ON TAP: Miami (23-8, 13-5 MAC) hosts Western Kentucky for the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Thursday, March 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and Miami College Sports Live.

LAST TIME OUT: The RedHawks fell to Ohio in the MAC Semifinals last Friday by a 48-74 margin. Kendall McCoy was the RedHawks leading scorer with 10 points and was just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.

ABOUT WESTERN KENTUCKY: The Lady Toppers (18-14, 11-5 C-USA) fell to No. 24 Rice in the Conference USA Semifinals last Friday by a 57-64 margin after leading the regular season champions at halftime. Alexis Brewer led Western Kentucky's scoring with 17 points, followed closely by Arame Niang with 15 points, including 3-of-6 from long range. Dee Givens led the team in boards with 12 rebounds and almost had a double-double with eight points. Givens leads the Lady Toppers offense with 17.6 points per game and shoots 41.3 percent from behind the arc this season. Raneem Elgedawy averaged 15.8 points per game this season and leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per game. Elgedawy leads the starters in shooting percentage, shooting 52.6 percent on the season. Brewer also averaged double figures with 10.9 points per game.

SERIES WITH THE LADY TOPPERS: Miami and Western Kentucky have met only three times in program history, most recently 17 seasons ago. The Lady Toppers own all three meetings between the two teams, including one game at each campus site and one game at a neutral site. On Dec. 18, 2001, Miami fell to Western Kentucky by a 68-73 margin in Millett Hall. That loss was the RedHawks first home loss of the season, after they won the first 10 games in Millett Hall.

MIAMI IN THE WNIT: This is the RedHawks second-consecutive and fifth-overall appearance in the postseason WNIT. Miami holds a 1-4 record in tournament appearances, its win coming against Xavier in the first round in 2004 in the RedHawks first postseason WNIT appearance. Last season, Miami hosted Duquesne in the first round, falling by a 56-69 margin.

LOOKING AHEAD: The winner of this game will play the winner of the Ohio State/Morehead State game in the second round of the WNIT. The game's date and location are to be determined.