SPORTS B4
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
Lady Toppers face another tough test against Iowa BY DRAKE KIZER HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU
After coming up short in its first two regular-season contests, WKU women’s basketball will return to Diddle Arena on Tuesday night looking for a victory against Iowa. The Lady Toppers, who trail the alltime series 4-3, lost their last meeting with the Hawkeyes 104-97 last year. In that contest, WKU was able to endure a Big Ten road environment, finishing four quarters knotted with Iowa 93-93. In overtime, the Lady Toppers were outscored 11-4 and ultimately lost a hard-fought game. Iowa returns four of its five start-
FAHAD ALOTAIBI • HERALD
Lady Topper sophomore Sherry Porter (22) attempts to shoot as she is defended by Louisville forward Junior Kylee Shook (21) during the Lady Toppers’ 102-80 loss against Louisville on Tuesday in Diddle Arena.
HILLTOPPERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE B6 That’s Horton. I like that. He plays with emotion.” Point guard play and second half performances will have to be the top issues Stansbury addresses heading into the Myrtle Beach Invitational. Second half play was a problem even before the regular season started. In the second half of WKU’s final exhibition game, the Hilltoppers allowed Division II Kentucky Wesleyan to match its scoring output of 41. Stansbury was clearly frustrated with his team’s second half after the game. It carried over to the season opener. WKU lead the Huskies 36-27 at the half, only to allow 12 straight coming out of halftime. The Hilltoppers never managed a healthy lead again and the Huskies outscored the Hilltoppers 46-19 in the half. WKU did make progress against UTM, however. Sophomore guard Taveion Hollingsworth and graduate transfer forward Desean Murray sparked a second half run that put the game out of reach, and WKU outscored UTM 39-34 in the half. Point guard play has also been an issue for the Hilltoppers. Sophomore Josh Anderson has been entrusted with the lead guard role since the graduation of Darius Thompson. The early returns haven’t been great. Anderson was held scoreless at UW and had only one assist and four turnovers. He played better against UTM, with seven
HUDSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE B6
“You’re talking about a young lady that’s just larger than life,” Hudson said. “Just to see where she was at in her life and what she had ahead of her. This was something that stopped her and everyone in her world in their tracks.” Driving up to visit Cavanaugh in the hospital for the first time after learning of her diagnosis, Hudson said he coached himself up the whole way, knowing he can be an emotional person. Hudson said his preparation lasted four words before his voice began to crack and his former player, laying in a hospital bed, stopped him. “She said we’re not doing that,” Hud-
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ers from last year’s squad, a team that finished 24-8 and received an atlarge bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes, ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP Poll, claimed their season opener over Oral Roberts 90-77 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Nov. 9. Senior forward Megan Gustafson led the way for Iowa with team-highs in points, rebounds and assists. Prior to WKU’s first regular-season contest against No. 5 Louisville, head coach Greg Collins said he did not expect redshirt junior forward Dee Givens to do great every night, but he did expect her to give great effort. “With Dee, the biggest challenge in the past wasn’t having great games, it was consistently putting together great game after great game,” Collins said. “[Bringing a more consistent effort] is something that she’s worked on … in practice, and I hope that we’ll see that on the floor.” The Lady Toppers got that and more from Givens: she scored 18 at home against the Cardinals before establishing a new career-high in points with 21 on the road against the Sooners. After scoring only five points in the first three frames against OU, Givens hit four 3-pointers in the fourth period to keep WKU within striking distance until the end. Despite the efforts of Givens and her teammates, WKU fell to U of L 102-80 on Nov. 6 and OU 90-83 on Friday. The difference in both of the Lady Toppers’ losses this season was transcendent performances from opposing players. Against the Cardinals, senior guard Asia Durr, an AP preseason All-American, poured in 33
points in only 21 minutes. The story was the same in Norman, Oklahoma, as sophomore guard Shaina Pellington scored a career-high 33 points for the Sooners. WKU’s fortunes against Iowa will hinge on preventing senior forward Megan Gustafson, a 2017 Second-Team All-American, from having a similar outing. Gustafson led the country with 25.7 points per game a year ago, scoring a game-high 35 points in WKU’s loss to Iowa last season. On the offensive side, the Lady Toppers will look for a much more consistent performance. WKU has suffered extended scoring droughts in each of its first two contests, which has caused its opponents’ scoring runs to prove especially deadly. Half-court sets have also been an issue, which Collins spoke about after the U of L game. “I made a decision early on that we were going to become a good running team,” Collins said. “Then we would develop our half-court offense next. And we’ve been working on it, but that’s still not our strength yet.” One positive so far this season has been the ability of different Lady Toppers to step up when needed. Redshirt junior guard Alexis Brewer scored 22 points against the Cardinals but managed only seven against OU. Conversely, freshman guard Meral Abdelgawad followed a four-point outing against U of L with a 17-point outburst against the Sooners. “I feel like it makes it really hard for people to be able to guard us,” senior guard Sidnee Bopp said before the U
FAHAD ALOTAIBI • HERALD
Lady Topper basketball coach Greg Collins takes a moment during WKU’s 102-80 loss against Louisville on Tuesday in Diddle Arena.
of L game. “You never know who’s going to go off … it doesn’t matter what night it is, it’s just whoever we need to step up does it.” Collins said the Lady Toppers are focused on themselves and becoming more cohesive as a unit so that when February and March roll around, they will be ready. “I think that we’re trying to get some experience here,” Collins said after the U of L game. “We’ve got a good team and we have good chemistry. I think once we get some experience, we have a shot to be pretty competitive” Collins is still seeking his first career regular-season win. He will look to lead the Lady Toppers to victory over the Hawkeyes at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Diddle Arena. The game will be available on ESPN3 and WKU PBS.
