Western Kentucky knew what was at stake to close the last three games of the regular season.

The Lady Toppers had to grind out road victories at North Texas and Marshall, needing overtime for one of them, to set up another pivotal meeting with rival Middle Tennessee.

WKU saved its best Conference USA regular-season outing for the last in a 67-56 win against the Lady Raiders on Thursday to lock up a first-round bye in next week’s C-USA Tournament.

The Lady Toppers (17-13 overall, 11-5 C-USA) pulled away from MTSU (20-9, 11-5) as a small lead blew up to a 15-point game in the fourth quarter with one of WKU’s most successfully sustained defensive efforts this season.

“Most definitely I think we had great defensive intensity that we’ve been lacking the past few games,” WKU guard Whitney Creech said. “We just stepped it up on the defensive end and that’s what carried us this game. Our defense created our offense for us tonight.”

WKU outscored MTSU 16-9 and held it to 2-of-9 from the field in the fourth quarter. The Lady Toppers settled into a stout half-court defense and took away MTSU’s opportunities to score around the rim.

In their last meeting on Feb. 14 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., MTSU scored at ease with layups that led to 40 points in the paint and a school-record 66 percent clip from the field.

The Lady Toppers reversed that advantage by outscoring MTSU 40-26 in the paint and holding MTSU’s leading scorers Alex Johnson and Jordan Majors to 27 combined points.

“It’s absolutely the best half-court defensive effort,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “We’ve had some good full-court defensive efforts where we created a lot of turnovers and got in transition. We were pressing some tonight not just to get a turnover, but to move the ball to different players and get in a different spot.”

The win ended the regular season on a high note ahead of the postseason next week in Frisco, Texas. WKU lost four straight with three games to go, which put it in must-win game modes in order to secure a first-round bye in the tournament.

WKU’s win against a top-four C-USA team means it will have Wednesday to learn their opponent for the quarterfinals Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at The Star.

“It’s big,” Dee Givens said on earning the first-round bye. “Some of us are really tired. We played a lot of minutes in the regular season so coach always says it’s hard to win four games in four days to win a championship. That first-round bye is really crucial.”

Givens led WKU in scoring with 16 points. She was aided by the recent scoring surge by Creech, who poured in 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting with four assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes.

A 9-0 run in the first quarter helped WKU sustain a lead the entire first half. WKU led 16-10 after one quarter and stretched it to an 11-point lead to start the second quarter on a Givens’ 3-pointer and Creech layup.

Creech’s quick turnaround jumper to beat the buzzer pushed WKU’s lead to 37-30 at halftime. Turning up the pressure in the first half helped WKU make 12 points out of eight turnovers by MTSU.

Anna Jones’ triple with 1:05 left in the third quarter helped MTSU cut WKU’s lead to 49-47, but Creech added another buzzer-beating score to make it a two-possession game going into the fourth quarter.

WKU took off from that point and went on another 9-0 run to open the final frame. Meral Abdelgawad’s second 3-pointer of the quarter pushed WKU’s lead to 15 points with 5:45 left. Eight of WKU’s points in the fourth quarter came off turnovers.

“Just everybody stayed focused,” Givens said. “Ten-point lead or a five-point lead, it didn’t matter. Everyone stayed focused and just tried to get the job done.”

Creech’s 15 points followed up a 16-point outing at North Texas where she said Collins sat her in the first quarter and stressed the team’s need for her to start scoring. Before that night, Creech’s season-high was 12 points. She’s eclipsed that mark the last two games before the C-USA Tournament.

“These last two games I just tried to be more aggressive because they’re giving me shots and I just take them and knock them down,” Creech said. “Once I start to score it’s going to open everything else up as well. Scoring is going to help our offense all around.”

UP NEXT

WKU’s win secured its No. 4 seed in the C-USA Tournament. No. 1 Rice, No. 2 UAB and No. 3 Middle Tennessee are ahead of the Lady Toppers.

NOTES

Greg Collins is now 17-13 overall as WKU’s head coach. … WKU finished the regular season 11-5 in Conference USA play and 9-6 at E.A. Diddle Arena. … WKU has won seven of the last nine in the series with MTSU, but the Lady Raiders lead the overall series 42-32. … Picked fourth in the preseason C-USA poll, WKU finished tied for third place. WKU has met or exceeded its preseason placement the past three years. … WKU shot 50 percent from the field Thursday (26-of-52), it’s 13th time this season hitting at least half its shots. WKU is 10-3 when shooting at least 50 percent. … Announced attendance was 1,823, making WKU’s average attendance at E.A. Diddle Arena for eight games this season at 1,500, the lowest since the 2012-13 season.{&end}