Western Kentucky guard Sherry Porter shoots during WKU’s 81-76 win over Louisiana Tech on Jan. 26 at E.A. Diddle Arena.

After picking up a road win at Texas-San Antonio on Thursday, Western Kentucky will head even farther west Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. CST tipoff at the Don Haskins Center to take on Texas-El Paso. Last season, WKU dropped an 80-75 decision against UTEP on the road in the regular-season finale to fall just short of a share of the Conference USA regular-season title.

On Thursday, WKU earned its first road win over UTSA in an 81-62 decision that saw the Lady Toppers lead for nearly the entire contest. Dee Givens scored a team-best 25 points, including 22 in the first half, for her fourth outing this season with 25 or more points.

A win at UTEP on Saturday would give WKU its first sweep of the west Texas road trip since joining C-USA in 2014-15. The Lady Toppers won at UTEP in 2014-15 and 2016-17, but did not win at UTSA until Thursday.

Zuzanna Puc (12.4 points per game) and Ariona Gill (10.5 ppg) lead the Miners in scoring this season, with Puc doubling as the team’s leading rebounder at a 6.7 per game clip. Jordan Jenkins is the team’s leader with 46 total assists in 19 appearances. UTEP enters Saturday’s game having lost seven straight games and nine of its last 10 outings.

Following Saturday’s game, WKU will return to E.A. Diddle Arena for a critical matchup against C-USA leader Rice, which is undefeated in conference play, on Thursday.

Western Kentucky (13-9, 7-1) at UTEP (4-17, 1-7)

2 p.m., Saturday, Don Haskins Center

Probable starters

Western Kentucky – Sherry Porter, g, 5-7, so. (7.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg); Whitney Creech, g, 5-8, jr. (4.3 ppg, 2.9 apg); Meral Abdelgawad, g, 5-11, fr. (10.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg); Dee Givens, f, 6-1, r-jr. (18.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg); Raneem Elgedawy, f, 6-4, so. (16.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg)

UTEP – Zuzanna Puc, f, 6-3, jr. (12.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg); Neidy Ocuana, g, 5-5, r-jr. (3.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg); Katarina Zec, g/f, 5-11, jr. (7.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg); Jordan Alexander, f, 5-11, sr. (7.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg); Ariana Taylor, f, 6-0, fr. (5.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

Online – CUSA.tv

Radio ESPN 102.7 FM or 1450 AM

Coaches Greg Collins (13-9 first season), Western Kentucky; Kevin Baker (21-31 second season, 143-61 overall) UTEP.

Series UTEP leads the series 3-2 (UTEP won the last meeting 80-75 on March 3 in El Paso, Texas).

Last time out

Western Kentucky won 81-62 over UTSA on Thursday; UTEP lost 63-60 at home to Marshall on Thursday.{&end}