FRISCO, Texas – Despite an early exit in the Conference USA tournament, the Western Kentucky women’s basketball team exceeded expectations in the 2021-22 season.

The Lady Toppers fell 74-62 to UAB on Wednesday in the second round of the league tournament at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

“This group has never given up,” WKU head coach Greg Collins said Wednesday after the loss. “They’ve fought all year and it was all game, every quarter and every practice. The future’s bright. We’re disappointed right now, but I’m proud of the effort that they gave.”

Collins said after the loss he thought the Lady Toppers were a candidate for the WNIT after going 18-11 in the regular season, but WKU was not included in the bracket that was released Sunday. Conference USA’s Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Old Dominion accepted invitations to the event.

The Lady Toppers were coming off a 7-16 season and were picked to finish 12th of the 14 schools in C-USA in the preseason poll – and last in the league’s East Division – with Meral Abdelgawad the only upperclassman on the roster. The season ended with an 18-12 record, including an 11-7 mark in league play that earned them the No. 4 seed for the league tournament.

The season started with losses in three of its first four games – a stretch that included a season-opener against the Big Ten’s Purdue and a game against Kansas State in the Preseason WNIT in Manhattan, Kansas.

WKU then reeled off wins in 13 of its next 14 games, including seven straight to start C-USA play.

“I couldn’t be happier with how they’ve grown,” Collins said. “We got off to a tough start – you can say a losing streak, but the first series of games these young ladies had ever played in college, we went on the road to Manhattan, Kansas, and played a team that’s a top-25 team. We got one win out there. We did come back and we got on a roll and started winning some close ball games and then we actually ended that streak at UAB, oddly enough.”

After the loss in Birmingham, Ala., ended the winning streak, the Lady Toppers also fell at rival Middle Tennessee and against C-USA regular-season and eventual tournament champion Charlotte in overtime.

WKU responded with wins in three straight games, but Mya Meredith – the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder who had claimed each of the league’s Freshman of the Week honors in January – suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the stretch.

The Lady Toppers closed the regular season with losses in four of their final five games – the one win was a comeback against Middle Tennessee it won in overtime – before falling to UAB in the C-USA Tournament second-round game.

“We were still playing pretty well when Mya went down against Old Dominion. We beat them in that game and she didn’t play the fourth quarter,” Collins said. “We’ve continued to try to reinvent ourselves a little bit, but overall I’m just proud of how we continued fighting.”

WKU will now be without its top player moving forward, but returns plenty of underclassmen talent.

Abdelgawad started every game during her four years with WKU, and led the team with 19.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season.

Despite not playing for the final eight games, Meredith was named C-USA Freshman of the Year. She played in 22 games with 18 starts and averaged 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds. Two others – Alexis Mead and Jaylin Foster – also were named C-USA Freshman of the Week at some point during the season. Mead averaged 10.9 points and 4.4 rebounds, and Foster averaged 6.9 points and five rebounds – her numbers were best at the end of the season after Meredith went down.

All 12 of WKU’s players saw action in at least 17 games, with 10 playing at least 27. Of the 12 players on its roster this season, five are freshmen, one is a redshirt freshman, four are sophomores and one is a redshirt sophomore.

WKU has signed three players for next season – Karris Allen, Josie Gilvin and Acacia Hayes. Gilvin – a senior at Sacred Heart – was recently named the 7th Region Co-Player of the Year and was part of the state championship-winning squad, and Acacia Hayes is the younger sister of Anastasia and Aislynn Hayes, who helped Middle Tennessee to the 2021 C-USA title before transferring to Mississippi State.

Despite their youth this season, the Lady Toppers were aiming to get back to the C-USA title game for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018, and that remains the goal moving forward.

“The goal is to get back to competing at the championship level and I felt like we were on track for that even if we were young,” Collins said. “We always talk about winning doesn’t care – winning doesn’t care if you’re a senior or a freshman. We were competing with that in mind.

“That’s still the focus – to get back to where we have the talent level and the depth to compete at that level. I’m excited about the players that we have, the players that we have coming. I think it’s exciting and we’re looking forward to getting back to where we’re playing with a bye or we’re playing for a championship.”{&end}