.

The Lady Toppers had a season-low 13 turnovers in the game while forcing Old Dominion into 15. WKU also won the battle in the paint, 36-24.

Elgedawy now has 990 career rebounds, moving her into seventh place in WKU’s record book, passing Ivy Brown.

WKU will travel to Frisco, Texas next week for the Conference USA Championship at the Ford Center at The Star. The full bracket will be announced on Sunday after all games have concluded, but WKU is locked into the seventh seed in the East and will face the six-seeded Old Dominion on Tuesday in the first round.