WKU
Game 15 Preview: vs WKU
1/13/2026 2:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Huntsville • Johnson Coliseum (6,100)Â
Sam Houston (10-4, 3-0 CUSA) vs WKU (5-10, 1-3 CUSA)Â
Thursday, January 15 • 6:30 PMÂ
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TV: ESPN+ (Matt Pedersen, Brooke Kirchhofer)Â
RADIO:Â BSNÂ (Stephanie Keele);Â KSHU 90.5 FM
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @Bearkats_WBBÂ
Series vs the Hilltoppers: 1-3
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HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston women's basketball team will look to take the conference home opener against Western Kentucky at Johnson Coliseum.
Tipoff for the game is set for 6:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN+ with Matt Pedersen and Brooke Kirchhofer on the call courtside.    Â
The game can also be heard online on the Bearkat Sports Network and the Bearkat Athletics app with Stephanie Keele moving behind the mic for the Kats for the 2025-26 season.   Â
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KATS LOOK TO TAKE CONFERENCE HOME OPENER
- Sam Houston moved to 3-0 in CUSA play on Saturday with a 73-65 OT win at Delaware and will be looking to open league play with 4 wins in a row for the first time since 2019-20 on Thursday when it hosts WKU
-Â The win over the Blue Hens was the first road OT win for the Kats since a 74-72 win at Dixie State on 2/3/2022
- Sam Houston is 1 of 3 teams in CUSA still unbeaten in league play, joined by MTSU (4-0) and Missouri State (3-0)
-Â Sam Houston opened up league play with road wins at LA Tech and Liberty, the teams picked to finish Nos. 1 and 2 in the CUSA preseason poll
- The Kats' 10-4 mark is tied for its second-best 14-game start in program history, equaling its 10-4 start in 2019-20 and only bettered by a 11-3 start in 1987-88Â
- Sam Houston has now won 5 games in a row for the second time this year. It is the first season for SHSU with multiple win streaks of 4+ games since 2019-20. The 5-game streak is the longest since a 7-game win streak in 2021-22
- Sam Houston has totaled 29 overall wins since joining CUSA for the 2023-24 season. The Bearkats have held their opponent under 70 points in 28 of those 29 games with the lone exception being an 87-81 OT win over WKU in 2023-24
- Whitney Dunn turned in her biggest offensive game of the year to push the Kats to the win at Delaware. She set a new career high with 21 points and tying her career with 4 made 3-pointers. She scored 8 of the Kats' 12 points in OT
- Deborah Ogayemi has picked up double-doubles in each of the Kats' 3 CUSA games to open the year, averaging 17.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg in those games
- The Kats forced 32 turnovers against Liberty. Sam Houston leads CUSA and ranks third in the nation with 27.79 turnovers forced per game in 2025-26
- The 32 turnovers marked the fifth time this year and the 30th time in the Ravon Justice era in which the Kats forced at least 30 turnovers in a single game
- Half of those turnovers came via steal, with the 16 swipes being just over the Kats' season average of 15.4 per game. That mark ranks third in the nation per game and leads CUSA
- Fanta Kone has yet to leave the floor in CUSA play, playing 125 of a possible 125 minutes over 3 games
- Kone led Conference USA in both assists and steals per game in 2024-25, becoming the first CUSA player since Charlotte's Laia Raventos in 2017-18 to do so. This year she currently leads CUSA in in assists (5.0) and ranks second in steals (3.8). Should she achieve the feat, she would join Southern Miss' Jamierra Faulkner (2013-14 & 2014-15) as the only players in league history to lead CUSA in each category in consecutive seasonsÂ
- The Bearkats are the only team in the nation with three players ranked in the top 30 in steals per game, led by Fanta Kone (8th, 3.79), Aysia Ward-Strong (26th, 3.07), and Deborah Ogayemi (29th, 3.08).
- Sam Houston earned its first home win against Western Kentucky in the 2023–24 season, claiming an 87–81 overtime victory. WKU leads the all-time series, 3–1.
