The road swing continues for the WKU women’s basketball team, which head out to Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday before traveling to Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

It’s part of a regular season closing stretch that will feature four of the last six games on the road, and three of the last six opponents beat WKU in the first meeting this season – including the two teams on the final road trip of the season, Liberty and FIU.

“Four of the last six are on the road and in some tough places to play,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “Louisiana Tech hasn’t lost at home yet. FIU just lost their first one at home. We’ve got Sam Houston first and Liberty to finish up (the regular season). Those teams play a lot better at home. That is our challenge, to make sure that we can continue to play as strongly as we have but on other people’s home floors.”

WKU’s road warrior stretch actually began Saturday with a 73-63 loss at Middle Tennessee. WKU (17-7 overall, 8-4 Conference USA) entered that game looking to get the season sweep over MTSU and position itself for a run at one of the top two seeds in next month’s Conference USA Tournament.

The loss leaves WKU firmly in third, needing plenty of help to climb up the standings.

Turnovers were a big factor in the loss at Middle Tennessee, with the Lady Toppers committing 17 turnovers. MTSU took advantage with a 17-7 margin in points off turnovers.

“When you are getting turnovers, you’re not getting shots,” Collins said. “Those lead to easier transition baskets for your opponent. You can’t do that against really good teams. Middle Tennessee ended up with 17 points off turnovers, so it is really hard to beat somebody on their home floor when you are giving them that many attempts.”

WKU expects more defensive pressure against Sam Houston. The Lady Toppers defeated Sam Houston 82-49 at Diddle Arena last month in the most one-sided conference win of the season, but Collins said this team has greatly improved since that meeting.

The numbers support Collins, with Sam Houston (12-11, 5-8) picking up wins in four of the last five games.

“We shot the ball well that night and we took care of the ball fairly well that night as well,” Collins said. “They are one of the best teams, maybe the best team in our conference, at forcing turnovers and getting steals. We take a lot of pride in being able to do those things (but) they are really good at that as well. They are a great offensive rebounding team. They put a lot of defensive pressure on you. We handled that well here. It will be different on our home floor.

“I think that is how they have been successful. They have been able to generate a lot of their offense out of their defense. We can’t have 17 turnovers like we had at Middle Tennessee.”

WKU also beat Louisiana Tech (13-11, 6-7) at home last month, but the Lady Techsters have been perfect at home in conference play entering this week – including a win against Liberty.

WKU’s defensive effort was strong in both wins last month and has been a strength of the Lady Toppers for the last 10 games. Saturday was the most points WKU has allowed in this 10-game stretch, with the defense holding teams to 62 points or less in seven of those games.

“The defensive breakdowns we have had have either been defensive rebounding or we have fouled and put the team at the free-throw line too much,” Collins said. “You can’t play defense at the free-throw line. We take a lot of pride in being strong defensively, being able to generate extra possessions and narrowing that rebounding margin a little bit. We just have to continue to do that and it will be a challenge on someone else’s home floor.”