Lady Toppers open home conference slate by welcoming in FAU

By Fletcher Keel | Jan 15, 2015

For the first time not only in the calender year of 2015, but as a member of Conference USA, Michelle Clark-Heard’s Lady Toppers take to John Oldham Court against a conference opponent, and its former Sun Belt frienemy FAU who has the distinction of being WKU’s first.

Things are going about as well as they could possibly go for the Lady Tops (aside from, you know, falling out of the Top 25 after a week with two conference wins of more than 10 points, but whatever), who sit at 14-2 overall and a perfect 3-0 in conference play. Four starters are averaging double figures, being lead by 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds by, who else, Chastity Gooch.

Alexis Govan has enjoyed taking part in conference play for the first time in two years after missing the entirety of the Sun Belt schedule last year, as she’s just behind her pal with 17.6 points and 5.6 boards per game. Kendall Noble and Micah Jones consist of the other two starters averaging at least 10 points.

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The Lady Owls can’t seem to put any consistency together to begin this season, although this last stretch of games is the best they’ve played all season. Winners of three of their last four, FAU began the conference schedule with a pair of wins before getting absolutely slaughtered by MTSU last Saturday in a 101-69 loss. Before that, the Lady Owls collected wins over FIU and UAB.

FAU is lead by a pair of double-digit scorers themselves, lead by 17.2 points from Shaneese Bailey (who also adds 6.1 boards a game) and 16.2 points from Ali Gorrell each time out. Outside of that – there really isn’t a whole lot of depth on the scoreboard.

Where the Owls really struggle is the free throw line – FAU is shooting just 36.4 percent – yes, 36.4 percent. I’m pretty sure every high school in Bowling Green is shooting better than that. But, anyway, if the Lady Toppers can find a way to put FAU at the line where the aren’t very comfortable, who knows, maybe making the Owls earn two points could be a more daunting task than it should be. (Just for the record, the Lady Tops are 69% from the charity stripe.)

The Lady Tops are rolling, and even though FAU came to a screeching halt last weekend, I think the Owls are the best chance yet to hand WKU their first conference loss.

The only problem with that, is I still don’t think FAU will win. We will see when the two tip off at 11 a.m., Bowling Green time. And, for those of you who can’t make it to Diddle, Fox College Sports’ Atlantic feed will carry the game.

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