WKU Welcomes Morgan State for First-Ever Meeting Wednesday Evening

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Following a long trip to Canada for three games at the 2018 Vancouver Showcase last week, WKU will return to the friendly confines of E.A. Diddle Arena on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. as the Lady Toppers welcome Morgan State for the first-ever meeting on the hardwood between the two teams.

In their tournament in Vancouver, WKU claimed sixth place in the loaded field, earning a victory over ETSU while dropping decisions against No. 9/8 Oregon State and Gonzaga. The Lady Toppers stayed strong with another top-10 foe, falling to the Beavers by just 14 points.

Dee Givens continued her hot start to the season, adding three more double-digit scoring efforts, including a career-best 25 points against ETSU. Raneem Elgedawy also scored at least 13 points in each of WKU's three Canada outings and is averaging 15.9 points for the year.

Morgan State enters Wednesday's battle with a 1-7 overall record, falling 60-36 to Central Connecticut State in its last time out. The Lady Bears have struggled to score the basketball, hitting 60 points just once in their first eight games. Morgan State competed in the Puerto Rico Clasico for Thanksgiving, falling to a pair of Power 5 foes in Georgia and Maryland.

WKU will make the trip to Little Rock to renew its old Sun Belt rivalry following Wednesday's clash, traveling to face the Trojans on the road at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

GAME #9 – WKU VS. MORGAN STATE
WKU (2-6, 0-0 C-USA) vs. Morgan State (1-7, 0-0 MEAC)
November 28, 2018 | 6:00 p.m.
Bowling Green, Ky. | E.A. Diddle Arena (7,526)

QUICK SHOTS
- Raneem Elgedawy tallied WKU's first double-double of the 2018-19 season with a 17-point, 11-rebound performance in WKU's win over ETSU. Elgedawy, who had five double-doubles as a freshman, also came away with a career-best five steals against the Bucs.

- WKU moved one step closer to the 1,000-win plateau with its victory over ETSU in the Vancouver Showcase. The Lady Toppers now sit just 14 wins shy of becoming the 10th program in Division I history to reach that mark.

- Dee Givens tallied a career-best 25 points against ETSU on 7-of-16 shooting from the field and has scored double digits in all eight games this season, the longest consecutive double-digit scoring streak of her career.

- Under Greg Collins, WKU has featured a revamped, fast-paced offensive attack this season and is averaging 75.0 points per game through eight contests. Should WKU average at least 75 points per game this season, the Lady Toppers will have hit that mark in four of the five most recent seasons after previously not doing so since 2004-05.

- 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 19.0 points against WKU's first eight opponents to begin the season. Through eight games, Givens is averaging one point every 99 seconds that she is on the floor.

- WKU's defense has pressured all eight of its opponents into double-digit turnovers thus far on the season. Through eight games, the Lady Toppers have forced an average of 17.3 turnovers per game to open the 2018-19 season.

- WKU continued its hot start from beyond the arc against Southern Illinois, connecting on 10 of its 14 three-point attempts, including a 6-for-7 mark by Dee Givens. The Lady Toppers' .714 clip in that game was tied for the fifth-best in program history, while Givens' .857 tally was the fifth-best ever by a Lady Topper individual, both in games with at least five three-pointers made.

- Through eight games, Raneem Elgedawy and Meral Abdelgawad have combined to score 191 of WKU's 600 points, just under a third of the team's total. In addition to their scoring, the duo has combined for 82 rebounds, also just under a third of the team's total of 264.

- Through eight games this season, WKU has significantly raised its three-point shooting percentage from last season, knocking down 58 of its 152 (36.7 percent) attempts thus far. Last season, the Lady Toppers were 34.8 percent from beyond the arc. The current 36.7 percent mark would rank seventh in program history for a single season, the highest since a 36.8 percent mark in 2002-03.

- 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 75-14 record inside the friendly confines of its home arena since Greg Collins has been with the program in 2012-13. The Lady Toppers earned their first home victory of the Collins era on Tuesday, defeating Southern Illinois, 83-76, inside Diddle Arena.

- 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.

- 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 Morgan State for First-Ever Meeting Wednesday Evening

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Players Mentioned

Meral Abdelgawad

Raneem Elgedawy

Dee Givens

Arame Niang