WKU Seeks Texas Road Sweep at UTEP Saturday Afternoon

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

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – After picking up a road win at UTSA on Thursday morning, WKU will head even further west on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CT) as the Lady Toppers visit the Don Haskins Center to take on UTEP. Last season, WKU dropped an 80-75 decision against the Miners on the road in the regular season finale to fall just short of a share of the C-USA regular season title.

On Thursday, WKU earned its first-ever road win over UTSA in an 81-62 decision that saw the Lady Toppers lead for nearly the entire contest. Dee Givens scored a team-best 25 points, including 22 in the first half, for her fourth outing this season with 25 or more points.

A win at UTEP on Saturday would give WKU its first-ever sweep of the west Texas road trip since joining C-USA in 2014-15. The Lady Toppers won at UTEP in 2014-15 and 2016-17, but did not win at UTSA until Thursday morning.

Zuzanna Puc (12.4) and Ariona Gill (10.5) lead the Miners in scoring this season, with Puc doubling as the team's leading rebounder at a 6.7 per game clip. Jordan Jenkins is the team's leader with 46 total assists in 19 appearances. UTEP enters Saturday's game having lost seven straight games and nine of their last 10 outings.

Following Saturday's battle, WKU will return to E.A. Diddle Arena for a critical matchup against C-USA leader Rice, who is undefeated in conference play, on Thursday at 6 p.m.

GAME #23 / C-USA GAME #9 – WKU AT UTEP
WKU (13-9, 7-1 C-USA) at UTEP (4-17, 1-7 C-USA)
February 2, 2019 | 2:00 p.m. (CT)
El Paso, Texas | Don Haskins Center (12,000)

QUICK SHOTS
- Thursday's win at UTSA was WKU's first-ever road victory over the Roadrunners after previously falling in San Antonio in 2014-15 and 2016-17. WKU now has at least one road win over each of the other 13 C-USA member since joining the league.

- WKU has had back-to-back games with 50 or more points in the first half, scoring 53 last Saturday against Louisiana Tech before adding 52 against UTSA on Thursday. The Lady Toppers also had a 50-point first half earlier this season against Southern Illinois on Nov. 20. The three first halves with at least 50 points are WKU's most in one season since having four in 2013-14.

- The Lady Toppers are the lone team with two players in the top five in scoring in C-USA play heading into Saturday's contest. Dee Givens averages 19.5 points per game and ranks second, while Raneem Elgedawy is third in the rankings, scoring 19.1 points per outing.

- A win at UTEP on Saturday would give WKU its first-ever sweep of the west Texas road trip since joining C-USA in 2014-15. The Lady Toppers won at UTEP in 2014-15 and 2016-17, but did not win at UTSA until Thursday morning.

- Among the 23 first-time Division I head coaches this season, Greg Collins is currently tied for second with his 13 victories, trailing only Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen with 14 wins. More impressively, no other team under a first-time head coach is averaging more points per game than the Lady Toppers, who are scoring at a 77.0 per game clip.

- WKU has enjoyed one of its best shooting seasons in recent memory and has hit the 50 percent mark from the floor in 11 games already this season. The Lady Toppers shot 50 percent or better in six straight games from Dec. 29 through Jan. 19, its longest such streak since at least the 1987-88 campaign. Since Greg Collins has been on The Hill in 2012-13, WKU is 35-3 when shooting 50 percent or better.

- At FIU on Jan. 17, Dee Givens (31) and Raneem Elgedawy (28) both scored career-highs in points and paired to score 59 of WKU's 94 points against the Panthers. Givens and Elgedawy's 59 combined points were the most by any Lady Topper duo in a single game since Crystal Kelly (38) and current assistant coach Tiffany Porter-Talbert (21) also had 59 against Charlotte on Nov. 22, 2005.

- Through 22 games, both the single-season makes and percentage record in school history are potentially in sight for the Lady Toppers. WKU has knocked down 154 triples this season and is chasing the record of 242 set in 2016-17, while the Lady Toppers are shooting 37.7 percent (154-of-409) from beyond the arc, a mark that would rank fifth in program history.

- Since joining C-USA prior to the 2014-15 campaign, WKU has earned 29 road victories in conference play. That number tops victory totals for all but one C-USA program (Middle Tennessee, 29) on their own home courts over the same span.

- Sherry Porter has enjoyed a strong sophomore season, averaging 7.0 points per game and starting all but seven games. However, her star has shined even brighter since conference play began, including her career-best 20-point performance against Marshall. In C-USA play, Porter is averaging 8.9 points per game and owns the league's second-best free throw percentage (.920, 23-of-25).

- Over its first five seasons as a member of Conference USA, WKU owns a 66-11 mark against the rest of the league since joining and posted a 12-4 record last season.

- Legendary Lady Topper Basketball head coach Paul Sanderford was named one of 12 finalists for the 2019 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on Jan. 10. Sanderford won 365 games and reached three Final Fours in 15 seasons at the helm of the Lady Toppers.

- This season, WKU's defense has limited its opponents to fewer than 70 points on 11 occasions, coming away with a win in all but one of those games. Over the last three seasons dating back to 2016-17, the Lady Toppers have posted a 53-4 record when holding their opponents under 70 points, including a perfect 33-0 mark when limiting them to fewer than 60 points.

- Dee Givens has 65 total steals, an average of 3.0 per game, this season, a number that ranks 14th among all qualifying Division I players. Givens' 65 steals is also the top mark among all C-USA players. Givens enjoyed a breakout defensive game with eight steals against Marshall, tied for the most by a C-USA player this season and the most by a Lady Topper since Kendall Noble's school-record 10 at North Texas on Feb. 5, 2015.

- Despite having her streak of 38 consecutive made free throws snapped against Ball State, Dee Givens has enjoyed a strong season from the charity stripe. Givens' .872 (82-of-94) percentage ranks sixth in the nation among all Division I players who have attempted at least 90 free throws this season.

- WKU moved one step closer to the 1,000-win plateau with its victory at UTSA on Jan. 31. The Lady Toppers now sit just three wins shy of becoming the 10th program in Division I history to reach that mark.

- Under Greg Collins, WKU has featured a revamped, fast-paced offensive attack this season and is averaging 77.0 points per game through 22 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.

- WKU has been efficient at forcing turnovers this season, forcing its opponents into an average of 18 giveaways per game. The Lady Toppers have forced double-digit turnovers in 74 straight games dating back to a Jan. 7, 2017, contest at Old Dominion.

- Through 22 games, Raneem Elgedawy and Meral Abdelgawad have combined to score 589 of WKU's 1,695 points, just over a third of the team's total. In addition to their scoring, the duo has combined for 235 rebounds, also just under a third of the team's total of 726.

- 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.

- WKU put together an 11-1 record inside Diddle Arena last season and has posted an 82-16 record inside the friendly confines of its home arena since Greg Collins has been with the program in 2012-13. The Lady Toppers started a new winning streak in their 81-76 win over Louisiana Tech on Jan. 26.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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: C-USA TV (Online Stream)
Live Audio: C-USA TV (Online Audio)
Live Stats: Courtesy of UTEP Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Meral Abdelgawad

Raneem Elgedawy

Dee Givens

Arame Niang

Kendall Noble

Sherry Porter