Creech’s Career Night Leads Lady Tops to Road Win Over Samford

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The WKU women’s basketball team had to hold off a Bulldog second half surge for its 88-84 win at Samford on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Toppers had four players in double figures, including 26 points from Whitney Creech.

WKU improves to 8-2 on the season and have won three straight games. The Lady Toppers currently have the best overall record in Conference USA.

Creech’s 26 points paced the Lady Toppers and was a new career high for the senior. She was perfect from the field, going 10-of-10 and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. Her only miss of the night came at the free throw line where she was 4-of-5.

Elgedawy joined Creech in the 20-point range, pouring in 23 points on the evening. It was the first time two WKU players scored 20-plus points in a game since Elgedawy and Givens did it at UTEP in February of last season. Elgedawy also eight rebounds and two steals in the game.

Sherry Porter had a season high 18 points in the game with 14 of them coming in the first half. She was 4-of-6 from 3-point range on the day. She also had five rebounds and two assists. Dee Givens was the final Lady Topper in double figures with 11 points.

Samford jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the game, but WKU rushed back to get within one midway through the first quarter. The two teams went back-and-forth then Porter knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game to give the Lady Toppers their first lead. That play was part of a 12-2 run by WKU.

WKU outscored the Bulldogs 20-10 in the second quarter, holding Samford scoreless for nearly five minutes in the frame.

Elgedawy came out firing in the second half, scoring nine straight points to open the third quarter. In that stretch, the junior scored her 1,000th career point becoming the 41st member of the WKU 1,000 Point Club.

Samford ended the third quarter on a 13-0 run to bring the score within single digits heading into the final quarter.

WKU went on an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to push its lead back out to double digits. That run was spearheaded by Creech who scored the first six points of the run.  The Bulldogs didn’t back down though, going on a 7-0 run of their own later in the quarter to bring the score back to within five points. With 18 seconds left in the game, a Samford shooter was fouled on a 3-point shot and hit all three free throws bringing the score to 86-83. Porter was fouled on the next possession and knocked down both free throws to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Both teams shot exceptionally well from the floor. WKU connected on 56.1 percent (32-57) of their shots while Samford was 50 percent (29-58) from the field.

WKU forced Samford into 15 turnovers in the game and have forced opponents into double-digit miscues in every game this season.

The Lady Toppers will be back in action on Wednesday at Purdue. It’s WKU’s final non-conference game of the season and will close out 2019 for the Lady Tops. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. (CST).