BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Western Kentucky dodged a bullet and prevented a New Orleans upset bid by gaining control of the game in the final five minutes on way to a 63-56 victory on Sunday afternoon at E.A. Diddle Arena.
WKU (13-8, 7-3 SBC) trailed most of the second half before breaking out of a 48-48 tie with a little over five minutes remaining. Amy McNear was the leading scorer for the home team with 16 points while Arnika Brown chipped in another 13 for the Lady Toppers.
Candice McGee scored a season-high 17 points for UNO (7-15, 1-10 SBC), who dropped their eigth straight road game. Brittany Helm added 14 points in the contest, to reach 999 during her Lady Privateer career with Juanita Cochran leading all rebounders with 11.
UNO shot 51.2 percent for the game as a team, but could not overcome the 25 turnovers that led to 17 points for WKU.
Trailing 27-15 with 5:55 remaining in the opening half, the Lady Privateers could have folded.
Instead, UNO scored 12 of the half's final 14 points to enter the break trailing 29-27. Holmes scored seven of her nine first half points during the 12-2 run.
The Lady Toppers had built up the advantage after turning a two-point deficit into a 22-11 advantage during a 12-0 run that lasted just over four minutes midway through the first half.
The run continued into the second half for the Lady Privateers as Tiffina' Bennett drained a three-pointer to give UNO a 30-29 lead, their first since an 11-9 edge. Bennett's three-point attempt was the first of five straight field goal attempts to fall for the Lady Privateers, who would extended their advantage to a game-high five at 37-32.
WKU fought back, rattling off 7 of 9 points to knot the game at 39. The tie at 39 was the first of five before the Lady Toppers emerged from the deadlock to take a 53-48 lead.
This time, UNO would not be able to recover. Several costly turnovers allowed WKU to extend their lead to six and keep the Lady Privateers at bay.
UNO will return home for three straight games, starting with South Alabama at Lakefront Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The contest will be streamed on UNO Vision with additional coverage on WGSO 990 AM and WGSO.com.
