Feb. 22, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Keeshia Evans hit a finger roll in the lane with one second left, propelling Arkansas State to a come-from-behind 98-96 victory over Western Kentucky in Sun Belt Conference action Thursday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. Evans' basket capped a furious final two minutes that saw two ties and three lead changes and handed the Lady Toppers just their second Senior Night loss in the last 20 years.
Junior guard Natalie Powers (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) scored a game-high 31 points on a career-high 12-of-20 shooting to lead for Western players in double figures. In her final regular-season home game at WKU, senior All-America forward ShaRae Mansfield (Louisville, Ky./Manual HS) tossed in 18 points, while freshman guard Jamie Truitt (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) rang up 14 markers and sophomore guard Kristina Covington (Elizabethtown, Ky./Elizabethtown HS) added 13 counters.
Evans had a team-high 29 points for ASU, which won at Diddle Arena for the first time in 13 career visits. Jolie McKeirnan and Rae-Anne Smith contributed 19 points apiece for the Lady Indians, who shot 52.4 percent in the game and held a 46-33 edge on the boards. ASU also shot a blistering 68.8 percent (11-16) from three-point range to highlight its victory.
Western (16-11, 8-7 Sun Belt) came out smoking in the first half, scoring the first eight points of the game in under two minutes. Arkansas State bounced back and went on a 21-7 run to put up its largest lead of the first half (21-15) with 13:09 remaining. But, the Lady Toppers took control midway through the period, putting together an 18-4 charge that included eight points by Powers. Western bumped its lead into double digits with 8:36 left in the half, hitting 6-of-10 free throws in a bizarre 10-second sequence that included four ASU fouls, three WKU offensive rebounds, and a technical foul on the Lady Indian bench.
The Lady Toppers opened up their biggest lead of the night at 57-39, when Truitt canned her third three-pointer of the game with 2:33 to go in the first half. Arkansas State responded with a 10-2 run to close out the period, getting within 10 at the break. Nevertheless, WKU rang up 59 first-half points, its largest opening-period point total in three years.
The Lady Indians (13-13, 7-8) got even closer in the early stages of the second half, cutting the lead to six at one time before Western rebuilt a 73-62 with 13:21 to go. But, ASU would not go away, using a 12-2 spurt that included six offensive rebounds to get within three (77-74) just five minutes later. Western seemed to have weathered the storm when Covington picked off an errant pass and drove in for a layup to grab an 87-81 lead with 3:35 left. That's when Evans took over, hitting back-to-back jumpers and then setting up Natalie Goodall's go-ahead trey for a 93-92 ASU lead with :51 left. Powers hit a layup 12 seconds later which was answered by a long three from Evans with :27 to play. Powers hit another layup with nine seconds to go, but that only served as a prelude to Evans' game-winning shot.
Western Kentucky will close out the 2000-01 regular season Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) against Sun Belt rival Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The winner of that game will clinch the third seed in the SBC East Division heading into the league tournament next week in Mobile, Ala.
-- WKU --
