FRISCO, TEXAS – It wasn’t very pretty. It got a little more hectic than head coach Greg Collins hoped, but somehow the Western Kentucky women’s basketball team found a way to avoid a late letdown, inching past UAB 71-67 in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament on Thursday at The Star.

WKU (18-12), the two seed in the tournament, led by six with under two minutes to play, but had to watch as a potential game-tying layup rolled off the rim in the final second to allow the Lady Tops to avoid overtime and a potential second straight upset by 10 seed UAB. The No. 2 Lady Toppers advance to Friday’s semifinals at 7 p.m.

“I’m thankful to get the win,” Collins said. “Sometimes you need a little luck on your side. … I felt like we did enough to win the game. We did enough to get them in position to get back in the game. I told the girls what we got tonight — we survived, we advance, but most importantly we got some experience, much needed tournament experience.”

The Lady Toppers scored the first five points, but that would be the largest lead of the first half.

The first half featured four ties and 12 lead changes with it a one possession game for most of the half. WKU forced 10 steals in the half and led for more than 15 minutes — including 34-31 at halftime — but UAB stayed in the game with work on the glass. UAB outrebounded WKU 22-13 with 12 offensive boards.

“The talk at halftime was rebounding,” WKU sophomore forward Jaylin Foster said. “We were giving up a lot of second-chance opportunities and that’s what was keeping them in the game. I feel like in the second half we did a lot more rebounding, but less ball pressure and weren’t getting as many steals.”

UAB opened the second half with a 6-2 spurt to briefly go in front 37-36 before Alexis Mead scored five straight to give Western Kentucky the lead back 41-37.

The Lady Toppers’ advantage grew to 44-39 after a 3-pointer from Acacia Hayes, with a Hayes three-point play during a 7-0 run to end the third extending WKU’s lead to 53-44.

UAB scored the first five points in the fourth to pull within four before buckets by Mya Meredith and Jaylin Foster pushed the margin back to eight, but UAB answered with eight straight to tied the score 57-all with 5:38 left.

UAB tied it twice more at 59 and 61 before back-to-back 3s from Mead and Aaliyah Pitts gave WKU a 67-61 lead with 1:49 remaining. The Blazers got three free throws to trim the deficit in half and had a chance to tie with the ball after an offensive foul by Mead with 18.4 seconds, but UAB missed a layup and Hayes split a pair of free throws to make it 68-64 with 13.1 seconds left.

UAB got fouled on a 3 again on next possession, with Margaret Whitley hitting three free throws to make the score 68-67 with 11.2 remaining.

“We talked about that in the timeout,” Collins said. “That was the focus of the timeout. We were in control of the game. Do not foul at the 3-point line. If they drive to the basket, wall up. We were in control of the game. We just didn’t execute what we were trying to do well.”

Mead split a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game and Denim DeShields drove into the lane, but her shot rolled off and Hayes was able to secure the rebound and hit two free throws to preserve the win.

“We find ourselves in a lot of games where the game is close late,” Mead said. “This tonight is something we have been in before, we have a lot of experience in. For us to be able to pull (it) out, it’s time to fix the mistakes and get ready for the next game.”

Foster led WKU with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Hayes had 14 points and four assists. Mead added 13 points and Pitts finished with 10 points.

“We are fighters, no matter what,” Foster said. “We can be down. We can be up. At the end of the day, we know how to fight. We know we will never give that up. We may not make shots. We may foul. We may have those two fouls at the end of the game, but we still know how to fight and close out the game.”

WKU advances to face six seed UTSA, which upset three seed Rice, in Friday’s second semifinal. In the first semifinal, top seed Middle Tennessee will face four seed UTEP.

“We were able to play on that court once, so I think we are more comfortable and ready to get it going,” Foster said. “There’s no time for those mistakes or we won’t come out with a win. We have to stay strong and stay composed and come out with a win.”