WKU’s Teresa Faustino drives the lane against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Aaliyah Pitts attempts a shot against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Odeth Betancourt passes the ball against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Acacia Hayes shoots a free throw against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Karris Allen attempts a shot against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Alexis Mead defends an inbounds play against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Karris Allen passes the ball against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Alexis Mead drives the lane against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Josie Gilvin looks to pass the ball against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Alexis Mead drives against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Jailynn Brill battles for a loose ball against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Caitlin Staley blocks a shot against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
WKU’s Jailynn Brill battles for the ball against Cornell. The Lady Toppers won, 62-56, to improve to 3-0. John Brown/ESPNradio1027.com
Courtesy of WKU Athletics
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU women’s basketball is off to a 3-0 start to the 2023-24 season after a 62-56 win against Cornell on Monday night in E.A. Diddle Arena. It’s the best start through three games for the Lady Toppers since 2014-15.
“We’re putting a lot of effort into the defensive end,” said head coach Greg Collins. “We’re disruptive, and that’s kind of the goal. There are still areas we obviously need to continue to work at, but I like how hard they’re playing. We played hard. When you play hard, you can make mistakes and still recover from them.”
Cornell came into Monday’s game averaging 70.0 points per game, but WKU’s defense held them to just 54 points. The Lady Toppers forced Cornell into 27 turnovers and capitalized with 37 points off those miscues. WKU notched 19 steals for the second consecutive game, bring their average up to 17.3 per game this season. The Lady Toppers also improved to 32-6 under Collins when holding teams below 60.
Acacia Hayes led WKU in scoring for the second straight game, putting up 18 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Aaliyah Pitts joined her in double digits, adding 10 points. Alexis Mead had nine points and a team-high five assists to go with four steals and four rebounds. Teresa Faustino also had nine points, a team-high five steals, three rebounds and three assists.
It was Collins’ 50th win inside Diddle Arena, where he has a 72.5 winning percentage (50-19). The win was also his 89th as head coach, putting him ahead of Steve Small for the fourth most wins all-time at WKU.
Cornell scored the first points of the game, but WKU scored the next five points including a three from Hayes. The Lady Toppers went on to connect on four threes in the first quarter and took a 18-15 lead into the second quarter. WKU outscored Cornell 14-7 in the second quarter to take a 32-22 lead into the second half.
WKU scored the first four points of the third quarter which was part of a 15-4 run by the Lady Toppers that built a 21-point lead at the 2:07 mark. Cornell responded with an 8-0 run to cut the score to 47-34 at the end of the third quarter.
Cornell continued that run in the fourth quarter, outscoring WKU 8-2 in the first four minutes to cut the lead down to seven. In all, Cornell outscored WKU 16-2 across a little over five minutes between the third and fourth quarters. Hayes took over and scored nine points in the final six minutes to put Cornell away.
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