MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH. – A year ago, the Central Michigan Chippewas were an NCAA Sweet 16 participant, and they picked up where they left off as they took down the Lady Toppers, 108-90, on Saturday.
CMU (2-1) could hardly miss the basket in the first half as they shot a scorching 68.5 percent from the field on 24-of-35 shooting, including 10-of-19 from behind the arc. First quarter scoring favored the Chippewas as well who ran out to a 38-24 lead at the first intermission.
Head coach Greg Collins' squad clamped down in the final three frames, including a 26-20 margin in the third quarter, but the Lady Toppers could never totally close the gap.
Redshirt junior Dee Givens, the reigning Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year, led WKU with a career-high 23 points in 31 minutes, another career high for the Lexington native. Sophomore Raneem Elgedawy also tallied a career-best 20 points.
The Lady Toppers shot 54.5 percent as a team for the game as they racked up a season-high 90 points on 36 made field goals, but all four CMU starters finished in double-digits led by senior guard Presley Hudson's 34 points. Senior forward Reyna Frost scratched a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
WKU got out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter, but a quick foul on the other end put CMU at the line to make it 4-3. After a missed three-point attempt at the other end, CMU answered back with a trey of their own to put the Chips up 6-4. A three by freshman Meral Abdelgawad knotted the game back at 10-all with 6:46 remaining in the first quarter, but that was as close as the Lady Toppers would get the rest of the way.
CMU outscored WKU 28-14 the rest of the way in the first and built a lead they could hold the remainder of the game.
Another bright spot for WKU was the measured return of senior guard Sidnee Bopp. The Marmaduke, Ark., native had just 23 minutes of game action through the first three games this season but played 26 minutes on Saturday in Mount Pleasant. She tallied a season-high nine points on 4-of-8 shooting including her first three-point basket of the year.
Following that trey, a pair of Givens free throws with 3:58 to go in the second got the Lady Toppers back to within single digits at 48-39, but CMU's Micaela Kelly, coming in off the bench, drilled a triple to push the lead back to 12 just six seconds later.
WKU's defense clamped down in the second half and allowed the Lady Toppers to close the gap with a 26-20 scoring advantage to pull to within seven at 78-71, but that was as close as they could get.
The Lady Toppers (0-4) have faced one of the nation's toughest opening schedules and are still in the hunt for the first regular season win for Collins, but they get another chance on Tuesday inside E.A. Diddle Arena when the Lady Toppers host Southern Illinois in the annual Education Day Game. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m.
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