Ball movement and balanced scoring leads Lady Toppers to dominant win

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU women’s basketball won its fifth straight game on Saturday afternoon in E.A. Diddle Arena with an 82-49 victory against Sam Houston.

WKU (14-5, 5-2 CUSA) led Sam Houston (8-10, 1-7 CUSA) wire-to-wire in the dominant 33-point win. It was the largest margin of victory for WKU over a Conference USA foe since notching a 101-47 win against FIU on Jan. 11, 2018.

HOW IT HAPPENED

WKU jumped out to an early lead, but Sam Houston kept it close for the first five minutes of the game. With 5:27 left the Bearkats drew within two of the Lady Toppers, but WKU responded with a 12-2 run to take a 22-10 lead into the second quarter.

Sam Houston scored the first six points of the second quarter and cut the score to five with a 9-2 run. WKU bounced back with a 21-2 run to close out the half with a 47-22 lead.

In the second half, the Lady Toppers outscored the Bearkats 35-27.

NOTABLES

• For the ninth time this season, four different Lady Toppers scored in double figures while nine total Lady Toppers got into the scoring column and eight scored at least eight points.
• Mackenzie Chatfield recorded her first career double double with 13 points and 10 assists. It was the first WKU points-assists double double since the 2019-20 season.
• Josie Gilvin continues to put up impressive statlines, this time having 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. She’s had five-or-more rebounds in four of the last five games.
• Zsofia Telegdy finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
• Destiny Salary had 10 points, three assists and two steals.
• Mya Pratcher had eight points and a career high four steals.
• WKU forced Sam Houston into 30 turnovers, marking the third time this season forcing 30-or-more miscues. It was the 12th time the Lady Toppers have caused 20-or-more turnovers.
• The Lady Toppers are 11-1 under Collins when holding teams below 50, 46-9 when holding teams below 60 and 94-25 under Collins when holding teams under 70. This season, WKU is 3-0 when allowing less than 50 points, 6-0 when allowing less than 60 points and 13-1 allowing less than 70.
• On the flip side, WKU is 33-6 under Collins when scoring over 80, including a 5-0 record this season.
• WKU shot 60.0 percent from the field, marking the fourth straight game for the Lady Toppers shooting better than 40 percent. WKU is 12-0 this season when shooting better than their opponent. Sam Houston shot 32.6 percent from the floor. The Lady Toppers are 8-0 this season if their opponent shoots below 40 percent.
• It was the first time a Lady Topper team has 60 percent in a game since shooting 60.3 percent vs. Austin Peay on Dec. 5, 2015.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Greg Collins:

“We had a good lead early and then they kind of made a little run and shortened it up. I was proud of them coming out of the locker room. We talked about some things at halftime and they came out and stay focused throughout that third quarter and maintained a better level of consistency. The number one thing I’m proud of is that ball movement. The ball movement is the best that we’ve done in years. We had 23 assists tonight, not because the ball movement was that much better tonight than it was on Thursday or last Saturday. The ball movement was good then too, we just didn’t shoot the ball well. It’s just a lot of unselfish play and that makes a team tough to guard.”

Sophomore guard Mackenzie Chatfield:

“I think basketball is fun. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that just being a student-athlete and getting caught up in the world sometimes. We said at halftime that we were having fun and I think that’s a win in of and itself. It all credits to the ball movement. Seeing your teammates succeed – that’s what makes it fun.”

Junior guard Josie Gilvin:

“It felt really good to have all five of us on the same page from the jump, just doing what we do best. I think talking on the floor is what made it easy to go on those runs and keep that tempo the whole game.”

NEXT UP

The Lady Toppers will go on the road to take on UTEP on Jan. 30 and New Mexico State on Feb. 1.