The Western Kentucky women’s basketball was all about the rebound during Saturday’s 68-59 win over UTEP at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Not only did WKU (5-10 overall, 1-3 Conference USA) rebound from a late loss to New Mexico State on Thursday – earning the first conference victory of the season and snapping a four-game skid – but the Lady Toppers hit the boards in a big way. Facing the top rebounding team in the conference, WKU won the battle of the glass 41-39. It was a stark contrast to Thursday’s loss when the Lady Toppers were outrebounded 41-15.

“It was nice to get that monkey of your back with the first conference win,” said WKU head coach Greg Collins. “We didn’t go hard in practice yesterday because we played hard on Thursday and we needed the rest. But we watched all the rebounds on film. We did our scouting report and then we walked through mostly how we were going to try and defend and making sure we knew our personnel. We did a little bit of shooting, but we mostly emphasized the rebounding.

“When you’re getting ready to play a team that rebounds outstandingly as UTEP and you come off a game where you give an opponent more offensive rebounds than you get in total rebounds, you don’t feel real great about that. The girls responded. We talk about it – there’s no magic. It’s just about guts, grit, pride, relentlessness.”

WKU sophomore Salma Khedr, who finished with a team-high 16 points for a second straight game, said the team was determined to do a better job on the glass.

“We just gave it all out, like actually,” Khedr said. “Not all words, we actually gave it out and worked hard. Rebounding is all about heart. We knew that they (have) the most rebounds in CUSA and the country. We worked on it in practice and film.”

The hard work was evident from the start, with WKU showing a lot of early energy that resulted in a 10-0 lead just over four minutes in. UTEP (9-6, 1-3) got going with a trio of 3-pointers that helped trim the deficit to 19-15 early in the second quarter. The Miners kept it close, with WKU scoring four straight in the final 37 seconds to extend its advantage to 32-24 at halftime.

UTEP opened the second half with a 14-6 run to pull even 38-all. After 3s from both teams, Trinity Rowe connected on her second 3 of the quarter to fuel a 9-0 spurt that made the score 50-41 heading into the fourth.

UTEP got as close as six before WKU used a 12-2 run to extend the margin to 62-48. UTEP made one final push to get within eight but the comeback bid ended there.

“I told them in the huddle I was proud of their effort, their grit,” Collins said. “I thanked them for the win. I thought they fought through it, but the focus is still learning. We have to learn better about our shot selection in the third quarter, about our defensive rebounding in the third quarter and about our execution with a 10-point lead down the stretch. We will learn about those things and hopefully carry it to (Sam Houston) and (Louisiana Tech).”

Khedr was one of four Lady Toppers to finish in double figures. Rowe tallied 13 points while Caleigh-Rose West had a career-high 11 points and equaled a career high with six rebounds. Zsofia Telegdy chipped in 10 points for a WKU team that scored its most points since an 80-50 win at North Dakota on Dec. 14.

“No disrespect to UTEP, but we were worried about us,” West said. “We had to fix some things that was going on in-house. That’s not a reflection of who we are as a team. I hope our crowd and our fans really see what we are coming into. We’ve been saying it matters come March. Yes, these games matter but it’s how you finish. We are just trying to build that momentum.

“… This was a great win for us, but we are back at square zero basically. It’s gonna be a new game, new lights, new court. We just have to keep on showing up. We’ve seen what we can do. Everybody is locked in, so now just building off of that.”

WKU will head back on the road for the next two games playing at Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and at Louisiana Tech at 2 p.m. on Saturday.