Western Kentucky's Alexis Govan shoots Sunday against Auburn's Peyton Davis in the Women's National Invitation Tournament in Auburn, Ala. Todd J. Van Ernst/AP

The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team’s lack of size caught up to it at the wrong time Sunday.

The Lady Toppers (22-11) struggled with Auburn’s pressure and inside attack in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament and fell 84-66 at Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala.

“I’m super-proud of them,” WKU coach Michelle Clark-Heard said. “We executed the game plan on different changes, but it wore down on us. The game plan was to spread them out and shoot the 3 early on and kind of pull the bigs out.

“We worked on the press, of course, and I think we handled it in the beginning, but then we made some crucial turnovers. The size just wore on us.”

WKU won 22 games this year – 13 more than its 9-21 campaign in 2011-12 – despite starting four guards and a 6-foot forward.

The Lady Tops found ways to compensate throughout the season, but Auburn (18-14) used its length Sunday to record 20 steals and score 33 points off 26 WKU turnovers.

Four of the Tigers’ starters are 6-1 or taller, and that advantage allowed them to outscore the Lady Tops 44-16 in the paint and outrebound them 47-40.

“They definitely tried to go inside as much as possible,” sophomore guard Alexis Govan said. “They pressed us a lot and used their length, but most of all, they went to the boards.”

Govan’s floater in the lane gave the Lady Tops a 12-10 lead with 15:25 left in the first half, but Auburn pulled ahead for good with a 10-0 run.

WKU junior guard Bianca McGee answered with a 3-pointer, and the Tigers followed with another 10-0 burst to extend their lead to 15.

The Lady Toppers limited their halftime deficit to 49-38 by knocking down 8 of 15 3-pointers in the first half. They finished the game with a season-high 10 makes from behind the arc.

“Every time we passed the ball to somebody, we were yelling out, ‘Shot,’ to let them know to shoot the ball with confidence,” Govan said. “We were knocking them down.”

Auburn scored the first five points of the second half while WKU missed its first seven shots, but the Lady Tops pulled within 10 with 15:21 to play on a Govan free throw.

Then Hasina Muhammad and Auburn turned up the heat.

Muhammad, a 6-1 sophomore guard, scored six straight points in less than a minute to put the game out of reach. She finished with a career-high 27 points and nine rebounds.

Junior guard Tyrese Tanner added 24 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers, who recorded 25 assists and improved to 14-3 at home this season.

Auburn advances to host Tulane in the tournament’s third round this week.

“We competed with them the whole game,” Govan said. “We let them get away a little bit, but in the first half, you could tell we’re on the rise.”

Govan paced WKU with 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Sophomore forward Chastity Gooch had 19 points and 12 rebounds for her school-record 26th double-double this season.

McGee chipped in 16 points with five 3-pointers, five rebounds, four steals and three assists, but she also had 10 turnovers.

The Lady Tops shot 28.6 percent in the second half, including 2 of 16 from 3-point range.

“We were on the road at an SEC school, and we were able to get back within (10),” Heard said. “We’ll let them enjoy themselves because it’s been a long season, but we’ll get back to work here soon. We’re going to work to get better because our ultimate goal is to win championship and get to the NCAA.”

WKU’s 13-win improvement from last season is the largest in Sun Belt Conference history, and its eight-win improvement in league play tied the conference record.

The Lady Tops also earned their first postseason win since 2007 with a victory over East Carolina on Thursday in the first round of the WNIT.

They have no seniors this season and will add four 2013 signees next year.

“I know this postseason has gotten them hungry,” Heard said. “I think they understand that the sky’s the limit for this group. We’ve just got to stay committed, and we’ll get to where we’re trying to go.”