Marshall Looks for Series Sweep Sunday at WKU

Video Broadcast: ESPN+
Radio Broadcast (@JasonCorriher) : WMUL (starting here, finishing here)
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Game Notes: Marshall

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Marshall's women's basketball team will travel to Bowling Green Sunday for a 3 p.m. ET/2 CT tip against WKU in E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Thundering Herd is 3-4 and 2-3 in Conference USA, while the Lady Toppers come in at 2-7 and 1-2 in the league. The Tops had their first C-USA series against Charlotte postponed. Marshall will attempt to sweep WKU following its 81-54 win inside the Cam Henderson Center on Thursday.

Video will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Marshall's Jason Corriher will have the radio call on WMUL. That can be heard on your radio dial at 88.1 FM and on the station's SECOND online stream. (The game will switch to Stream 1 following the conclusion of Marshall's 2 p.m. ET men's game against the Hilltoppers.)

Last Time Out: Marshall 81, WKU 54 on 1/14/21
Guards Savannah Wheeler and Kristen Mayo combined for 38 points as the Marshall women's basketball team thumped visiting WKU 81-54 in a wire-to-wire win Thursday evening inside the Cam Henderson Center.

The win vaulted the Thundering Herd to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in Conference USA. The Lady Toppers fell to 2-7 and 1-2 in the league.

Wheeler scored 20 points and had six assists against no turnovers, while Mayo contributed 18 points (on 7-for-11 shooting) to go with five rebounds and four assists. Taylor Pearson also hit double digits with 10 points. Mahogany Matthews, the league's leading shot blocker, has continued to control the paint defensively. She did it again Thursday with three blocked shots.

The Tops got double-double efforts from both Fatou Pouye (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Raneem Elgedawy (17 points, 10 boards). Elgedawy, a 6-4 post player from Alexandria, Egypt, is a two-time all-league performer. She made her season debut Thursday and played 24 minutes off the bench for head coach Greg Collins.

Hope Sivori also added 10 points, four assists and three steals for WKU.

The Thundering Herd jumped on the Tops early with a 10-0 run to start the game. WKU, though, responded and cut the lead back to single digits by the end of the first quarter (22-16).

The margin was still seven (36-29) at halftime, but Marshall put the game away in the second half, scoring 45 points.

The advantage got into 20s for the first time on a Mayo steal and layup at the 7:50 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Herd ahead 61-40.

The Thundering Herd was red-hot in the final stanza, connecting on 10 of its 16 shots, en route to 24 points.

Marshall really turned up the heat on the defensive end throughout, forcing 19 WKU turnovers, which led to 17 Herd points off those miscues. The Thundering Herd also held a commanding 16-2 edge on fast break points.

Ten of Marshall's players found their way into the scorebook by game's end.

Dealing the Rejection
Mahogany Matthews rejected three shots against WKU on Thursday and now leads Conference USA at 3.3 per game. That total is also eighth nationally. As a team, the Herd also leads the conference at 5.4 per game and that is good for 24th in the nation.

Defensive Intensity
It isn't just the block category where the Thundering Herd has showcased its defensive prowess. Marshall is third in C-USA in scoring defense (64.1) and field goal percentage defense (37.6) and fifth in 3-point percentage allowed (27.7).

Scouting the Lady Toppers
WKU is off to a 2-7 start this season and sits at 1-2 in Conference USA after Thursday's result. WKU's first league series of the season against Charlotte was postponed. The Tops' lone non-conference win came against Bellarmine (82-49) on December 16 before the team recorded a split at Louisiana Tech last weekend (Friday 61-55 win, Saturday 58-52 loss).

With Raneem Elgedawy's return to the lineup, her 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and three blocks now lead the way statistically. Fatou Pouye (13.1) and Ally Collett (10.3) also average double-digits. Hope Sivori's 3.9 assists are a team-high, as are Meral Abdelgawad's 1.8 steals. Collett has also connected on a team-best 15 triples. Pouye's 52.6 field goal percentage currently stands fourth in the league's statistics.

WKU is fifth in the league in scoring defense (66.1 per game), but last in scoring offense (56.7), scoring margin (-9.4), turnover margin (-4.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (-0.54).

For all of the latest information on the Marshall women's basketball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdWBB, Facebook at Marshall University Basketball and on www.herdzone.com.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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Players Mentioned

Mahogany Matthews

Kristen Mayo

Taylor Pearson

Savannah Wheeler

Marshall University Athletics