Lady Toppers fall late at Middle Tennessee

Published 11:55 pm Saturday, February 15, 2025

By Micheal Compton

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team pushed Middle Tennessee to the limit on its home court more than anyone else had this season, but in the end the Lady Toppers fell just short with a 73-63 loss on Saturday at the Murphy Center.

Looking for a second win against Conference USA leader Middle Tennessee this season, WKU (17-7 overall, 8-4 Conference USA) went toe-to-toe with the Blue Raiders for three quarters before MTSU was able to pull away for the win.

With the loss WKU sits in third in Conference USA, three games behind MTSU and two games back in the loss column to Liberty — which currently holds the tiebreaker over the Lady Toppers.

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“We didn’t come in here to play close,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “We didn’t come in here for a moral victory. We came in here to win. We knew we had to have a win to have a shot maybe later for a one or a two seed. This puts us where now we have to have a whole lot of help. They played hard. We just didn’t play hard down the stretch.”

Middle Tennessee (19-6, 10-1) jumped out to an 8-2 lead before WKU started connecting from long range. The Lady Toppers went 6-for-7 from 3-point range in the opening quarter — three from junior forward Zsofia Telegdy — to build a 24-20 advantage.

WKU’s lead grew to 28-22 after a bucket by Mackenzie Chatfield with 7:13 left in the half, but foul trouble turned the tide. After Alexis Mead picked up two fouls early in the first quarter, Josie Gilvin and Destiny Salary joined her on the bench in a 10-second span with two fouls. With three starters on the bench, Middle Tennessee took advantage — using a 9-0 spurt to regain the lead.

A 3 from Telegdy tied the score 31-31. After a basket by MTSU, Acacia Hayes scored four straight points to give the Lady Toppers the lead in the final minute of the half. Middle Tennessee was able to answer, with a 3 from Ta’Mia Scott giving the Blue Raiders a 36-35 halftime lead.

“The first half we played pretty well the first quarter and we kind of get the game changed on us because we’ve got half the team in foul trouble and we have to sit them down,” Collins said. “At one point I took a timeout to talk about that because the fouls were like eight or nine to one and it wasn’t like they were playing zone defense. We were both playing hard. I just feel like we weren’t getting as protected as much as they were, but we fought through that and were still in the ballgame.”

WKU was unable to get the lead back in the second half. Middle Tennessee scored the first five points to get a little distance and extended the margin to 51-41 after a steal and layup from Courtney Blakely late in the third.

The Lady Toppers cut the deficit to seven heading into the fourth, with a 3 from Telegdy trimming the margin to 55-51 early in the fourth.

WKU was unable to get any closer with multiple empty possessions with a chance to slice into a six-point margin midway through the quarter before a 3 from Anastasiia Boldyreva made the score 64-55 with 4:43 left. The Lady Toppers were unable to get closer than eight the rest of the way.

“I felt like the second half we kind of got away from doing what we do well,” Collins said. “We started doing more off the dribble, off the bounce stuff and we just weren’t getting a lot of good shots there. Then we had several bad turnovers, just some really costly turnovers. You are not going to make 17 turnovers against hardly any team, certainly not a good team, and still be able to win the ballgame.

“They played hard. We just didn’t play well in the second half.”

Telegdy led WKU with 20 points, going 6-for-11 from 3-point range.

“We know that’s something we have that we have to take advantage of,” Collins said. “We can shoot and stretch the floor out like that. We needed a few of those shots to go in and they did. They made those. The problem is we didn’t get enough of the other quality shots — either at the rim or kick outs or pull ups. Some of the turnovers kind of bit us.”

Salary had 14 points, with Gilvin recording a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Hayes also added 11 points to give WKU four players in double figures.

The 63 points were the most Middle Tennessee has allowed at home this season in a regular-season game. It also equaled the most points MTSU has allowed in conference play, with WKU also scoring 63 in the win in Bowling Green last month.

Scott scored 24 points to lead Middle Tennessee, while Boldyreva added 21 points and 12 rebounds.

WKU outrebounded Middle Tennessee 35-32, but committed 17 turnovers with the Blue Raiders holding a 17-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Lady Toppers continue a three-game road trip, traveling to Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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

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