Lady Toppers travel up I-65 to take on Louisville in YUM! Center

I really hope the Lady Toppers have a short memory, because they’re going to need it after dropping their first game of 2014/15 over the weekend against Mississippi State in the Preseason WNIT Championship game.

However, the Bulldogs are the number one team in the women’s basketball land, and the Lady Tops’ took them to the edge (just like they did with Baylor in the NCAA Tournament), so there isn’t too much to be upset about, and there’s even more to look forward to, as WKU will face the other red and black team in Kentucky, the Louisville Cardinals.

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The Lady Cards are in a stretch of five consecutive home games, and a stretch where eight of their next nine are at the Yum! Center. They’ve already been successful in the first three, with wins over UT-Martin, Belmont and Ball State on Sunday. UofL comes to the court tonight with the best turnover margin in the ACC at +15.8, and is averaging 13.5 per game, which is the fewest through four games since 2004/05. The Lady Cards are also either very veteran or very young, as there are no sophomores or juniors in their probable starting lineup, only seniors (three) and freshman (tw0).

In the loss to Mississippi State, both Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan scored 20 points each, and Kendall Noble wasn’t too far behind with 19. Both her and Gooch notched double doubles, adding 10 and 14 rebounds, respectively, to their stat line. Even in the loss, they did force 22 Mississippi St. turnovers, and have forced more than 20 turnovers in every game so far this season.

This was a match up that was played a year ago in Bowling Green, and saw Louisville pull away in the second half 74-61. Gooch lead the way there with 21 points, followed by Govan with 14, but not much more after that from the Lady Toppers side of things. The Cards had three players score in double figures, and return three of the five starters from last year’s game.

Here’s how Michelle Clark-Herd will begin the game on the floor. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it:

Micah Jones – G
Tashia Brown – G
Kendall Noble – G
Alexis Govan – G/F
Chastity Gooch -F

Unlike the men’s game, tonight’s game can be seen for free! Granted, that requires access to ESPN3, as that’s where the game is broadcast.

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