Thursday, January 30, 2003

Cotton's 17 are not enough as Golden Panthers fall out of first with loss to Western Kentucky

iffany Porter-Talbert tied a career high with 23 points as Western Kentucky moved into first place in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division with a 80-68 win over Florida International on Thursday night in Miami.

Western (11-8, 6-2) never trailed in the game and turned the ball over a season-low 12 times as the Lady Toppers won for the first time in three years in Golden Panther Arena.

Porter-Talbert shot 9-of-13 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Leslie Logsdon notched 19 points while Shala Reese added 16.

The loss brook a five-game winning streak for FIU (14-6, 5-2). The Golden Panthers placed four players in double-figure scoring and were led by Cormisha Cotton's 17 points and eight rebounds. Milena Tomova posted career highs with 12 points and four blocked shots.

FIU will attempt to recover its first-place standing as the Golden Panthers host Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Western will be off on Saturday and returns to action on Monday against Butler at 5:00 p.m. in Bowling Green.