Dec. 18, 2000
TAMPA, Fla. - Junior guard Natalie Powers (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) rang up a team-high 28 points and sophomore guard Kristina Covington (Elizabethtown, Ky./Elizabethtown HS) posted career bests of 24 points and 20 rebounds, lifting Western Kentucky to an 84-81 overtime win over South Florida Monday night at the Sun Dome. Covington's 20 rebounds ties the school record held by three other players, and her 20-20 outing is the first in 39 seasons of Lady Topper basketball.
The overtime victory was the first extra-session triumph for Western since a 90-86 win at Vanderbilt on Dec. 31, 1998. It was also the eighth win in the last 10 overtime games for the Lady Toppers, who improve to 13-0 all-time against USF. Shannon Layne knocked down eight three-pointers on the way to a game-high 30 points for the Bulls.
The first half was tightly contested from the outset, with neither team leading by more than five points in the period. Western jumped out to an 11-7 lead on a hook shot by Katie Wulf (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community HS) with 15:03 left. USF quickly rallied and took a 15-13 lead on a three-pointer by Aiya Shepard less than two minutes later. After a pair of ties, the Bulls built their largest lead of the first half (28-23) on a jumper by Layne at the seven-minute mark. But, the Lady Toppers fought back behind Powers, who scored nine straight points to end the period, highlighting a 15-5 WKU run that gave the visitors a one-point edge at halftime.
South Florida (2-7) pulled ahead of Western early in the second half, taking a 47-45 lead on Shepard's jumper with 14:24 to play. But, the Lady Toppers countered with a 12-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night at 57-47 with 8:51 remaining. USF finally broke an eight-minute drought from the field when Layne canned a long trey at the 6:36 mark. The Bulls kept pace with the Lady Toppers over the next three minutes and eventually took a four-point lead (70-66) when Shepard hit a three with 1:34 left.
With the outcome in doubt, Western went to work, as sophomore guard Jennifer Slaughter (Brownsville, Ky./Edmonson County HS) hit a layup in transition to the cut the lead to two with 24 seconds to go. After forcing a USF turnover, Powers was fouled and hit two charities to tie the game at 70-70 with 13 seconds left. The Bulls briefly regained the lead on two free throws by Shepard, but freshman guard Camryn Whitaker (Cynthiana, Ky./Harrison County HS) went coast-to-coast and hit a layup with 6.7 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Western (6-4) never trailed in the extra session, taking the lead for good on a three-pointer by Covington at the 3:30 mark. South Florida got within one point twice, the second coming on a pair of free throws by Layne with 16 seconds left. But, Covington and Powers each hit two charity tosses in the final 15 seconds to seal the Lady Toppers' fourth win in their last five outings.
After a 10-day break for Christmas, Western Kentucky will be back in action Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. (CST) when they play Southeastern Conference member Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
-- WKU --
