The anticipations of the unknown have historically yielded a positive outcome in Michelle Clark-Heard’s six seasons as Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball coach.

How do you turn around a team that won nine games in 2011-12? How do you replace a dynamic duo like Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan? How do you get by without Kendall Noble and Micah Jones on the roster?

The first two questions were answered with results that exceeded expectations. WKU is about to find out how the third will turn out.

“That’s the good thing about it, you never know who’s going to step up,” senior forward Tashia Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of different people and that’s going to be good for us.”

Brown and Ivy Brown are the senior duo who make up the base for a Big 3 that the Lady Toppers have used every year under Heard. Now finding that third piece among a long list of players is what WKU is anticipating the most.

“The reason we’ve been able to be successful over the years is that we’ve had multiple people that can do different things,” Heard said.

The defending Conference USA champion Lady Toppers, picked second in the league in the preseason coach’s poll, will begin the regular season Friday against No. 16 Missouri in the 2017 Hawkeye Challenge at Iowa.

The opening slate is the toughest it’s ever been under Heard with Iowa or Quinnipiac awaiting Saturday before returning home to host No. 5 Notre Dame at Diddle Arena on Nov. 14. The Lady Toppers close out a tough week at Indiana on Nov. 17.

During that time, WKU will try and pick out the third member to complement the Brown duo to make up that trio Heard has consistently built. Ivy (13.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and Tashia (13.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg) each earned Preseason All-C-USA honors, making WKU the only school in the league with two on the preseason list. The third spot is a wide-open race between five other returners and five freshmen.

“I think Sidnee Bopp is one definitely, because she shoots the 3 so well,” Heard said when asked who might be that third player. “When you add Raneem (Elgedawy), she’ll definitely be able to give us an opportunity to score. She’s very deceiving and very skilled around the basket. I think that’s something that will really help us.

“I think some of the freshmen have different skills. Terri Smith can really shoot the 3 and Sherry Porter is really good at getting to the basket and has a pull-up jumper. Nichel (Tampa) as a point guard is super quick and can pass the ball and make open shots, too. I think it’s going to be a collective effort as we start to get into the season and we can focus on who that other person will be then.”

In 2014-15, it was Gooch, Govan and Noble, then the next two seasons it was Noble and the Browns. Last year, the three combined for 56.8 percent of WKU’s points. Between Noble and Jones, WKU loses two 1,000-point scorers and two players who were with Heard for every part of her first five years as coach. Last year alone, Jones and Noble accounted for 63 percent (310) of WKU’s total assists.

That department presents its own challenges for Heard in figuring out who will not only score, but who is going to distribute the ball.

“It’s really different because as a coach, you have to look at the style of play and who’s going to have the ball in their hands at the right time,” Heard said. “So, it’s very different because the players have to think different, too. The great thing is we try to go out and bring players in that we knew had played with great players before and were able to pass the ball and distribute the way they have.

“You look at Nichel and some of the other players we have. Whitney Creech scored a lot of points in high school, but she also passed the ball a lot, too. Sidnee Bopp is one of the better passers on this team, so we have players that have done it, they’re just going to have to be in position to be in the moment to see how they handle those things when we get in live game situations.”

Heard says Creech and Bopp are the two most improved players on the team, and each are expected to take over point guard duties. Creech was a notable recruit from Jenkins who holds the all-time scoring title in Kentucky among male and female high school players. The 5-foot-8 sophomore guard averaged 3.8 points in 9.3 minutes per game last year.

Bopp put on a show in the postseason last year with a dozen 3-pointers in three games and closed with double-digit scoring in four of the last five games. The 5-6 Marmaduke, Ark., native shot 39 percent from long range last year.

Lexington native Dee Givens returns to the lineup as a sophomore after redshirting last year, sophomore Malaka Frank brings an edge to the defense and junior Kayla Smith is out of the lineup due to health concerns.

WKU could get big, immediate contributions from four of its five freshmen in Porter, Terri Smith, Tampa and Elgedawy while Elizabeth Anderson is out with a knee injury.

Elgedawy made a splash in WKU’s exhibition win with a double-double (20 points, 14 rebounds) in 31 minutes. Porter, who made the starting lineup with Elgedawy, logged 34 minutes and Tampa played 13 minutes.

“You want every single day for someone to step up and be able to challenge the returners,” Heard said. “Right now, Sherry Porter is playing very well and comes in every single day and just competes at a high level. I’m really proud of her and Nichel and Terry. The freshmen are doing well. The ticket is going to come when we start playing games and how they will handle the atmosphere.”