Boxscore BOWLING GREEN, Kent. ? Crystal Kelly scored 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Western Kentucky to an 87-76 win over Louisiana Tech Tuesday night at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Kelly hit 10-of-16 field goals and 13-of-16 free throws in 37 minutes of action to lead the Lady Toppers (3-1) to a come-from-behind victory over the Lady Techsters, who played their regular season opener.
?That?s why she?s an All-American,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?We had trouble guarding her, especially when we got into foul trouble. Our plan was to be physical with her and make her really earn her points, but we just didn?t have an answer.
?We tried to pinch down on her in the second half and they made us pay with some three-pointers. She?s a first round draft choice (in the upcoming WNBA draft). She?s that good.?
Tech (0-1), minus all five starters from a year ago, jumped out to an early 12-2 lead as all five of its starters scored in the opening three minutes of the game, forcing WKU to call a timeout.
The Lady Toppers cut the deficit to 14-12 on a mini-run before Tech opened the advantage back out to eight at 23-15 with 9:01 to play on a three-pointer by
Keshia Warren. Tech hit 5-of-8 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Western took its first and only lead of the half when Kenzie Rich hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Lady Toppers a 33-32 halftime lead.
?I was proud of the fact we were able to do as well as we did in the first half despite Jo Sneed and
Shanavia Dowdell playing only five minutes each,? Long said. ?Western couldn?t guard those two kids but we couldn?t keep them on the floor enough.?
The Lady Toppers pushed their advantage to 59-50 midway through the second half and appeared to be ready to put Tech away. However, an 8-0 run triggered by four points by
Tiawana Pringle closed the gap to 59-58.
Tech trailed 67-64 on a pair of free throws by
Nastassja Levingston with 5:57 to play before Western Kentucky used a 13-5 run over the next four minutes to build an 8-69 lead. Kelly scored eight of the points in the decisive run.
Levingston led Tech with a career-high 17 points while
Whitney Jones added 15 points, Dowdell 11 points and Sneed 10 points.
"I was pleased with a lot of what I saw," Long said. "However, I really feel like we should have won the game. I told the team that. Give a lot of credit to Western, they made plays and hit free throws, but I feel like we should have won."
In addition to Kelly?s big night, Rich added 14 points and Charlotte Marshall 12.
Both teams hit 30-of-63 field goals for 48 percent while WKU hit 23-of-32 free throws and Tech hit only 8-of-16.
Tech returns to action Friday when it plays Northwestern State at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the Memphis Tournament.
