Lady Toppers drop conference opener to Liberty

Published 2:27 pm Friday, January 3, 2025

by Micheal Compton

The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team was unable to rebound, falling 77-66 to Liberty in the Conference USA opener on Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

WKU (9-4 overall, 0-1 Conference USA) shot 38% for the game and was outrebounded 41-25 as the Flames were able to pull away late and secure the win. It is the first time the Lady Toppers have lost back-to-back games this season and now have three losses in four games.

In all four games, WKU has been outrebounded by double-digits.

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“We talk about, you are not going to beat great teams like Liberty or Kentucky, you are not going to beat great teams by playing good or average,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “If you want to beat great, you have to play great. We’ve played OK. We’ve played well in spurts, but we’ve not played consistently well throughout the game.”

WKU hit three 3-pointers in the first two minutes, building a 9-2 advantage, but Liberty (8-4, 1-0) was able use a 7-0 spurt to close the first quarter to surge in front 14-13.

The Lady Toppers briefly regained the advantage with a drive to the basket by Acacia Hayes making the score 22-17 with 6:58 left in the half, but a 10-2 run put the Flames back in control.

Liberty got a little distance at the end of the half, pushing the lead to 38-30. WKU scored six straight to pull within two, but the Flames added a free throw to make the score 39-36 at halftime.

Liberty 48% in the first half, including 7-for-12 from 3-point range.

“I feel like we could have talked a little more, talked through those ball screens,” WKU graduate guard Destiny Salary said. “I think that would have helped us a little more because we would have known what was going on. I think we were a little confused, bumping into each other because of lack of communication.”

The Flames’ hot shooting continued in the second half, with Liberty jumping out to a 49-41 margin four minutes into the third quarter. WKU tried to chip away, getting as close as two points twice early in the fourth quarter, but the Flames used a 9-1 spurt to extend the advantage to 70-60 with 3:42 remaining.

WKU was unable to get closer than eight the rest of the way.

Liberty finished the game shooting 49.1% – 12-for-23 from 3. WKU shot 9-for-25 from 3.

“We’ve not shot the ball well enough to make up the difference (on getting outrebounded),” Collins said. “We got multiple clock shot violations on them, we were close on some 10-second calls. We didn’t get a lot of turnovers that turned into points. In the first half we got three or four (turnovers) and then we got down there and we came up empty. We either didn’t make the shot or we got a turnover. In order to make up the difference in rebounding we have to take our steals and forced turnovers and generate offense from that.”

Salary led WKU with 19 points, while Hayes had 13 points. Alexis Mead added 12 points, six assists and five steals and Zsofia Telegdy finished with 11 points.

Emma Hess led Liberty with 16 points, while Bella Smuda added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Liberty finished with 14 offensive rebounds and a 22-5 advantage in second-chance points.

“We always talk about how big rebounding is for us and tonight we didn’t do our job,” Hayes said.

Salary said rebounding has been the difference in the last four games.

“We can hang with anybody – big, small, anybody,” Salary said. “We can hang. We are going to fight, but rebounding is our biggest downfall that we need to work on.”

WKU will return at action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, hosting Florida International.

About Micheal Compton

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

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