Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball team is embracing a new identity with roster turnover.

Michelle Clark-Heard enters her sixth season coaching the Lady Toppers and brings on eight new additions to the 2017-18 squad, but she will be without two pillars she’s had in the program’s resurgence under her direction.

Heard enters her first year leading a group absent either Micah Jones or Kendall Noble but adds five freshmen, a junior college transfer and two more players who will be eligible next season.

Now a totally new group steps in with seniors Tashia Brown and Ivy Brown leading the way and the door standing wide open for the next Lady Topper to make a name for herself.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces and new things we have to teach,” Heard said during a news conference Tuesday. “I’m really proud of Ivy and Tashia for stepping up and trying to help and putting our players in the best position so they can understand and know what’s about to happen in the next month or so.”

WKU is about a week-and-a-half into the fall practice and will showcase its new team to the public for the first time at the annual Hilltopper Hysteria event Friday night in E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Lady Toppers open the season at home against Union University on Nov. 2.

Tashia and Ivy Brown are each three-year starters who earned All-Conference USA honors in the Lady Toppers’ run to a second C-USA title in three years.

WKU lost to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Lexington in March.

As freshmen in 2014-15, the Brown duo watched Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan lead, then played behind Noble and Jones the last two years.

They’ve seen what it takes to put that role on themselves.

“Our leadership has stepped up and we’ve had to take that to another level,” senior Tashia Brown said. “We have a lot of new people so we’re kind of leading them and showing them the way. Both of us are pretty good leaders. We just take them under our wings and show them how it is because they don’t have a clue on what to expect.”

Six of WKU’s eight newcomers are immediately eligible. West Virginia transfer Alexis Brewer and Kansai Gaidai University (Japan) transfer Arame Niang will sit out a year and become eligible for the 2018-19 season.

Freshmen Terri Smith, Sherry Porter, Nichel Tampa, Louisville native Elizabeth Anderson and junior college transfer JaNoah Daniels are the newcomers eligible this fall.

“Each freshman has their own unique abilities,” Brown said. “They’re all very talented and very quick. We’re going to gel and we’ve just got to work together. It’ll be a lot different.”

Other returners are juniors Sidnee Bopp, Kayla Smith and sophomores Whitney Creech and Malaka Frank. Dee Givens, who played just eight games last year, earned a medical redshirt due to a nagging thumb injury last year and still has three years of eligibility.

Bopp enters the season with the most momentum out of that group and will likely be the team’s starting point guard. Bopp caught fire in the postseason with a dozen 3-pointers in the C-USA Tournament and closed the season with double-digit scoring performances in four of her last five games.

Smith could also be the next to emerge as a mainstay in the lineup. She earned seven starts as a sophomore and appeared in 31 games. Add Creech, Frank and a healthy Givens in the mix and there’s a new element of anticipation Heard hasn’t had in a long time.

“It’s totally different from where our program has been,” Heard said. “You have no idea who is going to step up when the lights come on or who is going to be the one who steps up when everyone knows we’ve got the 1-2 punch in Tashia and Ivy.

“People are going to do everything they can to take that away. The greatest thing we’ve always had since we’ve been here is … so many different situations where you had to pick and choose who you were going to guard, and now what has happened is we have to have other players step up. That will be the big question mark for us and how people adjust to us.”

Roster moves

Raneem Elgedawy is officially with the team after a year-long process of moving from her native Alexandria, Egypt, to Bowling Green.

Heard told the Daily News in March the freshman wouldn’t join the team or attend WKU, citing a family decision. Now the 6-foot-4 forward is on campus, practicing and a full member of the team.

“It’s been a year-long thing to try to figure out how to get her here and eligible and everything else,” Heard said. “Just fortunate that Raneem is a player who wanted to be here and be a part of this program. She continued to do what she needed to do to figure out how to get here and so we’re very thankful that she’s here and people are going to be really excited to watch her play.”

Heard also confirmed that Sarah Price and Naomi Mayes are no longer with the program or at WKU. Price started the first six games and was eventually sidelined with a knee injury. She’s now a student at Morehead State.

Mayes played the fewest minutes of any Lady Topper last year. She logged 29 minutes in eight games with one point and one rebound. She has since transferred to Limestone College in South Carolina.

“Naomi was a phenomenal young lady and great kid but wanted to play more,” Heard said. “With the players that we saw signing and coming in, I think that – in her eyes – would’ve been something that’s a struggle for her.

“At the end of the day, everyone has a choice and we want to keep growing our program.”{&end}