Western Kentucky won’t lack any confidence going into its toughest opening stretch ever under Michelle Clark-Heard, and a top 25 team on the road in a tournament setting may be just what the Lady Toppers need to fast-track their progression.

WKU opens the regular season against No. 16 Missouri in the 2017 Hawkeye Challenge at the University of Iowa on Friday at 2:30 p.m. (102.7-FM). The very next day, WKU will play either Iowa or Quinnipiac to wrap up the tournament before hosting No. 5 Notre Dame on Tuesday for the home opener.

“Right now, we feel pretty good,” senior forward Tashia Brown said. “Trying to tighten up and get ready for Friday.”

The Lady Toppers believe they’ve done everything to prepare for Missouri, which was picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason coaches’ poll.

WKU blew past Union (Tenn.) 101-58 in a home exhibition Nov. 2, then traveled to Louisville for a closed scrimmage Sunday. Heard said the scrimmage “really helped a lot” to get the Lady Toppers ready for Missouri.

“That’s why we scheduled it that way, so we could go on the road and feel like an away game and then being in an atmosphere where Louisville is always a consistently great team,” Heard said. “They’ll do a lot of things similar as playing against an SEC team. It really helped. I think it helped our players’ confidence and that’s what it’s all about with us growing as a unit.”

Missouri put three players on the Preseason All-SEC team between junior Sophie Cunningham, junior Cierra Porter and redshirt senior Jordan Frericks. Cunningham averaged a team-best 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists last year in the Tigers’ 22-11 season that ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The only two teams picked to finish ahead of Missouri in the SEC are the teams that reached the 2017 national championship game, South Carolina and Mississippi State.

“I think we have a good feeling going into this game what we can do well,” WKU sophomore Whitney Creech said. “It’ll be a tough game. They’re tough and physical and can really shoot the ball well. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”

It’ll be the first time since the 2001-02 season that WKU has opened the year in a tournament where it plays on back-to-back days.

“It’s a lot different,” Creech said. “Usually you have one game and a couple of days off before the next one. This will be a good early test for us to kind of prepare for tournament play when we get in the conference tournament.”

WKU is coming off a 27-7 season with its third conference tournament championship in the last four seasons. The Lady Toppers fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Ohio State. Seniors Ivy Brown and Tashia Brown were each named to the Preseason All-Conference USA team and make up the only two key starters returning from last year’s squad.

WKU welcomes five freshmen to compliment the sophomore and junior classes and to challenge those two classes for the new playmaker roles. In last week’s exhibition, Heard started two freshmen in Sherry Porter and Raneem Elgedawy alongside Creech and the Brown duo.

While the early nonconference schedule usually allows for teams to continue experimenting with lineups, Heard said her top eight players are well in place and ready to go.

“I think we’re kind of set on what we need to do,” Heard said. “Those top eight kids, we feel like we’re there. You have to go into this game ready to go and put in a situation where you can continue to get better, but also know what that rotation is going to be. That’s for your players also and you’ve got to have some continuity. We’re pretty much set. As a coach, you’ve got to be ready because anything can happen. In my mind, I know the first sub off the bench, but if something happens and I have to adjust, we’ll be ready to go.”

Elgedawy and Porter each logged more than 30 minutes in the exhibition win, and redshirt sophomore Dee Givens was the first player off the bench. Freshmen Terri Smith and Nichel Tampa were the only other players off the bench to play.

The Lady Toppers will also have back junior Sidnee Bopp and sophomore Malaka Frank, who each sat out of the exhibition. Junior Kayla Smith still awaits medical clearance to play.

“Our young players have been thrown into the fire,” Heard said. “But I’m excited about our leadership and our upperclassmen and the way they’ve been leading and how we’ve been growing as a family.”