Bowling Green, Ky. The 2008-09 Western Kentucky University women’s basketball teams run in the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament came to an abrupt end Wednesday night at 10th-seeded Louisiana-Monroe came into E.A. Diddle Arena and upset the seventh-seeded Lady Toppers 71-62 in the first round.
With the win, ULM (15-15) advances to Hot Springs, Ark., to face second-seeded UALR at 6:30 p.m. (CST) on Saturday (March 7). The Lady Toppers' season will likely come to an end at 16-13.
"Louisiana-Monroe came in here with a great game plan. You could tell by the way they played that they came in with the mind set to win and advance," said Lady Topper head coach Mary Taylor Cowles. "We were out of sync all night long. ULM did a great job of boxing out and rebound, and that limited what we were able to do getting second chances."
The Lady Toppers found themselves playing from behind for the first 33 minutes. Trailing by 10 with 12:02 remaining, Hope Brown and Kenzie Rich knocked down back-to-back threes to spark a 14-4 Lady Topper run as Caitlin House tied the game for the first time at 52-52 with 7:28 remaining. ULM went back up by one, but Rich knocked down another trey to give WKU its first lead of the game at 55-53 with 7:02 left.
WKU held another two-point lead after a pair of Brown free throws, but a Elizabeth Torres three at the 3:39 mark gave the Warhawks a 60-58 advantage. Brown would tie the game at 60-60, but five straight ULM points gave it the lead for good when Lottie Moore knocked down a three to make it a 65-60 game with 1:22 remaining. Arnika Brown would hit two free throws to make it a one-possession game, but the Lady Toppers would get no closer as the Warhawks closed out the nine-point win.
The Lady Toppers never led in the first half, hitting just one of their first seven shots as the Warhawks were able to open up a 16-5 lead on a Larrie Williams jumper with 13:26 remaining in the half. A Sumar Leslie three stretched the ULM lead to 20-7 with just over 11 minutes remaining before a Kenzie Rich layup sparked an 11-0 run, with Rich capping the spurt with a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 20-18 with 7:47 remaining.
The Lady Toppers would be unable to pull even, however, as the Warhawks scored the next five points, and were able to stretch the lead out to nine late in the half before a pair of Hope Brown free throws cut the WKU deficit to 31-24 at intermission.
Rich led the Lady Toppers with 18 points, knocking down four three pointers and going 6-for-10 from the field. Arnika Brown posted her 18th double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Hope Brown and McNear finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Moore dropped in a game-high 19 points for the Warhawks to pace three in double figures.
WKU
