Bowling Green, Ky. - Sometimes things are just meant to be. On the day when nearly 40 former Lady Toppers were back on campus for an alumni celebration, and legendary coach Paul Sanderford was honored with a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime, the Western Kentucky University women's basketball team earned the program's 800th victory with a 67-51 win over Troy Saturday afternoon at E.A. Diddle Arena.

WKU now joins Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, Texas, James Madison, Stephen F. Austin, Ohio State and Tennessee Tech as the only nine programs in Division I women's basketball to reach 800 victories.

The win was the fourth in a row - and eighth in the last nine games for WKU - as it improved to 15-8 and 9-3 in the Sun Belt Conference. Troy dropped to 11-11 and 4-9 in the league.

"What an unbelievable day for Lady Topper basketball," said head coach Mary Taylor Cowles, who has been a part of 420 of those wins either as a player, assistant coach or head coach. "To be able to share this accomplishment with so many former players, and to have Coach Sanderford's jersey retired on the same day as our 800th win, you just can't script it any better."

The Lady Toppers trailed just once in the game when Brittnie Davis got the game's scoring started with a pair of free throws. WKU opened the game on a 19-4 run over the first 12:10, taking a 15-point lead on a LaTeira Owens layup. The lead would not dip into single digits the rest of the way as the Lady Toppers shot 44 percent in the opening half and held an 18-point advantage before taking a 34-19 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Troy got the first basket of the second half to cut its deficit to 13, but WKU allowed the Trojans to get no closer the rest of the game. In fact, WKU built its lead as high as 23 points on two occasions - the last coming when a Dominique Duck layup made it a 56-33 game with 8:36 remaining. The advantage remained above 20 until an 11-2 run by Troy cut it to a 62-49 score with 2:32 remaining.

Lashay Davis answered with a three, however, as WKU scored five of the final seven points to pick up the 16-point win.

Three Lady Toppers finished the game in double figures, led by Duck's 17 points. Kenzie Rich also added 11, while Owens came off the bench to drop in 10 points. Another Lady Toppers reached a milestone in the game, as with her three assists junior Amy McNear moved into the WKU career top 10. She now has 337 assists in her two-plus seasons on the Hill.

Donette McNair led Troy with a game-high 20 points and 15 rebounds, while Sarah McAppion came off the bench to score 12 points.

WKU returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 10) hosting Arkansas State at 7 p.m. (CST).