It was just one free throw, the last of the 12 free throws senior forward Crystal Kelly made that game.
But when she made that free throw, the crowd went ballistic and Kelly didn’t know why.
She didn’t realize she had just broken the Lady Toppers single game scoring record.
“I wasn’t aware of (the record), I really didn’t think about it,” Kelly said. “I heard the crowd scream extra loud after I made that free throw. I didn’t know what I had even broken.”
In what proved to be the exclamation mark for the final regular-season game of her career at Diddle Arena, Kelly scored a record-breaking 42 points as the Lady Toppers (21-7, 14-2 Sun Belt Conference East Division) went on to beat Louisiana-Monroe 82-48 Saturday night.
Kelly has already broken several school and conference records, including the career records for school and conference scoring.
With the performance, Kelly moved to No. 16 among the NCAA Division I career scoring leaders.
She also grabbed 17 rebounds in the win for her 16th double-double of the season.
The Lady Toppers made 54.4 percent of their field goals and grabbed 20 rebounds in the first half, five less than in their 82-73 win over the Warhawks (17-10, 10-6 SBC West) on Jan. 10.
Western led 49-31 at the half.
Kelly went 10-for-13 from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line on her way to 28 points in the opening half.
It took Kelly just over 13 minutes in the second half to break the record, when she hit a free throw with 6:38 left to score her 42nd point and break the record previously set by Natalie Powers’ 41 points on Feb. 1, 2001.
At the time, she was outscoring Louisiana-Monroe’s entire team.
“I wish every day was senior day if that’s the kind of performance we are going to get,” coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “I’m very proud of our young ladies as a whole for coming out and being so focused and so prepared and ready to play.”
Kelly led all scorers in the contest and was named the conference player of the week for her efforts. This marks the fourth time this season and the 13th time in her career she’s received this honor.
To add to the festivities and the grandeur, Kelly had her No. 42 jersey retired by the school.
She is the third Lady Topper player to receive this honor, joining Lillie Mason and Clemette Haskins, and is the first athlete in school history to have her jersey in the rafters while still playing.
With the victory, Western clinched the Sun Belt Conference regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament.
“It’s nice that we clinched the No. 1 spot,” junior forward Dominique Duck said. “We still have to remember that we still have two more games left before (the) conference (tournament), and we would like to win those games.”
Along with Kelly, senior guard Charlotte Marshall and senior forward Nadege Muna were also honored on Senior Day.
The Lady Toppers next meet Florida-International at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow in Miami, Fla.
Reach Chris Acree at sports@chherald.com.
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