Lady Toppers remain unbeaten with rout of Tennessee State

Published 3:39 am Thursday, November 28, 2024

by Micheal Compton

There was no pre-holiday letdown for the Western Kentucky women’s basketball team, which beat the proverbial stuffing out of Tennessee State 92-62 on Wednesday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

WKU nearly led wire-to-wire, using a balanced attack and a furious defensive effort to overwhelm Tennessee State and improve to 6-0 for only the third time in program history — the first since the 1994-95 team started 15-0.

“The best part about tonight is that Tennessee State’s record does not indicate how well-coached they are, how athletic they are, how good they are at attacking the rim,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “With the girls, we tried to emphasize that this was one of those trap games and we didn’t need to have a letdown. I was proud of the starters getting out there and pushing the envelope, making good decisions, making good shots and getting us to a comfortable lead.”

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Tennessee State (3-4) scored the opening bucket, but it was all Lady Toppers from there.

WKU hit its first seven shots and used a 19-0 run over a seven-minute span in the first quarter to build a commanding 24-4 advantage. After starting fast but having opponents climb back into the game in the second quarter the previous two games, WKU kept the pressure on against Tennessee State.

The lead ballooned to 21 after a three-point play from Mackenzie Chatfield and continued to grow from there — with an 8-0 spurt making the score 51-23 late in the first half. The Tigers got a three-point play with 4.4 seconds left, but Mya Pratcher’s 3-pointer at the horn made the score 54-26 at halftime.

“We talked about after (the North Dakota) game and today was consistency,” Collins said. “Greatness is boring. Greatness is doing simple things over and over and over. Doing the simple things over and over will really lead us to it, so we talked about consistency. I felt like for the most part tonight we showed improvement in that area. It’s not where it needs to be, but one step at a time.”

The advantage was as high as 32 points in the third quarter with Collins sitting his starters in the final quarter and giving the bench some valuable minutes of in-game experience.

“We love it,” WKU junior Josie Gilvin said. “We love when everyone gets to go out there and show out. We are definitely very excited on the bench when everybody is scoring.”

Five Lady Toppers finished in double figures.

Chatfield finished with a career-high 20 points and added a career-high eight assists. Alexis Mead had 18 points and Gilvin finished with 16 points.

Pratcher added a career-high 14 points, while Destiny Salary recorded her first double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“I think it all comes down to what you practice,” Chatfield said. “Every day we are trying to get to know each other and learn how to play well together. Coach Collins is always talking about defense and how that leads to other things. Defense leads to offense and I think we did a good job here of turning them over and sharing the basketball, really. That makes it fun.”

The 92-point outburst was the most points against a Division I opponent since scoring 91 against UAB on Feb. 25, 2023. The Lady Toppers shot 47.1% with 24 assists on 33 made field goals.

“This team has done a really good job of sharing the ball all season,” Collins said. “The ball movement and, with the exception of the second quarter against North Dakota, the player movement has been pretty good. There are other areas of the offense we have to work on, but I think the ball movement (has been good). I am proud of the ball movement. We just have to be a little more fundamental on the end of it.”

Defensively, WKU forced 25 turnovers — 17 steals — that led to 28 points.

The only negative on the night came late in the second quarter when junior Acacia Hayes exited following an on-court collision. Hayes did not play again, returning to the bench in street clothes in the second half.

“We will have to let her rest tonight and the doctors will re-evaluate her tomorrow,” Collins said. “She’s got a little bit of headache tonight and we will see how she is tomorrow. She’s tough. We will see.”

WKU will wrap up a three-game homestand hosting Miami (Ohio) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

About Micheal Compton

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

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