Western Kentucky is a team made of mostly newcomers who, while talented, have never gone through a full season of Division I basketball.
Coach Michelle Clark-Heard and her staff have been trying to teach those six first-time players concepts about the competition they’ll face.
Two of her main themes have been that it’s tough to win on the road and that everyone in a conference is out to dethrone a defending champion.
The Lady Toppers experienced an intersection of those two themes Thursday. WKU and FIU swapped the lead 15 times before the Lady Toppers prevailed 71-69 in Miami.