Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball team can clinch at least a share of the 2017-18 Conference USA regular-season championship Saturday at the Don Haskins Center against Texas-El Paso.

The Lady Toppers, who will play their final regular-season game Saturday at 2 p.m. CT against the Miners, can secure at least a share of the title with a victory or a UAB loss at UTSA.

On Thursday, WKU twice rallied from double-digit deficits at Southern Miss, erasing a 12-point deficit in the first half and a 13-point hole in the second half, but the furious comeback fell just short as the Lady Toppers lost 69-63. WKU’s Ivy Brown finished with a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds and also added five steals and a pair of blocks on the night.

WKU and UTEP are meeting for the first time this season and for just the fourth time since the two have been members of C-USA.

In the lone meeting last season, the Lady Toppers earned a 71-54 win over the Miners in El Paso. The all-time series between the two sides is tied at 2 dating back to a UTEP win in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Tamara Seda leads the Miners in both scoring and rebounding at 14.5 points and 9.3 boards per game. Faith Cook has dished out a team-best 88 assists on the year, and UTEP has a 7.9 rebounding edge against opponents, the best mark in C-USA this season.

In next week’s C-USA Tournament, WKU will be the No. 1 seed with a win and a UAB loss on Saturday. The Lady Toppers will take the No. 2 seed in any other scenario and will open play Thursday.

WKU has already clinched a first-round bye in next week’s C-USA Tournament, with the Lady Toppers unable to finish with anything less than the No. 2 seed.

Ivy Brown enters Saturday’s game as the only Division I player in the nation averaging 15 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Brown also has 15 double-doubles this season, tied for 21st in the country.

WKU senior Tashia Brown leads C-USA and is sixth among all players in the nation with 23 points per game. Brown has not scored fewer than 13 points in any single game this season and has moved into the top 10 in school history in field goals made (5th, 744) and free throws made (6th, 433). Brown also holds the school record for field goals attempted for her career with 1,758.

She has also moved into the top 10 in free-throw attempts (7th, 593).

With 14 points at Southern Miss, Tashia Brown now sits just 25 points shy of joining WKU’s 2,000-point club with 1,975 points. She has scored 644 points this season, the seventh-most in a single season in WKU history.