Nov. 9, 2001
Bowling Green, Ky. - The Western Kentucky Lady Topper basketball team closed out the exhibition season in impressive fashion, knocking off Den Helder, a club team from Holland, 93-39 Friday night.
Den Helder jumped out early, taking a 12-8 lead at the 12:10 mark on a three by Nienke Geerts. Froth there, the Lady Toppers went on a 14-1 run, taking a 26-13 lead on a jumper by Leslie Logsdon (So., Munfordville, Ky.) with 4:53 remaining in the half. WKU built its lead to 20 points at 33-13 on two free throws by LaVonda Johnson (Sr., Bowling Green, Ky.) with 3:23 to play. The lead got as high as 22 with 14 seconds when two Johnson free throws made it 40-18, but a three by Jenni Surlas ended the first half scoring and brought Den Helder back within 19 at 40-21 at the intermission. Johnson led the Lady Toppers with 11 points at the half. She was also a perfect eight for eight from the foul line. Logsdon also chipped in eight in the opening half. Surlas led Den Helder with nine points.
The trend continued in the second half as the Lady Toppers opened the period on a 15-5 run to increase the lead to 54-24 with 16:14 left. WKU held Den Helder to just 15 points the rest of the game as the visitors shot just six of 29 (21%) from the field in the second half. Western, in turn, was 19 of 25 (76%) from the field after intermission. The Lady Toppers reached their long lead of the game with 1:50 to play as Leah Lineberry (So., Calvert City, Ky.) hit a layup off a pass from Johnson to give WKU a 56- point lead at 93-37. Den Helder would score on a layup by Surlas with 53 second to play to end the night's scoring.
Shala Reese (Jr., Easton, Texas) led the Lady Toppers with 18 points. Logsdon and Johnson finished with 17 and 15, respectively, and Kristina Covington (Jr., Elizabethtown, Ky.) finished in double figures with 11 points.
The Lady Toppers open the regular season next Friday as the face UC-Santa Barbara in the first game of the Stanford Tournament in Stanford, Calif. Tipoff for that game is set for 8 p.m. (CST).
-- WKU --
