Since its opening home game, the Bowling Green Hot Rods are breaking even with their 12-12 record, but Bowling Green’s downtown square is alive and well.

The simple presence of the Hot Rods as well as its 8-8 record since its debut at the Bowling Green Ballpark on April 17, has brought new patrons to the businesses that surround the ballpark.

After months of anticipation, professional baseball made its debut in Bowling Green on Friday night.

Friday, men’s basketball senior forward Matt Maresca graced the front page of the USA Today. The Toppers were also on the front of USA Today’s sports section.

By Sunday, the Women’s NCAA tournament had tipped off in Diddle Arena, and with every trip up and down the floor by the players, cameras showed Western’s trademark red towel.

With a large contingency dressed in orange at Diddle Arena on Sunday night, coach Pat Summit stepped out from the tunnel and onto the court just before tip-off.

Hearing yourself think was pretty much out of the question.

But at the end of a historic night, Diddle probably felt like anything but a second home to the Lady Vols.

After Diddle Arena undergoes a major facelift in order to prep itself for prime time television on ESPN and the first and second rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament, the sea of red won’t be the same place that many Western fans have become accustomed to.

If you planned on getting a table at the popular restaurant Double Dogs on Thursday night, you had better have called ahead of time and made reservations.

Following Western’s 71-62 loss to Louisiana-Monroe Wednesday night, coach Mary Taylor Cowles found out what it’s like to not to be involved in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament after the first round.

The 10th-seeded Warhawks upset the seventh-seeded Lady Toppers in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament to end a season in which there were expectations that Western could be a part of the NCAA Tournament when the first and second rounds are played at Diddle later this month.

The pairings for the NCAA Tournament were announced today a little after 6:30 p.m. by the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament selection committee.

Iowa State (24-8), Tennessee (22-10), Ball State (25-8) and East Tennessee State (20-10) will be playing their first and second round games starting Sunday at Diddle Arena as part of the Berkeley Region of the NCAA Tournament.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – In Western’s match-up with rival Middle Tennessee on Sunday, the nation’s leading scorer, MTSU junior forward Alysha Clark, wasn’t the Lady Toppers’ biggest problem.
While the junior had a Murphy Center record 45 points, Western (16-12, 10-8 Sun Belt) turned the ball over 20 times, losing 87-61.

For the Lady Toppers season-ticket, things may have seemed a little out of the ordinary prior to a late-season game.

Normally before the last home game of the season, Western honors its outgoing senior class, but that wasn’t the case in last night’s 66-48 win against Florida Atlantic.