Former Lady Topper great and 2016 WKU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Tiffany Porter-Talbert was named an assistant coach with the program on April 10, 2018, and will enter her fifth season with the team in 2022-23.
The young Lady Topper 2021-22 squad featured just one upperclassman in Meral Abdelgawad to go along with five sophomores and six freshmen. Despite the youth, WKU reached 18 wins and finished fourth in the C-USA East division. WKU’s five true freshmen scored 52.3 percent of the team’s points, averaging 36.9 points per game. After starting the season 1-3, the Lady Toppers regrouped to rattle off 13 wins in the next 14 games that included a 7-0 start to C-USA play.
Porter-Talbert and the WKU staff welcomed six freshmen to The Hill in 2020-21 for a shortened season due to COVID-19. The Lady Toppers were one of the youngest teams in the country and that youth showed with 14 games decided by less than 10 points, including six one-possession games.
In 2019-20, Porter-Talbert helped coach the Lady Toppers to a 22-7 record overall and a perfect 13-0 home record. WKU extended its 20-win season streak to eight consecutive, a new program record.
In her first season on staff with the Lady Toppers, Porter-Talbert helped to lead WKU to its seventh consecutive 20-win season as the squad won six of its final eight games to finish with a 20-15 record. WKU reached the semifinals of the C-USA Tournament before falling to eventual champion Rice and also made a run to the third round of the Postseason WNIT, knocking off Miami (Ohio) on the road and Morehead State inside Diddle Arena.
Porter-Talbert, who served in 2017-18 as a graduate assistant at Doane University, an NAIA program in Crete, Neb., was a four-year letterwinner for the Lady Toppers from 2002-03 through 2005-06. The new assistant coach also competed in track and field for WKU, reaching the NCAA Championships as a member of WKU’s 4x100m relay team and was WKU’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2004-05.
One of only four players in program history to score 2,000 career points, Porter-Talbert ranks fourth in school history with 2,028 points. She also ranks among the program’s best in rebounding (sixth, 995), assists (10th, 378), steals (third, 257) and career points-rebounds double-doubles (seventh, 28).
She will be the second active WKU Hall of Famer to serve as an assistant coach with the program, following in the footsteps of Lillie Mason, who was an assistant under Steve Small in 1997-98 and 1998-99.
In her four years with the Lady Toppers, Porter-Talbert led the team to an 89-40 record and captured the Sun Belt Tournament championship during her freshman campaign in 2002-03. The Lady Toppers reached a national postseason tournament in each of her four seasons, including an NCAA appearance (2002-03) and runs to the WNIT Quarterfinals (2003-04) and Semifinals (2005-06).
Porter-Talbert was a five-time Sun Belt Player of the Week and was named to the Sun Belt All-Tournament Team in each of her four years.
Additionally, Porter-Talbert was selected as the Sun Belt Player of the Year (2004-05), the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year (2002-03) and was a three-time First Team All-Sun Belt selection in her final three seasons. Following her freshman season, Porter-Talbert was also named an Honorable Mention Freshman All-American by womenscollegehoops.com.
Following her playing days with the Lady Toppers, Porter-Talbert played professionally with Wasserburg am Inn and Halle in Germany from 2010-16. She was also a WNBA draft choice, being selected by the Los Angeles Sparks with the 36th overall pick in the third round in the 2006 draft.
