Lady Toppers Conclude Season with WNIT Loss at Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kansas — WKU women’s basketball (19-14) was eliminated from the WNIT on Friday afternoon with an 86-72 loss to Kansas (20-11) on the road. The Lady Toppers and the Jayhawks went back and forth until the third quarter when Kansas outscored WKU 30-15.
Jaylin Foster led the Lady Toppers in scoring with a season high 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including three 3-pointers. She also pulled down six rebounds. Acacia Hayes put up 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She also had three rebounds and three assists. Alexis Mead flirted with a triple double with 12 rebounds, seven assists and five points. Her 12 boards were a career high. Mya Meredith added nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Lady Toppers broke another school record during the game, resetting the record for steals made in a season with 289 on the year. That tops the previous record by five. WKU added to its record number of threes made this season, bringing the season total to 289 after making nine on the night. That total tops the previous record by 47.
Kansas scored the first points of the game, but WKU scored the next five on a three from Foster and a layup from Hayes to take a 5-2 lead. The two teams traded baskets, but the Jayhawks took their first lead at the 5:41 mark on a layup. Mead came down and put WKU back ahead with a putback, but Kansas responded with a three to go ahead 11-9. Hope Sivori knocked down a three of her own and Foster followed with a bucket to put WKU back ahead 14-11. The Jayhawks ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 20-14 lead into the second quarter.
The Lady Toppers came out in the second quarter and hit two threes to tie the game with 7:26 left in the period. Kansas responded with a 7-0 run, but WKU went right back with an 11-0 run of their own to go ahead 31-27 with 2:52 left. From there, the Jayhawks outscored WKU 9-5 to tie the game, 36-36, at halftime.
Foster opened the second half with her second three of the game to put WKU ahead 39-36. Kansas answered back with a 7-0 run to take a 43-39 lead. The two teams went back-and-forth until midway through the quarter. From the 5:07 mark, the Jayhawks outscored the Lady Toppers 18-7 to earn the first double digit lead of the game and to go into the fourth quarter ahead 66-51.
Kansas pushed its lead out to as much as 17 early in the fourth quarter, but a 7-3 run by WKU midway through the quarter cut it back down to 13. The Lady Toppers were able to get it down to 12 twice late in the fourth quarter, but were unable to get it any closer.
