Tifany Zaragoza led the Lady Toppers as she tied a career high with 22 points — scoring 13 of those in the second half.
The loss ended a seven-game win streak for the Lady Toppers as they fell to 17-6 and 11-3 in the Sun Belt East Division, while MTSU improved 23-3 and 15-0 in the league.
“I thought we played extremely hard the first 20 minutes today, but there were definitely some letdowns in the second half that allowed Middle Tennessee to go on that run,” said WKU head coach Mary Taylor Cowles. “What our mind set has to be from here on out is putting together a 40-minute basketball game if we want to continue to be successful.”
Despite shooting 58.8 percent in the first half, the Lady Toppers found themselves down 34-33 going into the locker room at halftime, but got a three on the first possession from Kenzie Rich to regain a two point lead. Krystle Horton — who spent most of the first half on the bench with three fouls — scored the next six points for MTSU as the Blue Raiders scored 16 of the next 18 over a five-minute stretch to open up a 50-38 lead on back-to-back threes from Starr Orr and Johnna Abney with 14:10 to play.
WKU was able to get as close as seven when a Zaragoza jumper made it 54-47 with 10:49 to go, but the Blue Raiders responded with a 13-0 run over the next five minutes to pull out to a game-high 20-point lead on a pair of Amber Holt free throws with 5:23 remaining. WKU was able to get as close as 13 in the closing minutes before MTSU pulled the advantage back out to 17 points at the final buzzer.
After spotting Middle a three-point lead early in the game, Dominique Duck and Zaragoza combined for the next six points as WKU pulled out ton 8-5 lead early on. Even with two Blue Raider starters on the bench with foul trouble, the Lady Toppers were unable to build more than a seven-point advantage. WKU did lead for most of the half before a Chrissy Givens three-point play put MTSU in front 29-27 with 5:16 on the first-half clock. Crystal Kelly scored the next three points to again give the Lady Toppers a brief one-point lead before a free-throw from Holt and layup by Givens made it a three-point game. Kelly scored the final basket of the period to cut the Blue Raider lead to one at intermission.
For the game, Zaragoza was one of three Lady Toppers in double figures as Kelly dropped in 14 points and Duck added 12. Holt finished with a game-high 24 for MTSU, while Givens posted a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
WKU will look to rebound on Thursday (Feb. 15) when it hosts Florida Atlantic at 7 p.m. (CST) at Diddle Arena.
