WKU Game Notes (PDF) | Live Stream (C-USA TV) | Live Audio | Live Stats
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Carrying 999 all-time wins in program history, WKU will enter Saturday's 5 p.m. battle at North Texas with its first opportunity to get Win No. 1,000, becoming only the 11th program in NCAA Division I history to accomplish that feat. With a win, the Lady Toppers would also remain strongly in contention for a first-round bye in the upcoming C-USA Tournament.
WKU picked up a 69-66 thrilling overtime victory at Marshall last Saturday as Dee Givens led the way with 23 points and 13 rebounds for her second career double-double. The Lady Toppers also crashed the boards well, bringing down a season-best 32 defensive rebounds.
Earlier this season on Feb. 9, the Mean Green earned a 76-67 victory inside E.A. Diddle Arena despite WKU holding a seven-point lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. WKU leads the all-time series against the Mean Green, a former Sun Belt rival, by a 19-7 margin.
Terriell Bradley leads North Texas in scoring at 16.9 points per game and is joined in double figures by Anisha George's 10.8 per contest. George is also the team's leading rebounder, hauling in 7.7 boards per outing. Brittany Smith (82) and Trena Mims (74) have split point guard duties for the Mean Green, combining for nearly half of the team's total assists.
WKU will host Middle Tennessee in its regular season finale next Thursday at 6 p.m. as Sidnee Bopp, Kayla Smith and Jae'Lisa Allen are honored in a postgame Senior Night ceremony.
GAME #29 / C-USA GAME #15 – WKU AT NORTH TEXAS
WKU (15-13, 9-5 C-USA) at North Texas (14-12, 7-7 C-USA)
March 2, 2019 | 5:00 p.m. (CT)
Denton, Texas | The Super Pit (9,797)
QUICK SHOTS
- WKU will look to become the 11th NCAA Division I women's basketball program with 1,000 wins in program history on Saturday afternoon and would be the second team in less than a week (Green Bay) to reach that milestone with a victory.
- WKU's overtime win at Marshall was its first when going to extra time since Nov. 26, 2016, against Kent State. Dee Givens played all 42 minutes for the Lady Toppers and became the 40th member of the 1,000-point club with her 23-point performance in the win.
- WKU is in the midst of a four-game road trip in conference play, its longest since becoming a member of C-USA prior to the 2014-15 season. The four-game swing is WKU's longest in true road games in conference play since also playing four straight at Denver, Arkansas State, Little Rock and Middle Tennessee as a member of the Sun Belt in 2004-05.
- With her 23-point performance at Marshall on Feb. 23, Dee Givens became the 40th member of Lady Topper Basketball's 1,000-point club and now has 1,015 points for her career. Givens became the seventh player to join the club since Greg Collins has been on staff in 2012-13, joining Chastity Gooch, Alexis Govan, Kendall Noble, Micah Jones, Tashia Brown and Ivy Brown.
- WKU's 69-66 overtime win at Marshall on Feb. 23 was its first in extra time since defeating Kent State, 79-73, in overtime on Nov. 26, 2016. The overtime win was also WKU's first in a true road game since its WNIT victory at Saint Louis on March 25, 2016, that ended on Sidnee Bopp's left corner buzzer-beater.
- With its 12-point comeback victory at UTEP on Feb. 2, WKU recorded its 19th double-digit comeback since 2012-13 when Greg Collins joined the staff. Of those 19 comebacks, 12 have come either on the road or in neutral-site games, and 12 have also come against conference opponents. The comeback at UTEP was WKU's first win when trailing by double digits since overcoming a 13-point deficit against Charlotte on Feb. 23, 2017.
- Among the 23 first-time Division I head coaches this season, Greg Collins is currently second with his 15 victories, trailing only Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen with 19 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 74.0 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 12 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 35-4 when shooting 50 percent or better.
- At UTEP on Feb. 2, Raneem Elgedawy (27) and Dee Givens (26) paired to score 53 of WKU's 64 points against the Miners. That marked the second time this season that the duo has combined to score 50 or more points after the two previously scored 59 combined points at FIU on Jan. 17.
- Through 28 games, the single-season three-point makes record in school history is potentially in sight for the Lady Toppers. WKU has knocked down 181 triples this season and is chasing the record of 242 set in 2016-17. WKU's 181 makes already rank sixth in program history for a single season and would jump to fifth with three more triples.
- WKU has captured 31 road victories in C-USA play since joining the conference in 2014-15 and has unquestionably been one of the toughest teams to face both at home and away. WKU's 31 road wins are more than all but one C-USA school (Middle Tennessee) have won on their own home courts against other C-USA opponents over the last five years.
- Over its first five seasons as a member of Conference USA, WKU owns a 68-16 mark against the rest of the league since joining and posted a 12-4 record last season.
- This season, WKU's defense has limited its opponents to fewer than 70 points on 14 occasions, coming away with a win in all but two of those games. Over the last three seasons dating back to 2016-17, the Lady Toppers have posted a 55-5 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 81 total steals, an average of 2.9 per game, this season, a number that ranks 12th among all qualifying Division I players. Givens' 81 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' .870 (120-of-138) percentage ranks 12th in the nation among all Division I players who have attempted at least 100 free throws this season.
- Under Greg Collins, WKU has featured a revamped, fast-paced offensive attack this season and is averaging 74.0 points per game through 28 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.
- Dating back to a Jan. 7, 2017, victory at Old Dominion, WKU has forced at least 10 turnovers in 80 consecutive games. This season, the Lady Toppers have forced an average of 17.6 turnovers per game by their opponents and have recorded 20 or more turnovers forced on nine different occasions, including four times during C-USA play.
- Through 28 games, Raneem Elgedawy and Meral Abdelgawad have combined to score 708 of WKU's 2,073 points, just over a third of the team's total. In addition to their scoring, the duo has combined for 284 rebounds, also just under a third of the team's total of 885.
- 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 82-18 record inside the friendly confines of its home arena since Greg Collins has been with the program in 2012-13. The Lady Toppers will have one more home game this season when they host Middle Tennessee on March 7.
- 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 North Texas Athletics
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