After the Lady Toppers’ 79-73 overtime loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday, Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles said she was proud of the team’s effort and the way the players fought.

Cowles did not share that same sentiment after Wednesday’s home loss to Louisiana Tech.

Western (4-4) blew a 14-point advantage in the second half on its way to a 63-52 defeat, and Cowles said the team became too relaxed with a double-digit lead.

“Instead of grinding and digging in right then and there when we go up 14 and do it at the defensive end, we got a little lax,” Cowles said. “They start going inside to their studs that we knew all about, and their studs produced for them.”

Vanderbilt senior guard Merideth Marsh accused the Lady Toppers of “lying down defensively” in the teams’ overtime period on Sunday, a notion junior guard Amy McNear and senior forward Jessica Magley quickly dismissed early this week.

But on Wednesday night, senior forward Arnika Brown said the effort wasn’t there.

“We just gave up,” Brown said. “To be honest, we just gave up and kind of laid down and quit playing there. They just kept their composure and won the game.”

Brown said as quickly as Western had built its lead, it was gone.

“I just looked up, and the score was tied, and I’m like, ‘Where did that come from?’” Brown said. “We basically just let down and got comfortable and got beat — simple as that.”

When asked whether changes needed to be made, Cowles said it’s more important for the Lady Toppers to improve on what they are already doing and be more consistent.

“We have to learn from it, obviously,” Cowles said. “But I just don’t know that we need to up and change everything and throw the system out the window — that’s not what it is. It’s a matter of maybe getting a little tougher, understanding the pride factor … and establishing that we’re not going to allow that to happen to us.”

Unlike the Vanderbilt game, the Lady Toppers failed to put together a complete effort against Louisiana Tech, McNear said.

“Sunday, we fought until the end, whether we lost or we won, and today we didn’t fight,” she said. “We just gave up and relaxed and held back.”

The Lady Toppers won’t have a lot of time to work out the kinks, hosting Western Carolina at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

But Brown said the team has no choice but to move forward.

“I don’t think that things are out of order,” Brown said. “I just feel that when we get up, we cannot relax as a team no matter who we’re playing. We have to just continue to play.

“I believe in myself, and I believe in this ball team. The chemistry is there, and we’re gonna learn from this.”