Sports reporter Drake Kizer can be reached at 270-745-2653 and clinton. kizer287@topper.wku.edu. Follow Drake on Twitter at @drakekizer_.
points and three assists, but Stansbury said he expects better. Freshman point guard Dalano Banton has not scored yet this season and only has four assists despite playing 28 minutes. Stansbury wants more out of Anderson going forward. “Maybe I expect too much out of Josh,” Stansbury said. “That’s where I’m at with him. I expect a whole lot more. It’s not where it needs to be. As a point guard, Josh needs to get some enthusiasm and energy about him other than scoring.” The Hilltoppers face a tough test in their opening game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. Valparaiso scored 121 points in its season opening win against Concordia-Chicago. If WKU wins that matchup, the Hilltoppers will play the winner of West Virginia and Monmouth. West Virginia lost to Buffalo on Friday, but the Bison have NBA talent and an experienced team that has played in the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia’s up-tempo style of play and full court press will be a real challenge for the struggling point guards. Regardless of the opponents, three games in four days will be a challenge on this inexperienced group. WKU will square off with Valparaiso at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The game will be available on ESPNU.
Reporter Alec Jessie can be reached at 270-745-6291 and alec.jessie226@ topper.wku.edu. Follow Alec on Twitter at @Alec_Jessie. son said. “She’s just had this determination about her, this positivity about her that’s really been…I went up there to lift her spirits and she ended up lifting mine.” Hudson said he doesn’t believe anything happens by accident. When he did finally manage to muster his voice again in the hospital room, he told Cavanaugh that he’d always wondered, throughout her time as a player, why she had been so stubborn. Now he knew. “She fought me throughout her career here,” Hudson said. “She was so stubborn, and now I know it’s gonna be the same stubbornness, that same fight that girl has deep down inside her, that will be why she ends up winning this.” It’s this willingness to fight when knocked back that Hudson said separates people. Hudson said he has always been the type of person to get back up and joked that it might be his only talent. “I’m not an overly talented person,” Hudson said. “I’m not an overly talented coach. But I’m a person that refuses to say no, refuses to stay down. There’s no bump in the road that’s too big. We’ll beat this thing.” Hudson is no stranger to battles and hardships of cancer, being a melanoma survivor himself. On Easter weekend this past year, Hudson suffered a
CHRIS KOHLEY • HERALD
WKU forward Desean Murray (13) attempts a shot over UT Martin center Jeremy Joyner (42) for a score on Saturday night. Murray totaled 18 points in the Hilltoppers’ win in Diddle Arena.
life-threatening heart attack that the coach said has impacted his decision to offer this scholarship. “I spent my life trying to be the helper, but in a matter of minutes, I was laying on the other of side of that thing, and in a hospital bed, and my life was in the hands of the human beings around me,” Hudson said. “It’s a pretty surreal deal and I think it’s really been impactful.” WKU athletics associate director of media relations Jessica Leifheit said that hearing about Hudson’s offer came with little surprise to those that work with him. “You almost expect it,” Leifheit said. “This is the kind of person Travis is. It’s not just about winning matches, winning volleyball games for him. It’s about making sure these student athletes are successful and they’re set up to have great lives after WKU.” Leifheit said his support expands beyond his own team, saying Hudson’s support reaches across other teams and everyone else on campus.Hudson has been a great resource for the university, Leifheit said. To begin the process of finding a bone marrow donor for Cavanaugh, doctors first started by testing her family for potential matches although 7 out of 10 patients do not find a match within their family, according to Be
The Match’s website. The Cavanaugh family, in partnership with WKU Athletics and Be The Match, then moved to signed up donors across four different WKU sporting events in four days last week. Hudson said he now wants to take the search campus-wide, and if the match isn’t found there, he’ll keep going. “We’ll take it city-wide,” Hudson said. “We’ll take it across every school in Conference USA. I don’t know where we’ll stop. When someone tells me there’s a match out there for her, and it’s a matter of finding it, what else do you need to know? It’s just digging in and getting people to sign up until you find that person.” Students can sign up at Be the Match’s website to be added into the registry or scan the QR code found in the paper with their phone. Once entered into the registry, the person will receive a swab kit in the mail, swab their cheek, and return the kit and sample. “In times like this, I think we see there is a strength here that maybe doesn’t exist everywhere else,” Hudson said. “I think this is when we shine our brightest.”
Reporter Casey McCarthy can be reached at 270-745-6291 and casey. mccarthy573@topper.wku.edu