Photo - WKU Ahtletics
Several big games highlight the 2017-2018 basketball schedule for the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers. The schedule was officially announced by Coach Michelle Clark-Heard Thursday afternoon. The schedule features 12 regular-season dates inside Diddle Arena and marquee matchups against opponents like Notre Dame, Indiana, Missouri and either Iowa or Quinnipiac.
The Lady Toppers return two of their top three scorers from their 2016-17 campaign that saw the team sweep both the regular season and C-USA tournament championships. WKU posted a 27-7 record, its third consecutive season with at least 27 victories, and squared off against Ohio State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Lexington.
WKU will kick off its 2017-18 campaign with an exhibition against Union inside Diddle Arena on Thursday, November 2, and will begin the regular season one week later in a tournament hosted by Iowa. The Lady Toppers will battle Missouri in their opener on Friday, November 10, before squaring off against the winner of Iowa and Quinnipiac on November 11. Quinnipiac reached the Sweet 16 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed, defeating Marquette and Miami, before falling against eventual national champion South Carolina.
The Lady Toppers will open their regular season home schedule in style as they host perennial powerhouse Notre Dame on Tuesday, November 14. The Fighting Irish have reached the Sweet 16 in eight consecutive seasons and have finished as the national runners-up four times over that span. With Notre Dame likely being ranked for the battle against WKU, it will mark the third consecutive season that the Lady Toppers have hosted a ranked opponent inside Diddle Arena. In 2015-16, WKU knocked off then-No. 16 Louisville in a 71-69 upset, and last season the Lady Toppers captured an 85-74 victory over then-No. 23 Indiana early in the season.
Following that marquee home matchup, WKU will go back on the road for the second half of its home-and-home series at Indiana on Friday, November 17, before traveling to Atlanta for Georgia State’s in-season tournament. The Lady Toppers are set to battle Mercer, Friday, November 24 and the host Panthers November 26 at the event.
WKU will briefly return home for a date against Evansville inside Diddle Arena on Thursday, November 30, before taking a break for exams. Coming out of that time off, the Lady Toppers will face Southern Illinois on the road on Sunday, December 10, before a quick turnaround against Mississippi Valley State in Diddle on Tuesday, December 12.
The Lady Toppers will round out their non-conference schedule with a third in-season tournament in West Palm Beach, taking on Stetson and Toledo on December 16 and 17, respectively. WKU will remain on the road following that tournament to face Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, on Thursday, December 21, and will conclude non-conference play inside Diddle Arena on Friday, December 29, against Lee University.
To begin C-USA play, WKU will battle archrival Middle Tennessee on Thursday, January 4, inside Diddle Arena. One of the top rivalries in C-USA, the Lady Toppers claimed their first regular season sweep of the Blue Raiders since 2004 last season and own three straight victories over Middle Tennessee at home dating back to the 2015 season. The rivalry will be renewed in Murfreesboro, on Thursday, February 15, as the Lady Toppers seek back-to-back road wins in the series for the first time since 1993.
WKU will continue its opening three-game homestand in C-USA play against Southern Miss (Jan. 6) and FIU (Jan. 11), and will open road conference play on Jan. 13 at UAB.
In home battles during conference play, WKU will welcome UTSA (Jan. 18), Florida Atlantic (Feb. 3), Old Dominion (Feb. 8), Marshall (Feb. 17) and Charlotte (Feb. 23) to Diddle Arena, and will go on the road to square off against Marshall (Jan. 21), North Texas (Jan. 26), Louisiana Tech (Jan. 28), Rice (Feb. 10), Southern Miss (March 1) and UTEP (March 3).
The 2018 C-USA Tournament will be hosted at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, marking the first time since WKU has been a member of the league that the tournament will not be held in Birmingham, Ala. Since joining C-USA prior to the 2014-15 season, WKU has claimed two of the three conference tournament titles, including last year’s 67-56 win over Southern Miss inside Legacy Arena to seal the 12th conference tournament championship in school history.
(Courtesy WKU Athletics)
