The Western Kentucky women’s basketball team returns home looking for a little consistency after an 0-2 road trip last week.

Coming off the first Conference USA win of the season, WKU (5-12 overall, 1-5 Conference USA) dropped a couple of hard-fought battles against two of the conference’s better teams in Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech.

WKU women’s basketball coach Greg Collins said the key right now is to try to keep the locker room positive and continue to make strides, despite the setbacks.

“We talked about when you are riding a bike uphill you can’t stop peddling,” Collins said. “We are just trying to keep them to continue to work hard and believe in one another. You can’t win if you don’t keep fighting.”

Collins said he was proud of the effort at Louisiana Tech, a 79-65 loss where the Lady Toppers fell into an early deficit and were unable to recover. Louisiana Tech hit 11 3-pointers in the win and outrebounded WKU 37-24.

“We don’t have the returning experience or talent that Louisiana Tech has, but they continued to play hard,” Collins said. “We got in some foul trouble and had some players come off the bench and did a good job. We had some players that didn’t do as well, but we continued to fight. We shot the ball decently that game, but we got outrebounded. They continue to just battle. We missed a lot of layups and that is really a separator for us right now – being able to finish in the paint. And we still aren’t closing (defensively) at the 3-point line.”

WKU will now host a couple of teams in a similar position as the Lady Toppers. Coming off an NCAA Tournament bid last year, Liberty is 8-8 overall – dropping three straight. Despite the recent struggles Collins said they have several key pieces, including arguably the best shooter in Conference USA in Avery Mills, who present a challenge.

“She does a great job,” Collins said. “She did a great job last year and she continues to be one of the best shooters in this conference. Then having (Emmy) Stout inside with a little bit of experience as well and size, they’ve got two really, really nice players. The point guard (Claudia Acin) does a great job of finding players and putting them in a spot where they can do what they do well. We tried JaKayla Thompson, a Kentucky kid, to come here and she’s come off the bench and attacks the basket well for them. They’ve got good players and they rebound the ball well. We’ve got our hands full in trying to guard really good shooters and then protect the lanes on the drivers, and then try to keep the good rebounders off the boards.”

WKU will then face conference newcomer Delaware, which picked up its first CUSA win against Liberty last weekend. Delaware is 7-10 overall.

Collins said he hasn’t had a chance to look at film of Delaware much yet, with the focus on Thursday’s matchup against Liberty, but does have some familiarity.

With the Lady Toppers home the next two games, its a chance to perhaps get some much-needed momentum as WKU eyes the goal of playing its best ball by the time postseason arrives.

“The No. 1 message is to continue to run that race, continue to fight, continue to ride that bike uphill,” Collins said. “Don’t give up.”