Shorthanded Lady Toppers battled with Delaware

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU women’s basketball (5-14, 1-7 CUSA) fell to Delaware (9-10, 3-4 CUSA) on Friday evening in E.A. Diddle Arena. WKU battled back from a 20-point deficit to cut it to six with five minutes left, but were unable to complete the comeback, falling 66-55.

The Lady Toppers were shorthanded, playing without starting point guard Trinity Rowe who missed the game due to illness. Salma Khedr also exited the game early in the fourth quarter.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Torri James, Tia Shelling, Mya Pratcher, Zsofia Telegdy and Salma Khedr were the first five on the court for WKU. It is the 10th starting lineup for the Lady Toppers this season.

The Lady Toppers found themselves in a 7-0 hole to start the game. A bucket and a foul shot from Khedr put WKU on the board. After a Blue Hens three, Khedr added to her point total with a free throw shot and then a basket. From there, Delaware outscored WKU 14-5 through the rest of the quarter.

Shelling scored first in the second quarter, but Delaware answered with a three. WKU scored five straight to cut the lead down to single digits, but the Blue Hens responded with five straight of their own. Jeniffer Silva and Yendri Acosta scored back-to-back to get it back to 10, but the Blue Hens ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 37-22 lead into halftime.

The Blue Hens extended their lead out to 20 at the 1:34 mark of the third quarter, but WKU ended the frame on a 7-0 run that extended into a 14-0 through the fourth quarter to get WKU back within six with 5:47 left. Eight of the 14 points came from freshman Enni Ahervuo. Delaware responded with a 14-2 run to go back ahead 18. The Lady Toppers closed out the game on a 7-0 run.

QUOTABLE

“We dug a big hole, we at times didn’t play with that same fire and we played what we thought the outcome was going to be instead of just playing the game,” said head coach Greg Collins. “We had kids like Enni (Ahervuo), Lola (Bond) and Yendri (Acosta) come in there and they played hard. They gave great effort. I was proud of Enni’s aggressiveness and Yendri got some picks in there. We have to work on that transition and make sure we get more buckets out of that. The ball movement got a little bit better, the player movement got a little bit better. We missed some things, but at least we were moving and trying harder. We weren’t looking for a reason to not play, but we were looking for a reason to play hard and play the game.”

NOTABLES

• Freshman Enni Ahervuo led WKU in scoring with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half. She notched new career highs in points and assists with three. She is the ninth different Lady Topper to lead the team in scoring this season.
• Yendri Acosta also came off the bench and provided a spark for the Lady Toppers, finishing with seven points, three steals, two rebounds and a block. It was a new career high in points, steals, rebounds and blocks for the senior.
• Salma Khedr and Zsofia Telegdy each added nine points and Jeniffer Silva had eight. Tatum Boettjer led the team on the boards, pulling down five.
• The Lady Toppers had a season low nine turnovers in the game.

UP NEXT

The Lady Toppers will tip off a three-game road swing at Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 6:00 PM.