TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — WKU women's basketball has won back-to-back games with a 58-51 win at Indiana State on Thursday afternoon in Terre Haute, Indiana. Down eight with 2:17 left in the third quarter, the Lady Toppers (3-5) outscored the Sycamores (3-4) 22-7 in the final 12:17 of the game to claim the victory.
"We were trying to settle down," said head coach Greg Collins. "We're our own worst enemies sometimes – we'll make a good play and follow with a bad play. We're learning and we're trying to be consistently simple. Instead of trying to make spectacular plays, make fundamentally sound plays. If we do that enough, we'll stay in ball games."
Hope Sivori had a season high 22 points in the game on 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Teresa Faustino and Acacia Hayes each had eight points. Odeth Betancourt had 10 rebounds, a new career high. Mya Meredith added five points and six rebounds.
The Lady Toppers improve to 3-1 on the season when holding teams below 60 points. WKU is 29-6 under Collins when achieving the feat. It was Collins' 70th win as head coach at WKU.
Hayes scored the first points of the game for WKU after Indiana State scored the first three points. The Sycamores went up 7-2, but a jumper from Alexis Mead and a three from Sivori evened the score at the 4:29 mark. Sivori went on to connect on two more 3-pointers and the Lady Toppers took a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.
Both teams went back-and-forth in the second quarter, but Indiana State scored five straight points to pull ahead 19-15 at the 6:36 mark. After a scoring drought, Macey Blevins knocked down a three to get WKU back within one. At 2:27 WKU started a 9-3 run that would lead to a 27-25 lead at halftime.
Indiana State opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 32-27 lead. The next eight points between the two teams came on free throws. Sivori made her fourth three of the game to bring WKU within two. Indiana State made back-to-back threes to go back ahead 44-36. The Lady Toppers then scored six straight points, including a three from Meredith that fueled an 8-1 run to end the quarter, bringing WKU to within one going into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Toppers scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 48-45 lead. After a pair of Indiana State free throws, Sivori scored five straight on a three and two free throws to push the lead out to 53-47. The Sycamores got within two with 1:47 left to play, but WKU held them scoreless for the remainder of the game. Betancourt and Meredith came up big for WKU with five rebounds between the two in the final minute of the game. Betancourt came up with a steal with 16 seconds left to keep Indiana State from scoring.
WKU improves to 5-1 all-time against Indiana State with five straight wins in the series.
WKU will be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at California Baptist.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on Lady Topper Hoops, 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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