Feb. 24, 2001
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Junior guard Natalie Powers (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) scored 20 points to lead five Western Kentucky players in double figures, but it was not enough as Middle Tennessee edged out the Lady Toppers, 75-70, in the Sun Belt Conference finale for both teams Saturday night at the Murphy Center.
Powers logged her 17th 20-point game of the season and now has 613 points this year, setting a new WKU record for points by a junior. She also became only the fifth Lady Topper ever to eclipse the 600-point mark in a single season. Senior All-America forward ShaRae Mansfield (Louisville, Ky./Manual HS) had 16 points to record her 83rd consecutive game in double figures, and sophomore guard Kristina Covington (Elizabethtown, Ky./Elizabethtown HS) and freshman guard Jamie Truitt (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo HS) tossed in 12 points apiece for the Lady Toppers.
Jamie Thomatis scored a game-high 31 points for Middle Tennessee (16-11, 9-7 Sun Belt), which finishes third in the SBC East Division in its first season in the league. Western (16-12, 8-8) winds up in a tie for fourth place with Arkansas State in the East, but will be seeded fifth for the conference tournament by virtue of ASU's season sweep of the Lady Toppers.
Middle Tennessee struck the first blow in the game, going on a 16-3 run to jump out to its biggest lead of the first half at 25-10 with 9:29 remaining in the period. But, Western fought back, as Truitt and Covington canned back-to-back three-pointers to ignite a 14-0 charge that pulled the Lady Toppers within one at the 5:50 mark. The Lady Raiders stopped the bleeding at that point and pieced together a 9-2 run to rebuild a seven-point lead which would hold up for the rest of the half.
Western scored the first four points of the second period to pull within 38-35 with 17:27 to play. But, in what would be a recurring theme, Middle Tennessee prevented the Lady Toppers from tying the game, as Mia Parviainen hit a three-pointer to start a 9-2 Lady Raider run. MT even bumped its lead into double digits seven times in the second half but could never pull free by more than 11 points.
Trailing 66-56 with 5:22 remaining, Western mounted one final charge, scoring seven unanswered points and getting as close as 66-63 on Covington's jumper in the lane with 3:50 left. However, Powers missed the front end of a one-and-one on the next possession and Mansfield's follow shot would not drop, ending the Lady Toppers' last opportunity of the night. Thomatis hit 12 of the final 14 points for Middle Tennessee, sealing the Lady Raider victory.
Western Kentucky will open postseason play Thursday at 2 p.m. (CST) with a first-round game in the Sun Belt Tournament at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala. As the No. 5 seed in the SBC East, the Lady Toppers will face New Mexico State, the No. 4 seed in the West Division, in their opening contest. WKU downed the Aggies, 90-73, in the regular-season meeting back on Jan. 3 in Las Cruces, N.M.
-- WKU --
