The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team made it back-to-back wins for the first time in almost a month, grinding out a 54-45 win over Jacksonville State on Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Playing once again without leading scorer Acacia Hayes, out indefinitely with a knee injury, WKU (15-10 overall, 6-4 Conference USA) dug in with a strong defensive effort and a career night from sophomore Josie Gilvin to finish the two-game homestand with a pair of wins – albeit in a much different fashion than the typical fast-paced style of play.

“I’m proud of how they adjusted,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “We’ve had to adjust to how we play quite a bit based on health and depth and experience. I couldn’t be more proud of this group and how they just work on executing that game plan.

“ … After the game I told them, ‘I don’t really care who plays and I don’t really care how we play. All I really want to do is win and that’s it.’ ”

WKU never trailed, but Jacksonville State was able to hang around until the Lady Toppers finally pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Gilvin got WKU off to a hot start, scoring eight points in the first four minutes to help the Lady Toppers build an 11-6 advantage.

“I feel like if I bring the energy for other people they are going to bring it for me,” Gilvin said. “It’s got to be kind of contagious, so I hope whatever I can contribute can help other people do better and feel like they have someone cheering them on the whole time.”

Jacksonville State (9-13, 4-6) tied the score twice in the opening minutes of the second quarter before WKU got some distance again. Caitlin Staley’s bucket in the paint sparked a 9-2 spurt that pushed the advantage to 24-17. Jacksonville was able to get a little momentum before half with five points in the final minute to make the score 24-22.

WKU opened the second half with seven straight points to push its lead back to nine. Jacksonville State cut the margin down to four before an 8-0 run gave the Lady Toppers a 41-29 advantage late in the third.

The Lady Toppers maintained a double-digit lead until midway through the fourth, when Jacksonville State scored seven straight to pull within 49-45 with 2:41 remaining.

The Gamecocks wouldn’t score again with Staley’s basket stopping the run and Karris Allen’s 3 with 1:11 remaining sealing the victory.

WKU’s defense held Jacksonville State to 27% shooting, forcing 23 turnovers that led to 16 points. While the defense was strong, junior guard Alexis Mead said she thought wasn’t as effective as Wednesday’s 64-56 win over Louisiana Tech.

“I felt like our defense was better last game actually than it was this game,” Mead said. “We talked more last game, so I think that is an inconsistency we have to fix. We have to be able to play that defense from the jump. We cannot be a second-half team. We have to hit them coming out in the first quarter.”

Gilvin finished with a career high 14 points, adding four steals, three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

“I love the way Josie plays because Josie doesn’t care if she has 14 or if you have 14,” Collins said. “She just doesn’t care. The next game she might have 14 rebounds and one point. She just wants to play and contribute to a winning team. That’s why she has back-to-back state championships in high school. That’s why we wanted her here and that’s why she has such an impact on the floor every single game.”

Mead finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Aaliyah Pitts had nine rebounds – one off her career high.

WKU will return to action at 8 p.m. on Thursday, opening a two-game road trip at UTEP.