Lady Topper Hoops: Lady Tops Welcome Notre Dame To Diddle Arena
After splitting the season opening weekend at the Hawkeye Classic, which saw the Lady Tops beat #16 Missouri and take the host Iowa to overtime in a seven point loss, Michelle Clark-Heard’s squad now has their eyes set on Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish come to Diddle Arena.
Game Info
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Diddle Arena | Bowling Green, Ky.
TV: Fox College Sports | WKU PBS
Radio: ESPN 102.7 FM and 1450 AM
The Irish have just one regular season match-up under their belt, a 121–65 victory over Mount St. Mary’s, in which six Notre Dame players scored in double figures, led by 21 points by Arike Ogunbowale and 11 rebounds from Jessica Shepard, who grabbed seven boards off the offensive glass.
The Lady Tops got two standout performances from their two standout players over the weekend: Tashia Brown opened the year with a 30-point performance over the Tigers and Ivy Brown followed against Iowa with a 31-point performance.
The “supporting cast,” if you can even call them that, didn’t have a bad weekend either:
- Whitney Creech averaged nine points and four rebounds per game
- Raneem Elgedawy averaged five points and four boards per contest
- Dee Givens didn’t get nearly the credit she deserved in light of the two 30-point performances, as she averaged 18 points a game (scoring 20 against Mizzou and 16 against Iowa)
The key to the Lady Tops are twofold: Don’t back down. If they can beat a Top 25 team and take another high-profile squad to the brink, there’s no reason they can’t matchup well with Notre Dame. This’ll be the first stiff competition the Irish face this season, and while the Lady Tops won’t sneak up on them because of how prepared Muffett McGraw will be, there’s no reason it can’t be tightly contested all game.
Secondly win the defensive glass. No, scratch that — win on the glass, period. In Iowa, the Lady Tops were out-rebounded 88–62; they cannot afford to give Notre Dame second, third or fourth chances, nor can they allow the Irish to take chances away from them.
I hope this game is as good as I think it should be. Todd Stewart has already given WKU fans a money-back guarantee, so if you’re going to be in BG and have nothing to do, give MCH’s squad a shot.
We all know they deserve it.
