Once again, both WKU basketball teams were in action on the same day. The Lady Toppers played their fifth Conference USA game of the season at home inside of E.A. Diddle Arena against a struggling Florida International team. The Fella Tops participated in their fifth conference game of the season as well, but on the road in Miami, Florida against the above .500 Florida International Panthers.
Michelle Clark-Heard’s squad smothered the Lady Panthers yesterday afternoon, as they were rewarded with an 81-42 win. The Lady Toppers have now won 13 straight games and are 16-2 overall, 5-0 in Conference USA. The starters led the way for WKU, but the bench contributed, too.
KENDALL NOBLE
G | Lady Toppers
A+
Lady Topper redshirt sophomore Kendall Noble had a great day on the court. The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year had 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, five assists, 10 rebounds, and 5 steals in 30 minutes of play. Noble is usually always consistent for WKU, but playing like this will definitely get the team a win!
CHASTITY GOOCH
F | Lady Toppers
B-
Senior-leader Chastity Gooch had a good, not great, game for Western Kentucky yesterday. She finished her day with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, five rebounds, one assist, and three blocks. Chastity is usually a double-double machine, but yesterday was a rare miss. But Gooch is coming off a game where she injured her lip and had to receive stitches, so we’ll let this decent performance slide.
ALEXIS GOVAN
G/F | Lady Toppers
C+
The other senior leader for the Lady Toppers didn’t have her best game, either. The 5-10 guard/forward had a low 10 points on 40% shooting, three assists, and four rebounds in 27 minutes. Alexis might of not had the best game of her career, but hey, she scored and it resulted on the scoreboard.
LADY TOPPERS BENCH
31 total points
B+
The Lady Toppers bench FINALLY had a solid game. As a unit, the bench scored a total of 31 points, along with 12 total rebounds. Freshman guard Tashia Brown had the best game of the bench today with 12 points, four rebounds, and a pair of assists. Last year’s Miss Kentucky Basketball Ivy Brown had eight points and five rebounds. Jaylnn McClain, Javieonna Norris, and Bria Gaines added a total of 11. Bench play like this will always get the girls a win.
Now let’s head over to the guys. The Hilltoppers grabbed their seventh straight win and are off to their best conference start in 22 years after moving to 5-0 in C-USA play. They got a lot of production from one man in particular, and scraped by with key baskets and timely plays to grab the W.
GEORGE FANT
F | Hilltoppers
A-
Senior leader
JUSTIN JOHNSON
F | Hilltoppers
B-
Last year’s Kentucky Mr. Basketball finalist and strong big man
T.J. PRICE
G | Hilltoppers
A+
Floor general
WKU BENCH
Hilltoppers
C+
The Hilltopper bench finally woke up and played a pretty decent game against the Panthers. The bench scored a total of 20 points, grabbed an awesome 16 rebounds, and dished out seven assists. As we said before, freshman Justin Johnson had 11 points and six rebounds, while big
How would you have graded the players above? Let me know on Twitter at @TopperTime_WKU or @WaveTheRedTowel, or in a comment below.
