Lady Toppers grind out win at Jax State

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – WKU women’s basketball gutted out a Conference USA road win in a defensive battle at Jacksonville State, winning 51-44 on Thursday night in Alabama.

The two teams went into the fourth quarter tied, but WKU (10-5, 1-2 CUSA) pulled away in the end to defeat Jax State (7-6, 1-1 CUSA) for the Lady Toppers’ first conference win of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jax State scored the first points of the game, but WKU responded with an 11 -2 run to take an early lead. The Gamecocks went on a run of their own, scoring nine straight to regain the lead. The Lady Toppers scored the final four points of the frame to take a 15-13 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter was a low scoring period for both teams. The Lady Toppers opened the frame with a 6-0 run to expand their lead to eight. The Gamecocks outscored WKU 9-4 the rest of the quarter, giving WKU a 25-22 lead going into halftime.

The third quarter was an even lower scoring period for both teams. Jax State edged WKU, 9-6, in the frame and the two teams went into the final quarter tied at 31.

WKU outscored Jax State 5-1 in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Gamecocks cut it to one with three straight points. Mackenzie Chatfield came in off the bench and hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Zsofia Telegdy made a jumper to give WKU a 9-point advantage with 3:01 left in the game. The two teams went back-and-forth, but Jax State cut it to four with 17 seconds left. The Lady Toppers closed out the game going 3-of-4 from the free throw line to secure the win.

NOTABLES

• WKU was led in scoring by Zsofia Telegdy with 13 points to go along with eight rebounds and a pair of assists. It was her best offensive night since scoring 14 points against Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 1 and her best rebounding night since pulling down 10 boards against Tennessee State on Nov. 27.
• Mackenzie Chatfield ignited in the fourth quarter, scoring all nine of her points and dishing out all three of her assists in the frame.
• Josie Gilvin led WKU on the boards, grabbing nine to tie her career high.
• Alexis Mead added eight points, five rebounds and three assists. With the three assists she becomes just fifth WKU player all-time to record over 400 career assists and 200 career steals. She joins Dawn Warner, Renee Westmoreland, Kendall Noble and Clemette Haskins.
• WKU improves to 10-1 under head coach Greg Collins when holding teams below 50 points, 45-9 under Collins when holding teams below 60 and 90-25 under Collins when holding teams below 70.
• The Lady Toppers outrebounded Jax State, 42-33, in the game. That tied WKU’s season high in rebounds. WKU improves to 6-0 this season when outdoing its opponents on the boards.

NEXT UP

The Lady Toppers will stay on the road to take on Kennesaw State on Saturday, Jan. 11.