Wku’s Comeback Falls Short At Missouri State
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — WKU women’s basketball (8-6) made a late push against Missouri State (6-3), coming back from a 10-point deficit with three minutes left in the game but were unable to complete the comeback, falling 69-68.
Acacia Hayes had her second straight 20-point game, finishing with 23 on 7-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. It was her fourth 20-point game of the season. Destiny Salary scored 17 points. Karris Allen led the team on the boards, pulling down seven rebounds.
Missouri State scored the first points of the game, but WKU used a 7-0 run to build an early lead. The Lady Bears converted one of two free throws to stop the run. From there, WKU outscored Missouri State 8-6 to take a 15-9 lead into the second quarter.
The Lady Bears opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run to retake the lead, 21-15. Destiny Salary knocked down a jumper to spark an 8-1 scoring run for WKU to retake a 1-point lead with 5:02 left in the quarter. Missouri State responded with a 9-0 run of their own. Josie Gilvin scored her first points of the game with 1:14 left and that would be the final points of the quarter. Missouri State took a 31-25 lead into halftime.
Missouri State went to the foul line 14 times in the first half, with 11 of their 31 points coming from the charity stripe. On the flip side, WKU took just five free throws in the first half.
Odeth Betancourt made back-to-back jumpers to open the third quarter, getting WKU back within two. Missouri State scored the next five points and outscored WKU 11-2 over the next five minutes to go back ahead by 11. A three from Alexis Mead got the Lady Toppers back within single digits, but the Lady Bears went back ahead by 10 after a pair of free throws. Missouri State went into the fourth quarter ahead 37-46.
The Lady Toppers had their best offensive quarter in the fourth, scoring 31. The lead hovered around 10 for most of the quarter, but the Lady Toppers made their comeback attempt starting at the 3:00 minute mark. An and-one from Hayes cut it to seven. After a pair of free throws from Missouri State, Salary knocked down a three with 1:52 to cut it to six. The Lady Bears converted another pair of free throws, but Salary repeated with another three to cut it to five with 1:09 left. Another WKU three, this time from Hayes, cut it to four after a layup from Missouri State. With 20 seconds left, Allen made a three to cut the score to two with 20 seconds remaining. On the last possession, Hayes was fouled on a 3-point shot with 0.09 seconds left. Hayes made the first two foul shots and attempted to miss the second but converted on the opportunity.
WKU will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 29 against West Virginia State at 6:30 p.m. in E.A. Diddle Arena in the non-conference finale for the Lady Toppers.
