Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball team kept its winning ways going with an 83-48 win at FIU on Thursday night in Miami.

The Lady Toppers have won five straight games and have scored 80-plus in three straight games.

WKU (22-7 overall, 13-4 Conference USA) pounced on the Panthers (11-17, 7-10 CUSA) early and led for 36:22 of the game.

With the results around the league on Thursday, WKU has locked in the three seed in the Conference USA Championship in Huntsville, Alabama. The Lady Toppers will play on Thursday, March 13 at 2 p.m. and will know their opponent after the games on Saturday have concluded.

FIU scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer. The Lady Toppers responded with five straight points to take a lead. FIU tied the score and then retook the lead with a 4-0 run. A jumper from the Lady Tops’ Mackenzie Chatfield tied the score with 6:42 left in the quarter. That started a 7-0 run for WKU that gave the Lady Toppers a five-point lead. After a Panther basket WKU outscored FIU 9-2 to end the quarter ahead 21-11.

WKU outscored FIU 22-16 in the second quarter to take a 43-27 lead into halftime.

The Lady Toppers had their best quarter in the third, holding FIU to five points while scoring 22 themselves. That included an 18-0 run featuring 10 points from Destiny Salary. The fourth quarter saw a two-point advantage for WKU, 18-16, to give the Lady Toppers the 35-point win.

WKU has won 22 games for the first time since the 2019-20 season. It is the 28th time WKU has notched at least 22 wins in a season.

The Lady Toppers shot 66% (33-of-50) from the field which is the fourth best shooting percentage by a WKU team in program history. It was the sixth time this season the Lady Toppers have shot 50% or better in a game. WKU is 6-0 when doing so. WKU is 20-1 this season when shooting a better percentage than their opponents.

The 35-point win was the largest margin of victory for WKU against a Division I opponent since beating Miami (Ohio) 91-55 on Nov. 21, 2022. It was the highest margin of victory against a conference foe for WKU since beating UTSA 73-38 on Jan. 18, 2018.

Salary led WKU in scoring for the ninth time this season, dropping a career high 26 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.

Josie Gilvin scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, scoring 14 points to go with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Chatfield had her seventh double-digit performance of the season with 11 points.

Alexis Mead had seven assists in the game after dropping eight dimes in the last game.

The Lady Toppers finished with 26 assists. That’s the most assists for WKU since notching 26 against West Virginia State last season. WKU is 16-1 this season when notching 15-or-more assists and 6-1 when dishing out 20-or-more. WKU has had double digit assists in all but one game this season.

WKU made 11 3-pointers in the game, bringing the season total up to 225 which is tied for the third most in program history (also achieved in 2021-22).

The Lady Toppers improve to 11-2 this season when outrebounding their opponents. WKU gave up just 18 rebounds to the Panthers, the fewest WKU has given up to an opponent all season.

The Lady Toppers conclude the regular season at Liberty on Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT).