By the Daily News

The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team opened the season with a 71-59 win at Indiana State on Monday.

Tied at halftime, WKU (1-0) gained control against the Sycamores (0-1) in the second half, outscoring Indiana State 34-22 in the half.

Indiana State scored the first points of the game, but Zsofia Telegdy quickly followed up with a basket of her own for the first WKU points of the 2024-25 season. The two teams went back and forth most of the first quarter, but a 4-0 run by the Sycamores to end the first quarter gave them a 22-17 lead.

Mackenzie Chatfield scored the first eight points of the second quarter with two 3-pointers and a jumper to fuel a 10-0 WKU run. The Lady Toppers’ five-point lead was erased with a 5-0 run by Indiana State. From there, the teams traded baskets and the Sycamores once again ended the quarter on a 4-0 run to tie the score at 37 going into halftime.

Indiana State took a five-point lead the 7:34 mark of the third quarter. The Lady Toppers responded by outscoring the Sycamores 18-4 the rest of the frame to take a 57-48 lead into the fourth quarter.

WKU scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to take its largest lead of the game at 66-48 with 6:59 left in the game. From there, the Sycamores scored 11 points, seven coming from free throws.

Telegdy led WKU in scoring in her first game as a Lady Topper with 25 points. Chatfield had a career-high 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. She also tied her career highs in rebounds and assists with three in each category.

Acacia Hayes tied a WKU single-game record, notching 10 steals in the game to equal the mark previously set by Kendall Noble in 2015.

The Lady Toppers will host Kentucky State on Saturday at 4 p.m.