Feb. 17, 2001
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - For the fourth time this season, Western Kentucky came back from a double-digit deficit, climbing out of a 10-point hole in the final four minutes to defeat Arkansas-Little Rock, 70-65, in Sun Belt Conference play Saturday afternoon at ALLTEL Arena in North Little Rock, Ark. The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the Lady Toppers and keeps WKU alone in third place in the SBC East Division by one game with two to play in the regular season.
Senior All-America forward ShaRae Mansfield (Louisville, Ky./Manual HS) scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds to spark the Lady Toppers. Junior guard Natalie Powers (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) chipped in with 16 points and a team-high five assists for WKU. Muci Haris, the reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, dropped in 17 points and Mandi Huskey added 13 markers for the Trojans.
Western (16-10, 8-6 Sun Belt) started the game well, going on an 11-6 run and forcing Arkansas-Little Rock to use its first time-out just over three minutes into the contest. The Trojans regrouped and scored the next seven points to retake a 13-11 lead with 14:05 to go in the period. The Lady Toppers briefly regained a 14-13 edge on a Powers' trey, but UALR turned up the defense and held WKU to just three field goals over the final 13:36 of the first half. The Trojans made it count on the offensive end, outscoring the Lady Toppers by 11 points in that time to take a 37-27 lead to the dressing room.
Arkansas-Little Rock (6-19, 0-14) quickly opened up a 13-point lead when Haris drained a three-pointer just over a minute into the second half. The Trojans maintained their double-digit lead for more than six minutes before Western came to life. The Lady Toppers went on a 13-2 run, including seven points from junior forward Aja Brown (Bronx, N.Y./Manhattan Center HS), to tie the game at 50-50 with 8:33 to play.
The rally seemed to take a lot of the energy out of Western, and UALR capitalized, scoring 12 of the next 14 points to once again push the Lady Toppers to the brink of defeat. Haris canned a pair of free throws to give the Trojans a 62-52 lead with 4:07 remaining, but that's when WKU took over.
Powers started the Lady Toppers' game-ending 18-3 run with an old-fashioned three-point play and then came up with a pair of steals, dishing to Mansfield for one layup and hitting another herself, all in a 24-second span. UALR seemed stunned and Western took advantage, as Mansfield knocked down a 10-foot jumper in the lane with 1:26 to play, giving the visitors their first lead of the second half at 64-63. The Trojans briefly retook the lead on Roberta Sarti's layup with one minute left, but Powers hit two free throws at the 42-second mark to put the Lady Toppers ahead for good. Freshman guard Camryn Whitaker (Cynthiana, Ky./Harrison County HS) then completed the comeback by sinking four free throws in the last 33 seconds, part of WKU's 7-for-7 effort at the line in the final four minutes.
The Lady Toppers will be back in action Thursday (Feb. 22) at 7 p.m. (CST) when they play host to Arkansas State on Senior Night. Western will pay tribute to Mansfield in a ceremony prior to the game, its last home contest of the regular season.
-- WKU --
