Western Kentucky women’s basketball coach Michelle Clark-Heard admits she was the most anxious person in E.A. Diddle Arena as the Women’s National Invitation Tournament field was released Monday night.

Heard was anxious because she dangled a postseason bid in front of the Lady Toppers early in the season, promising it could be a possibility if they worked hard enough.

She didn’t want to leave her players empty-handed.

“I was probably the most nervous out of everybody because I’ve talked to them a lot about that,” Heard said. “I really wanted this to happen for them because of that.”

WKU (21-10) earned the right to keep playing with a WNIT bid and will host East Carolina at 7 p.m. today in the first round at Diddle Arena.

The best part of Monday night for Heard came shortly before 10 p.m., she said, when she was able to contact each player to let them know the season wasn’t over.

“It’s not like the (NCAA tournament) selection show,” Heard said. “They weren’t sitting around. They had to wait for my phone call or my text. Making the phone calls to them was a big deal for me, because we talked about having the possibility – even when we lost in the Sun Belt tournament – that we could still be playing.”

Heard’s right. It isn’t the NCAA tournament, which WKU has reached 16 times in its history. But the berth is the Lady Tops’ 26th postseason bid in the last 30 seasons and the first since 2010, when they lost to Illinois at home in the first round of the WNIT. It’s also a chance to gain more experience for a team with seven newcomers and no seniors.

“What we’re trying to look at is tournament time,” Heard said. “That’s why we’re really excited as a staff. … The experience for this team would be the greatest thing in tournament time – understanding and knowing it’s one and done.”

WKU was one of 33 at-large selections to the WNIT field. Arkansas-Little Rock earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid.

Heard thinks the Lady Tops’ road success and the improved play of sophomores Alexis Govan and Chastity Gooch were appealing to the selection committee, she said.

WKU was also rewarded with a first-round home game. The program is 18-4 in postseason games played at Diddle Arena.

It would play its second-round game against Auburn, which beat UAB on Wednesday. The location of that contest hasn’t been determined, although WKU has made itself available to host any potential games.

“I looked at the bracket and where people had to go, and we’re very fortunate,” Heard said. “I hope our fans and everybody understands that it’s going to be really important that we have a good showing – that people come out and support us. They deserve it. They’ve worked really hard to get us to this spot.”

Heard and her staff dove quickly into preparation for East Carolina (22-9) on Monday night. The Lady Pirates finished the regular season ranked second in Conference USA and fell to Tulsa on Friday in the conference tournament semifinals. They’re also making their first postseason appearance since 2010. ECU is ranked eighth in the nation in steals, 18th in turnover margin, 19th in 3-point defense and 51st in scoring defense.

“We’ve got a lot of balance and a lot of depth,” ECU coach Heather Macy said. “We expect that to help us with tournament time this year. There’s two things that we’re going to do, and that’s defend and rebound.”

ECU is led by senior guard Celeste Stewart (11.3 points per game, 4.1 assists per game), who is a first-team Conference USA selection.

Senior twin sisters Whitny and Britny Edwards each average more than nine points and six rebounds per game in the post.

“They’ve shot over 600 3s, to give you an indication,” Heard said. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us, but on the other hand, they’re looking to figure out how they’re going to guard Govan and Gooch and the rest of our team.”

Macy agreed that it’s going to be challenge on the ECU side as well.

“They have an inside presence that we’re going to have to address, and I’ve been really impressed with the way Western Kentucky scores the basketball,” she said. “We have to limit easy scoring opportunities and make them score within their sets.”

Tickets are $12 for reserved seating, $6 for youths (ages 3 through 12) and $6 for WKU students with a valid student ID. The first 100 students get in free.

I hope our fans and everybody understands that it’s going to be really important that we have a good showing – that people come out and support us.”