Within Western Kentucky’s goal of closing out the regular season strong is a milestone only a handful of women’s basketball teams have achieved.

The Lady Toppers’ fight for a first-round bye in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament carries over to North Texas on Saturday in the final road game of the regular season.

Should WKU leave Denton, Texas, victorious, it’ll mark the 1,000th win in the 57th season of women’s basketball at WKU. Only 10 other programs in NCAA Division I history have reached the 1,000-win total.

That feat only comes if the Lady Toppers can carry over momentum from last Saturday’s victory at Marshall and avenge a loss in the first meeting with the Mean Green at E.A. Diddle Arena from Feb. 8.

That means reflecting on such a prestigious program accomplishment can wait for the offseason, head coach Greg Collins said.

“I want to focus on the win first and take care of that next game,” Collins said after practice Friday before the team left for Texas. “As great as it is to be a part of the tradition and contribute a bit to that, you don’t want to be coming up short. You want to be the one to get it done.

“It means a lot, but I’d rather focus on North Texas and talk about that afterward.”

WKU (15-13 overall, 9-5 C-USA) has 999 program wins heading into the next-to-last game of the regular season. Should the Lady Toppers lose at The Super Pit on Saturday, a home game against Middle Tennessee on March 7 and at least one C-USA Tournament game in Frisco, Texas, await for WKU to reach the four-digit win mark.

Green Bay (1,002 wins) last weekend beat WKU to the mark as the 10th team in the grouping that also includes C-USA teams Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion. Tennessee, UConn, James Madison, Texas, Stanford, Stephen F. Austin and Ohio State round out the other programs with at least 1,000 victories.

“Me and my teammates are part of a great program and the history before us, they did a really good job,” redshirt junior Dee Givens said. “That means this program is where it needs to be and we have to keep it going from there.”

That mission starts Saturday when Givens and the Lady Toppers want to roll over a solid effort from last Saturday’s win. Givens had 23 points and 13 rebounds as WKU snapped a four-game skid by beating Marshall 69-66 in overtime in Huntington, W.Va. The Lady Toppers outrebounded Marshall 45-32, pulling down 32 defensive boards and 13 on the offensive glass.

The victory was key for WKU’s shot at one of the four spots for a first-round tournament bye. WKU owns the tiebreaker over Marshall in the C-USA standings and sits tied for third, while UAB and Middle Tennessee each have a 10-4 league record for second. Rice sits alone at the top of the league with a 14-0 mark.

WKU is in that position in part due to four straight losses that included a 76-67 victory for North Texas in early February.

That was a game WKU struggled to find sustainable energy for four quarters.

Givens believes last Saturday’s win and a little payback in mind is enough to put WKU in a good spot to start closing out the regular season.

“Getting back in the win column meant a lot and we want to carry it over to this North Texas game,” Givens said. “We didn’t really have any energy (last time against North Texas), we weren’t rebounding or boxing out and didn’t play that well on defense. I think our focus is on rebounding, defense and boxing out and if we do that, we’ll have a good chance.”

Western Kentucky (15-13, 9-5) at North Texas (14-12, 7-7)

5 p.m., Saturday, Denton, Texas

Probable starters

Western Kentucky – Alexis Brewer, g, 5-9, r-jr. (10.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg); Whitney Creech, g, 5-8, jr. (4.8 ppg, 2.9 apg); Meral Abdelgawad, g, 5-11, fr. (9.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg); Dee Givens, f, 6-1, r-jr. (17.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Raneem Elgedawy, f, 6-4, so. (16.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg)

North Texas – Madi Townley, f, 6-0, r-so. (5.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg); Anisha George, f, 6-2, jr. (10.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg); Grace Goodhart, g, 5-9, sr. (7.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg); Brittany Smith, g, 5-6, sr. (2.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg); Terriell Bradley, g, 5-10, r-sr. (16.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg)

Online – CUSA.tv

Radio ESPN 102.7 FM or 1450 AM

Coaches Greg Collins (15-13 first season), Western Kentucky; Jalie Mitchell (54-64 fourth season, 54-64 overall), North Texas.

Series Western Kentucky leads the series 19-7 (North Texas won the last meeting 76-67 on Feb. 8 at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Last time out

Western Kentucky won 69-66 in overtime at Marshall last Saturday; North Texas lost 59-47 at home to No. 25 Rice last Saturday.{&end}