BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The WKU women's basketball team stayed perfect at home this season with a 68-59 win against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night in E.A. Diddle Arena. The Lady Toppers are now 7-0 at home this season and have won nine-straight home games.
WKU improves to 13-6 on the season and 5-3 in Conference USA. That places the Lady Toppers in sole possession of fifth place in the league standings, one win behind UAB and Middle Tennessee.
Raneem Elgedawy led WKU against the Owls, securing her ninth double-double of the season on 28 points and 18 rebounds. It was the 20th of her career, placing her in a tie with Kendall Noble for the 11th most in WKU history. She passed five Lady Toppers on WKU's all-time scoring list with her 28 points, bringing her to 28th place with 1,164 career points.
Dee Givens was right behind Elgedawy with 25 points, her second-straight game with 20-plus points. She also had six rebounds in the contest. She moved into 17th place on WKU's scoring list with 1,441 career points.
Whitney Creech finished with nine points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Meral Abdelgawad had four points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the game.
Fans could tell they were in for a good night from Elgedawy early on in the game. The junior scored the Lady Toppers' first 13 points of the game, outscoring the Owls all on her own by one. Givens was the second Lady Topper to get in the score column to help WKU go ahead by three. The Owls' first four field goals all came from deep, keeping them in distance of the Lady Toppers. The two teams went back-and-forth but Florida Atlantic took a four-point lead midway through the quarter. The Lady Toppers responded with a 9-0 run that would put them back in front by five. Once again the squads traded baskets and the quarter ended with WKU ahead 19-16.
In the second quarter the Lady Toppers were able to hold their lead. The Owls got it down to one point, but a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Givens built the lead back out to six. Givens scored her seventh straight point seconds before halftime to give WKU a 33-26 lead.
Givens came out of halftime and picked up where she left off, knocking down another 3-pointer to give WKU its first double-digit lead of the night. Florida Atlantic scored the next bucket, but the Lady Toppers went on an 8-0 run with six of those points coming from Elgedawy to go ahead by 16. The Owls were able to cut it to single digits with four minutes left in the period, but WKU outscored them 13-2 to finished out the quarter ahead by 20. Creech scored eight unanswered points to end the quarter.
After an offensive outburst in the third quarter, WKU came out in the fourth cold. The Lady Toppers didn't score until the 3:07 mark after Florida Atlantic once again cut the lead down to single digits. From there, WKU kept things even and ended the game ahead by 68-59.
The Lady Toppers outrebounded Florida Atlantic, 43-27, moving their record to 11-0 when outrebounding their opponent this season. WKU outscored the Owls, 34-16, in the paint and scored 22 points on Florida Atlantic's 16 turnovers.
WKU will be back home on Saturday against FIU. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
Season tickets and single-game tickets for Lady Topper basketball games are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online (here) or by calling 1-800-5-BIGRED. Tickets can also be purchased in-person at the WKU Ticket Office located in E.A. Diddle Arena.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Lady Topper Basketball, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @LadyTopperHoops on Twitter, @LadyTopperHoops on Instagram and on Facebook at facebook.com/WKUWomensBasketball.
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