Lady Toppers fall at No. 16 Kentucky

Published 3:39 pm Sunday, December 29, 2024

by Micheal Compton

LEXINGTON – The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team faced a tall task both literally and figuratively against the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats in the final nonconference tune-up at Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.

Faced with an opponent which had a size advantage at almost every position, WKU was unable to keep pace – falling 88-70 to Kentucky. The Wildcats took advantage of points in the paint and a sizable advantage on the boards to win the first meeting between the two in-state programs since 2008.

“I enjoyed playing them,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “I think the girls were excited. They were ready for the challenge. We just didn’t play as well as we needed to to have a shot at it.”

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WKU (9-3) was able to stay close for most of the first half before Kentucky took control and then pulled away in the second half.

The Lady Toppers took their only lead of the day when Destiny Salary’s layup made the score 6-4 two minutes into the game. Kentucky (11-1) answered with six straight points to regain the lead, but WKU scored five straight to tie the score 11-11 late in the first quarter.

The Wildcats went to the paint – with 6-foot-4 junior Teonni Key and 6-5 center Clara Strack getting easy looks at the basket to help Kentucky take a 21-15 lead early in the second quarter.

WKU cut the deficit to 21-20 before Kentucky took control with a 15-2 run to make the score 36-22. WKU was able to make a small run late, cutting the deficit to 38-27 by halftime.

“There was a point where it was a five-point game and we had the ball and we get a turnover,” Collins said. “That’s something I talked about at halftime that we have got to take as a learning lesson from this game. We’ve got to understand time and score situation. That’s not the time to go try to create something on your own when we are playing possession basketball right there. Instead of going into halftime down 11 – it’s a five-point game – you get a bucket and a stop and it might be a single-possession game. That was a big swing during that stretch.”

Kentucky opened with seven straight in the second half to extend the lead to 18 and WKU was unable to make a sizable dent from there. The Lady Toppers got as close as 13, but Kentucky kept answering with point guard Georgia Amoore – who picked up two quick fouls in the first half – getting 16 points and dishing out eight assists in the second half. Strack was the big beneficiary, scoring 11 points in the second half.

“Aside from the rebounding, we allowed the ball to get in too easy to really good players in the post,” Collins said. “They were just able to turn to the rim. Our interior defense has to improve and our interior rebounding has to improve. I don’t question their effort. I don’t question how hard they are playing, but they’ve got to do better.”

Alexis Mead led WKU with 18 points, one of four Lady Toppers to finish in double figures. Acacia Hayes had 14 points, Destiny Salary added 11 points and Josie Gilvin finished with 10 points.

“It was a tough battle but credit to our girls, we worked our butts off,” Salary said. “We knew what we were dealing with coming in here. We knew they were big and we had already faced a team with similar bigs. I think we did what we could do, but I am not mad at my teammates. We did the best that we could do.”

WKU shot 33% in the first half, but was able to improve to 41% after a better second half in which the Lady Toppers shot 47%.

“They were giving us the lane a lot,” Mead said. “I think it was our finishing that hurt us. Once we got to the rim we were struggling to finish. I think that is what hurt us.”

Amoore had 21 points and nine assists, while Strack added 21 points and 12 rebounds. Key had 15 points and Saniah Tyler finished with 11 points.

Kentucky shot 52%, with 44 points in the paint, and outrebounded WKU 41-26.

“Give credit to Western,” UK coach Kenny Brooks said. “Greg does a really good job. It’s fun watching them. He has a very talented team, a very seasoned team. I think they are going to win a lot of basketball games, especially when they start playing in their conference. It was a good test for us and I thought we came through pretty well.”

WKU returns to action at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, hosting Liberty in the Conference USA opener.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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