FRISCO, Texas – Western Kentucky got exactly the start it wanted to open the Conference USA tournament.

The Lady Toppers had a well-rounded effort from the bench, Whitney Creech ran the offense to perfection and their defense returned to form against Texas-San Antonio in a 78-50 victory in the C-USA quarterfinals Thursday.

WKU (22-8 overall, 13-4 C-USA) asserted itself early against the Roadrunners (9-20, 7-10), using a 7-0 run to open the game and never trailed in what turned into the largest victory margin in the postseason for WKU under Michelle Clark-Heard.

“It was good to see the ball go in early,” WKU senior Ivy Brown said. “We played really aggressive on defense and got our hands on a lot of balls early. That really dictated our offense and that’s what we focused on, letting our defense dictate our offense and not the other way around.”

The Lady Toppers will play North Texas in the C-USA tournament semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday.

WKU used a balanced effort with 23 points and 12 rebounds from Ivy Brown and 19 from Raneem Elgedawy. C-USA Player of the Year Tashia Brown joined WKU’s 2,000-point club while scoring 12 points and Dee Givens chipped in 10 points.

Sophomore Whitney Creech dished out a career-high 11 assists, becoming the first player since Kendall Noble (Feb. 11, 2017) to issue double-digit assists.

WKU’s second meeting with UTSA went a lot like the first. On Jan. 18, WKU held the Roadrunners to 20 percent shooting in a 73-38 drilling. WKU took advantage of that mismatch again, using it to wipe away the taste of a two-game skid to close the regular season.

UTSA committed 17 turnovers, which WKU turned into 22 points. The Roadrunners finished 21-of-59 (.356) from the field and were 2-for-16 from behind the arc (.125).

“We didn’t have the best of weeks last week,” Heard said. “It says a lot about the resilience in this team, the way we came out and played. I credit my seniors. They really stepped up and got this group together and we went back to work, and I’m just proud of them and really excited to get a chance to advance and play tomorrow.”

WKU started out with a 7-0 lead that UTSA trimmed to a one-point deficit with four minutes left in the first quarter. The Lady Toppers roared back with an 13-0 run spilling into the second quarter to stretch the lead to 24-10.

WKU carried a 45-27 lead into halftime on 16-of-32 shooting from the field and a 4-for-8 mark from 3-point range.

Ivy Brown led all scorers at halftime with 19 points while Tashia Brown and Elgedawy each added 10 points. Creech started her record game with 10 assists in the first half alone.

WKU pushed the lead to 25 points in the third quarter when Givens swatted a 3-point attempt on Karrington Donald, then converted the and-1 on the other end.

“We just talked about playing 20 more minutes and staying locked in,” Heard said about her halftime message. “We changed our defense up when we came out of the locker room and our goal was to get the first two stops. They were willing to do what they needed to.”

The Lady Toppers ended the third quarter on a 12-0 run to double their lead over UTSA, 70-35, going into the final frame.

WKU led by as much as 35 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s really big for us,” Ivy Brown said. “We need everyone to step up every single night, one through nine. For all of them to step up, it’s really big for us.”

Notes

WKU improves to 7-1 in C-USA tournament games. … Michelle Clark-Heard is now 152-47 in six seasons as WKU’s coach and 176-79 overall. … Heard now holds an 11-2 tournament record with a 16-7 overall postseason record. … WKU now leads the series with UTSA 4-2. … The Lady Toppers’ 28-point win was its largest victory margin in the tournament since joining C-USA in 2014 and the largest overall since defeating Arkansas-Little Rock by 31 points in the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. … Ivy Brown’s double-double gives her 16 on the season and 34 for her career. … Tashia Brown’s free throw with 4:16 left in the second quarter moved her to 2,000 career points. She joins Crystal Kelly, Lillie Mason and Tiffany Porter-Talbert as the only Lady Toppers to reach 2,000 points.{&end}