Whitney Creech and Sidnee Bopp offered a glimpse of what Western Kentucky’s offense can look like when both are running the point.

The Lady Toppers’ 87-48 win Tuesday night against Mississippi Valley State showed that not one person has to be the commander of WKU’s offense. All the attention is going to fall on either Ivy Brown or Tashia Brown, anyway.

WKU (6-3) cleaned up a 9-to-16 assist-turnover day at Southern Illinois with a 19-to-9 assist-turnover night against MVSU. Creech and Bopp each had five assists in the win.

“With both of them on the floor – because they have played the point the most – I think it helps and they complement each other,” WKU coach Michelle Clark-Heard said. “I felt that second half coming out would be a good combination and I think that’s something we’ll continue to keep working with.”

Bopp had her best game overall since the second game of the year against Iowa. The 5-foot-6 junior guard played 26 minutes and had 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the 3-point line. Her five assists matched a season-high she previously recorded in that Iowa game.

Creech, the 5-8 sophomore from Jenkins, has started every game and her five assists were a season-high to go with seven points. Bopp and Creech shared the floor for 10 minutes and 41 seconds of the game. Three of Tashia Brown’s nine field goals were assisted by either Creech or Bopp.

Creech also assisted two of Bopp’s four 3-pointers.

“It feels pretty good,” Bopp said. “We’ve got to be able to get the ball to them. Coach Heard has been talking to me about how Whit doesn’t always have to have the ball, but she’ll get worn out. Tonight when I would go in, I told Whit I’d take point guard and we just took turns going back and forth and I thought it really helped the flow of the game.”

Tashia Brown took notice as well. Creech has been working all season with assistant coach Greg Collins on her ability to see the floor better and anticipate where shots will come open. In the past, Creech would normally pull up and shoot any time she looked up at the basket on the dribble.

On her first assist in the first quarter, Creech pulled up like she was going to shoot, but quickly dished the ball to a wide-open Ivy Brown under the basket.

“I think that’s one thing with Whitney,” Tashia Brown said. “Coach Collins has been working with her on that and being that person that can get the scorers the ball. It’s always good to get someone who can distribute and get points on the board.”

The breakout between Creech and Bopp also offered a look at the desired tempo that Heard wants her team to play. WKU now has four players with at least 18 assists between Bopp (18), Creech (18), Tashia Brown (19) and freshman Sherry Porter (19).

The 19 assists were a big jump from the 11.6 assists per game average going into Tuesday night.

“We talk about that a lot and we always practice that way,” Heard said. “I’m making sure I’m always telling them to go. With the ability for Sid to push the ball and Whit and Tashia, I think we have where we don’t have to have the ball in one person’s hand, and that really helps us especially with the offense that we run.”{&end}