49ers Earn 2nd-Largest Margin of Victory in WKU Rout
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte 49ers women’s basketball picked up a statement win in Conference USA action on Thursday night romping past Western Kentucky University (WKU) 89-43 inside Halton Arena.
The 46-point victory was the largest by the Niners in five years and the second-largest ever vs. C-USA opposition. The 49ers also finished off the regular-season sweep of the Hilltoppers for the first time in program history.
“We put together a 40-minute performance on both ends,” began Head Coach Cara Consuegra. “To put together a performance like this, you can see the kind of team we’re still capable of being. That’s what excites me. We still have a lot of games left and we’re still improving. That’s a really good thing. I want to shout out our players. We gave them some tough criticism after the Middle Tennessee game, they took that to heart and you could see that pay off for us.”
Charlotte (14-8, 10-2 C-USA) didn’t mess around getting out to a 21-6 start over the first 10 minutes shooting 40% from the field while holding WKU (17-8, 10-4) to just 2-of-11 shooting 18%. Octavia Jett-Wilson and Mikayla Boykin got things going with early jumpers as the duo scored the first nine points of the game for the Niners.
Jett-Wilson pushed the lead out to six with a three-ball at the 2:23 mark before layups by Kameron Roach and Jada McMillian slid the lead to double-digits. McKinney’s three and a final layup by McMillian closed out the 15-point lead after one. Charlotte posted a 12-0 run over a span of 2:23 while holding the Hilltoppers scoreless for nearly four minutes. The 21 points were the most in the opening frame by the Niners since the league opener at UTEP.
“That helped us tremendously. It really gave us confidence. We found good shots and knocked them down. You put that on top of holding them to six points, it certainly put us in a great position to start the game.”
Dazia Lawrence got the 25-point second quarter started with her first two of a career-high eight points on the night before pushing the lead to 21, 30-9, at the 7:20 mark after five points from Molina Williams, one from behind the arc. Jett-Wilson, Boykin, Roach, and Williams quickly slid the lead to 28 at 38-10 until Boykin scored the final eight points of the quarter, two from long distance, for a 46-18 lead at the break. The 46 points at the half is the most the season by the Niners and first time scoring at-least 45 over the opening 20 since putting up 49 vs. Florida Atlantic last March.
Charlotte added a 58% shooting second quarter in addition to the 40% in the first for a 49% clip in the first half. WKU could only manage 18% in the first and 25% in the second for a 22% first half against the league’s top defense. Boykin dropped 14 of her game-high 22 in the first half as well.
The Niners didn’t show any signs of letting up posting a 29-point third quarter which became the most points in any quarter this season. Jett-Wilson, McKinney, and Boykin got the frame underway with Boykin completing a three-point play at the 8:07 mark and again 55 seconds later for a 57-20 advantage. Four free throws from Williams and two from Jett-Wilson advanced the lead to 41 at 63-22 before a jumper and pair from the charity stripe by Lawrence led to a 49-point lead closing out the third.
A pair of free throws by Aylesha Wade at the 7:13 mark of the fourth gave Charlotte their largest lead of the night at 50, 81-31. Cali Konek drained a couple of jumpers 33 seconds apart before Angel Middleton knocked down a couple of free throws and put in the final basket of the night. Starting another three-game in five-day stretch, no starter played more than 26:30 with the Niners bench scoring 28 of the 89 points while everyone played at least three minutes.
The 49ers shot 44% on the night while holding WKU to a 21% clip and a smaller 15% from behind the arc. The Niners picked up 19 assists on 31 made baskets, six apiece by Jett-Wilson and McMillian, while holding the opposition to just a dozen made baskets. The Niners dominated the paint 36-14, scored 22 points off WKU turnovers while not allowing any on the other end, won the fast break battle 31-11 with the bench dropping 28.
The four-game home stretch for the 49ers continues on Saturday when they host Marshall for the annual Play4Kay game at 4:00 p.m.