Lady Tigers Top Western Kentucky, 69-62

Nov. 29, 2002

Bowling Green, Ky – The Western Kentucky University Women’s Basketball team saw Clemson use two second-half runs to pull away and hand the Lady Toppers their first loss of the season 69-62 Friday night.

Clemson (2-1) scored the first four points of the contest, but Western (1-1) got back-to-back buckets from Shala Reese to even the score at 4-4 with 18:18 remaining in the half. However, the Lady Tigers remained in front and extended the lead to five points when a Julie Talley three made it 14-9 with 15:33 to go. That would be the last basket Clemson would score for the next 4:43, as another Reese layup sparked a 9-0 Lady Topper run that gave them an 18-14 lead with 10:50 to go in the half. The Lady Tigers fought back to even the score again at 20-20 on an Amanda White jumper, and regained the lead when a three from Lakeia Stokes made it a 25-24 game. Clemson again expanded the lead to three when a free throw from Khaili Sanders made it 30-27 with 1:14 to go, but Reese again came up big for Western, getting a layup with eight seconds left to send Western into the lockerroom down just one, 30-29.

Reese went into halftime already completing her second double-double in as many games with, leading all players with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Chrissy Floyd paced Clemson with eight points at the break. Despite trailing by one, Western held a substantial lead on the boards, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds and leading 30-17 on the glass.

Clemson held on to its lead through the start of the second half, but Western did not allow itself to fall behind by more than three. A three by Leslie Logsdon gave the Lady Toppers their first lead of the half at 38-37 with 14:00 to play. The basket ended a drought for Western from behind the arc, as it missed its first 12 three-point attempts prior to Logsdon’s shot. Clemson regained a 44-41 lead on a three-point play by Maggie Slosser, and after two Reese free throws cut the lead to one, Floyd connected on four straight attempts to extend the Lady Tiger lead to 52-43 with 9:18 remaining. Western trailed 58-49 with under six minutes to play when a three by Kristina Covington and layup by Reese got the Lady Toppers within four (58-54) with 4:16 to play. However, Clemson scored seven unanswered points out of a timeout to push the lead back to 65-54 with 2:17 remaining. Western was able to score the next five points to pull within 65-59 with one minute to play, but Queen stopped the Clemson drought with a jumper and the Lady Tigers hit their free throws down the stretch to leave Diddle Arena with a 69-62 win.

Reese led all scorers with 22 points, and was one of four Lady Toppers with double-digit rebounds, pulling down a game-high 15. Logsdon finished with 12 points, while Covington and Tiffany Porter-Talbert finished with 10 and 11 rebounds, respectively.