WKU Ready for Saturday Matinee Battle at RV/RV Central Michigan

WKU Game Notes (PDF) | Live Stream (ESPN3) | Live Audio (C-USA TV) | Live Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - WKU will look to bounce back from its 104-67 setback against No. 13/17 Iowa inside E.A. Diddle Arena on Tuesday evening, making the trek north to face 2018 Sweet Sixteen participant Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon at Noon (CT) inside McGuirk Arena. Saturday's battle is the first in program history between the Lady Toppers and Chippewas.

The Lady Toppers dropped their last time out against Iowa on Tuesday and will be seeking their first victory of the 2018-19 campaign on Saturday afternoon. WKU could not overcome the hot-shooting Hawkeyes, who knocked down 68.9 percent of their shots from the field.

Raneem Elgedawy continued the strong start to her sophomore campaign, netting 14 points for the third straight game against the Hawkeyes. Elgedawy, the 2018 C-USA Freshman of the Year is also pulling down seven rebounds per game to pace WKU.

Central Michigan is coming off an 80-71 defeat against South Dakota State on Monday evening. The Chippewas reached the Sweet Sixteen last season with a program-record 30 wins, upsetting LSU and Ohio State before falling against Oregon in the NCAA Tournament. Reyna Frost, averaging 21.5 points and 9.5 boards, is the top returning player for the Chippewas.

Following Saturday's game, WKU will be back in Bowling Green on Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. against Southern Illinois for its annual Education Day matchup.

GAME #4 – WKU AT RV/RV CENTRAL MICHIGAN
WKU (0-3, 0-0 C-USA) vs. RV/RV Central Michigan (1-1, 0-0 MAC)
November 17, 2018 | 12:00 p.m. (CT)
Mount Pleasant, Mich. | McGuirk Arena (5,300)

QUICK SHOTS
- Since Greg Collins has been on staff, the Lady Toppers have battled 13 ranked opponents, coming away with a victory over one in each of the last three seasons. Tuesday's game against Iowa was the second time this season that WKU battled a ranked opponent, with the first coming in the season opener against Louisville last Tuesday.

- Central Michigan sits just outside the top 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches' Polls. The Chippewas are 27th in the AP Poll, receiving 26 votes, and are 30th in the Coaches' Poll after receiving 23 votes.

- After winning C-USA Sixth Player of the Year last season, Dee Givens has stepped up in a big way for the Lady Toppers, moving into the starting lineup and averaging 17.3 points against a pair of Power 5 opponents in Louisville, Oklahoma and Iowa to start the season. Through three games, Givens is averaging a point every 96 seconds that she is on the floor.

- WKU's defense has pressured all three of its opponents into double-digit turnovers thus far on the season. Through three games, the Lady Toppers have forced an average of 19 turnovers against a trio of Power 5 opponents in Louisville, Oklahoma and Iowa.

- Through three games, Raneem Elgedawy and Meral Abdelgawad have combined to score 68 of WKU's 230 points, just under a third of the team's total. In addition to their scoring, the duo has combined for 34 rebounds, also just over a third of the team's total of 101.

- Despite its rally falling just short at Oklahoma last Friday evening, WKU scored its most points in a single quarter since moving to the system in 2015-16, netting 35 points in the fourth frame against the Sooners. The 35 points were WKU's most since setting the previous record of 33 points in the fourth quarter against Dayton in the WNIT on March 17, 2016.

- The Lady Toppers were picked fourth in the preseason C-USA coaches' poll, but have met or exceeded their expectations in each of the last two years. In 2016-17, WKU won the tournament title after being picked first, and repeated as champions in 2017-18 after a second-place pick.

- To start the regular season, WKU is projected to play three preseason top-15 teams in its first six games, battling against No. 5 Louisville, No. 13 Iowa and No. 8 Oregon State. Central Michigan is also receiving votes in the preseason AP poll.

- Over its first four seasons as a member of Conference USA, WKU owns a 59-11 mark against the rest of the league since joining and posted a 12-4 record last season.

- WKU put together an 11-1 record inside Diddle Arena last season and has posted a 74-14 record inside the friendly confines of its home arena since Greg Collins has been with the program in 2012-13. The Lady Toppers had their 11-game winning streak snapped in last Tuesday evening's setback against Louisville inside Diddle.

- For the first time since the 2010-11 season, WKU will welcome two Power 5 programs to E.A. Diddle Arena. That season, the Lady Toppers hosted Northwestern and Texas Tech, and this year both Louisville and Iowa will make the trip to Bowling Green.

- WKU enters the 2018-19 season having had only five international letterwinners in program history, including sophomore Raneem Elgedawy. This year, the Lady Toppers will sport three international student-athletes on the roster, with Arame Niang and Meral Abdelgawad joining Elgedawy on The Hill.

- Since becoming a member of C-USA prior to the 2014-15 campaign, WKU has posted a 33-2 record against conference foes inside Diddle Arena, never losing more than one game in a single season. The Lady Toppers currently own a 19-game home winning streak in conference play dating all the way back to a 62-51 win over Middle Tennessee on Feb. 25, 2016.

- In its four seasons as a C-USA member, WKU has claimed a pair of regular season titles and has won the conference tournament three times, including back-to-back wins in both 2017 and 2018. WKU is only the second school in C-USA history to claim back-to-back tournament titles as a league member, joining former member Tulane, who won three straight from 1999-2001.

- WKU sits only 16 wins shy of a huge milestone in program history, entering the 2018-19 season with 984 wins. In the history of Division I women's basketball, only nine programs have collected 1,000 total wins. WKU (984), Green Bay (983), Maryland (972), South Dakota State (967) and Notre Dame (964) are all within striking distance of joining that exclusive club this season.

- One of the top three-point shooters in program history, Sidnee Bopp heads into her senior season on The Hill with a career 40.1 percent (81-of-202) mark from beyond the arc and has shot better than 40 percent in each of the last two years. Bopp's career percentage ranks fourth in WKU history, and the Marmaduke, Ark., native will be chasing Kim Pehlke's program record of 41.6 percent (209-of-502) this year.

- With the release of the preseason AP poll on Oct. 31, WKU appears slated to play at least three ranked opponents in its first six outings this season, with a fourth (Central Michigan) receiving votes in the poll. Should WKU face three ranked opponents, it would mark the second time in the last three seasons that the Lady Toppers have done so. In 2016-17, WKU battled Indiana (#23), DePaul (#18) and Louisville (#8) in the regular season before drawing Ohio State (#11) in the NCAA Tournament.

- In each of Greg Collins' six previous years on WKU's bench, the Lady Toppers have had 20 or more victories, with the team looking to extend that streak in 2018-19. WKU's current streak of six 20-win seasons is its second-longest in program history, trailing only seven straight from 1982-83 to 1988-89 during the Paul Sanderford era. In WKU's modern era (since 1973-74), five of the 10 head coaches have captured 20-win seasons in their debut years on The Hill, most recently with Michelle Clark-Heard's 22 wins in 2012-13.

BROADCAST
Listen: 102.7FM, 1450AM in Bowling Green (Brett Williams, pxp)
Live Stream: ESPN3
Live Audio: C-USA TV (Online Audio)
Live Stats: Courtesy of Central Michigan Athletics

WKU Ready for Saturday Matinee Battle at RV/RV Central Michigan

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Players Mentioned

Meral Abdelgawad

Sidnee Bopp

Raneem Elgedawy

Dee Givens

Arame Niang