Stellar First Half Leads Lady Toppers to 76-60 Win Against Sam Houston

Wednesday, January 10

Bowling Green, Ky.

6:30 PM

Western Kentucky University

11-6,2-0CUSA

Sam Houston

5-9,0-2CUSA

Sam Houston

Western Ky.

Odeth Betancourt | Photo by: Steve Roberts

Photo by: Steve Roberts/WKU Athletics

Stellar First Half Leads Lady Toppers to 76-60 Win Against Sam Houston

1/10/2024 9:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU women's basketball (11-6, 2-0 CUSA) rushed out to an early lead against Sam Houston (5-9, 0-2 CUSA) and was able to come away with a 76-60 win to improve to 2-0 in Conference USA play for the seventh time in the last 10 years.

"The important thing was that we played very unselfishly on offense and played very intently on defense," said head coach Greg Collins. "We weren't haphazard. We weren't doing things on our own, we were doing things together. It was very disruptive for them. In the first half, we shot the ball well because we hunted for really good shots. The first half was pretty close to as well as we can play. We could have rebounded a little better. Outside of that, we did a good job of getting good shots and keeping our defensive pressure up."

The Lady Toppers improve to 6-1 at home this season with the win and have won eight of their last nine home contests, dating back to last season. It was head coach Greg Collins' 97th win at WKU.

For the third time this season, Destiny Salary led WKU in scoring with 19 points to go along with a season high eight rebounds. Acacia Hayes finished with 17 points for her 13th double digit game of the season. Odeth Betancourt scored a season high 13 points along with eight rebounds and a career high three blocks. Teresa Faustino was the fourth Lady Topper in double digits with 12 points to go with four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Alexis Mead had a season high eight assists and four steals in the game.

For the 12th time in 17 games this season, WKU held a team below 70 points. The Lady Toppers are 10-2 this season when doing so. WKU forced Sam Houston into 21 turnovers, marking the 10th time this season the Lady Toppers have forced a team into 20-plus miscues. WKU is 9-1 in those games.

WKU shot a season high 50.0 percent (31-62) from the field. The Lady Toppers are 25-4 under Collins when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor and 9-2 this season when shooting better than their opponent.

The Lady Toppers outdid the Bearkats on the boards, 38-37. WKU is 6-0 this season when outrebounding opponents. Sam Houston came into the game averaging a league-leading 42.85 rebounds per game.

Betancourt scored the first points of the game on a free throw, but Sam Houston took a 3-1 on the next possession. From there WKU outscored Sam Houston 14-6 over the next five minutes to take a 17-9 lead. The Bearkats cut that to three with a 5-0 run, but a layup from Mead put WKU back up five. After a pair of free throws from Sam Houston, WKU used a 7-0 run to push back ahead by 10 with just over a minute left. The Bearkats scored the final four points of the quarter to get back within six heading into the second quarter.

The two teams went back and forth to start the second quarter, but WKU ended the quarter on a 12-0 run to take a 50-31 lead into halftime.

The Lady Toppers scored the first five points of the third quarter, stretching that run to 17-0 to go ahead 55-31. WKU kept a 20-plus lead through most of the third quarter, but a 6-0 run by the Bearkats to end the period cut the lead down to 18 heading into the fourth. Sam Houston outscored WKU 12-10 in the fourth quarter.

WKU will be back in action on Saturday on the road, taking on Jacksonville State at 2:30 p.m.

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 X, @LadyTopperHoops on Instagram and on Facebook at facebook.com/WKUWomensBasketball.