BOWLING GREEN, KY – The Kentucky Wesleyan women's basketball team fell to Division I opponent Western Kentucky 88-61 on Wednesday night at Diddle Arena. The Hilltoppers move to 8-1 on the season, while Wesleyan remains at 3-1 since tonight's matchup was considered an exhibition for the Panthers.
 
Myah Montgomery got Kentucky Wesleyan on the board early with a triple less than two minutes in. Western responded by going on a 19-6 run throughout the majority of the first quarter. The lights were not too bright for Arielle Dabu, as she made back-to-back threes to finish the quarter with ten points and cut the Hilltoppers lead down to seven.
 
The Panthers continued to fight in the second quarter, as Sydnee Richetto drilled a pull-up jumper to make it 30-19 three minutes into the second quarter. After a quick run by the Hilltoppers, Wesleyan came right back at them with an 8-0 run on their own, kickstarted by a three-pointer from Ilani Williams-Harris. Western scored four points in the last 30 seconds of the half to go up 46-31 at halftime.
 
It was all Hilltoppers in the third quarter, outscoring Wesleyan 25-10. Riley Neal scored four points midway through the quarter. Dabu layed one in with under a minute to go to make it 66-41 Western Kentucky.
 
The Panthers came alive in the fourth, starting the final quarter on an 11-3 run orchestrated by Richetto's hot hand. Montgomery scored five points in the last minute to outscore Western 20-17 in the quarter. 
 
Dabu led Wesleyan in scoring with 16 points on 60% shooting (6-10 FG) and rebounds with seven on the night. Montgomery scored 14 points and made four three-pointers. Richetto added 13 points (5-8 FG). Shiya Hoosier and Williams-Harris played big minutes and contributed a combined seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Freshmen Carson Sisk and Emma Bruwer each played double-digit minutes returning from injury.
 
The Panthers will travel to Ashland, Ohio to take on the Eagles at 12 p.m. on Saturday, December 14^th.
 
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