WKU Welcomes Southern Illinois for Eighth Annual Spread the Red Education Day

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Continuing a tradition that the program began during the 2010-11 campaign, WKU will welcome Southern Illinois to E.A. Diddle Arena at 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning for the eighth edition of the Spread the Red Education Day game. Students from local Bowling Green and Warren County schools are set to be in attendance for Tuesday's event.

All tickets for Tuesday's 11 a.m. tipoff will be $1, while season ticket holders will have Sections A-D, H-L and M-P reserved.

In their last time out, WKU could not overcome a hot-shooting Central Michigan side on the road last Saturday afternoon, falling 108-90 against the Chippewas. Both Dee Givens (23) and Raneem Elgedawy (20) recorded new career-high marks in points for the Lady Toppers.

Sherry Porter, who started 15 games as a freshman in 2017-18, made her first start of the season against the Chippewas, tallying six points and three assists in 14 minutes of action. Alexis Brewer came off the bench for the first time in her WKU career to pour in 12 points.

Southern Illinois has started the 2018-19 season with a 2-1 record, earning wins over Southeast Missouri and Marshall while dropping its lone defeat by a single point on the road at UT Martin. Makenzie Silvey (19.3), Nicole Martin (16.0) and Abby Brockmeyer (13.7) are all averaging double-digit scoring for the Salukis through their first three games.

After Tuesday, WKU will have a quick turnaround for three games in three days at the Vancouver Showcase, beginning with No. 8/9 Oregon State on Thursday evening at 10:30 p.m. (CT).

GAME #5 – WKU VS. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
WKU (0-4, 0-0 C-USA) vs. Southern Illinois (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
November 20, 2018 | 11:00 a.m. (CT)
Bowling Green, Ky. | E.A. Diddle Arena (7,526)

QUICK SHOTS
- WKU enters Tuesday's Education Day game with a perfect 7-0 mark in the event since beginning it in 2010-11. Southern Illinois will be the first non-conference opponent that the Lady Toppers have faced on Education Day.

- Raneem Elgedawy tallied a career-best 20 points at Central Michigan on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and has scored double digits in the first four games of the season, tied for the longest consecutive double-digit scoring streak of her career.

- 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 18.8 points against four tough opponents to begin the season. Through four games, Givens is averaging one point every 91 seconds that she is on the floor.

- WKU's defense has pressured all four of its opponents into double-digit turnovers thus far on the season. Through four games, the Lady Toppers have forced an average of 17.5 turnovers against a quartet of tough opponents to open the year.

- Through four games, Raneem Elgedawy and Meral Abdelgawad have combined to score 94 of WKU's 320 points, just under a third of the team's total. In addition to their scoring, the duo has combined for 39 rebounds, also just under a third of the team's total of 126.

- Through four games this season, WKU has significantly raised its three-point shooting percentage from last season, knocking down 33 of its 86 (38.4 percent) attempts thus far. Last season, the Lady Toppers were 34.8 percent from beyond the arc. The current 38.4 percent mark would rank fourth in program history for a single season.

- Despite its rally falling just short at Oklahoma on Nov. 10, 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.

- 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 earlier this season against Louisville inside Diddle.

- For the first time since the 2010-11 season, WKU welcomed 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 made 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; John Butler, analysis)
Live Stream: C-USA TV (Online Stream)
Live Audio: C-USA TV (Online Audio)
Live Stats: Courtesy of WKU Athletics

WKU Welcomes Southern Illinois for Eighth Annual Spread the Red Education Day

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Players Mentioned

Meral Abdelgawad

Sidnee Bopp

Alexis Brewer

Raneem Elgedawy

Dee Givens

Arame Niang

Sherry Porter