Gilvin’s career night lifts WKU past Kennesaw State

Published 8:57 am Friday, February 7, 2025

By Micheal Compton

The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team got back on the winning track with a 78-57 win over Kennesaw State on Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Coming off a loss at New Mexico State, which snapped a six game win streak, WKU (16-6 overall, 7-3 Conference USA) got a career night from Josie Gilvin – taking control late in the first quarter and cruising from there.

“I think, or I hope, we’ve learned from our past mistakes,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “We’ve gotten off to good starts, even at New Mexico State we were at a good spot at halftime, and then we’ve made some boneheaded decisions. Tonight, we just had to really make sure that we kept grinding. Not taking away fast breaks, still looking for those opportunities but be willing to not settle for a bad shot and making sure we knew when to pull it back.”

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For the third straight home game, the Lady Toppers never trailed with three 3-pointers in the first three minutes fueling a 13-4 start.

Kennesaw State (8-13, 3-7) was able to close to 16-13 before WKU closed the quarter with a 12-3 run to push its advantage into double digits.

WKU continued to build its lead, pushing the score to 47-28 by halftime. A 3 from Gilvin extended the margin to 64-37 late in the third quarter. The Lady Toppers maintained a comfortable advantage in the fourth, with Collins emptying the bench in the final minutes.

Gilvin, who finished with a career high 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting, said it was good to get back on the winning track.

“That was the goal today,” Gilvin said. “Just get back to what we’ve been doing and holding every quarter. That was our goal at halftime, just keep our foot on the gas the whole game.”

Acacia Hayes added 20 points, while Alexis Mead added 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

WKU shot 46.8% from the game, the seventh straight game shooting better than 40%.

“I feel like this was one of those really fun games,” Hayes said. “Me, Jo and Lex have been playing together for a long time. So, being out there with them and seeing them doing well it makes the game easier and more fun.”

Defensively, WKU forced 15 turnovers leading to 18 points. WKU outrebounded Kennesaw State 36-30. The Lady Toppers held a 12-8 advantage in second-chance points.

“The key is the rebounding,” Collins said. “We’ve always been able to turn people over. We’ve always been able to generate steals and transition opportunities. We don’t always convert them, but we’ve always been able to do that. We’ve not always been able to finish a defensive possession with a rebound and just be done. We are working on that and we are getting better.”

WKU improved to 9-2 at home, with six wins by 19 points or more. The Lady Toppers will look to continue the home success, hosting Jacksonville State at 2 p.m. on Saturday. WKU beat Jacksonville State 51-44 in Jacksonville, Alabama on Jan. 9.

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

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