Head Coach Ken McDonald works with his team during their practice in an auxiliary gym at Diddle Arena Wednesday afternoon. The Toppers are preparing to take on the University of New Orleans during the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark., Saturday. CHRIS FRYER/HERALD

They were knocked on their heels with four losses before the New Year, kicked while they were down during a five-game losing streak, snubbed when Sun Belt Conference awards were released this week.

And now the Toppers are back in a familiar spot — entering the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a chip on their collective shoulder.

“We’re making up for lost time,” Head Coach Ken McDonald said. “We had a spurt where we weren’t playing well. We can’t take that back, but we can sure as heck go forward and keep this thing going.”

Western (19-12, 12-6 Sun Belt) is on a six-game winning streak and earned a No. 4 seed in the Sun Belt tournament after blowing out Florida International last Saturday.

The Toppers wanted the No. 3 seed, which would have guaranteed a first-round bye in the Sun Belt tournament. Senior guard A.J. Slaughter wanted to add to his preseason accolades and win Sun Belt Player of the Year. And senior forward Jeremy Evans just wanted to be included on the All-Conference Team.

Western didn’t get any of that, and with four games separating them from the NCAA tournament, Slaughter said the Toppers are out to prove their worth.

“A lot of people were doubting us when we went on that rough road stretch, but we picked it back up and showed what we were capable of,” Slaughter said.

In only one season in a Western uniform, junior forward Sergio Kerusch knows about the chip-on-the-shoulder mentality.

Voters tabbed the 2008-2009 Toppers as a preseason third-place squad — and that was just in the Sun Belt’s East Division. But Western fought back. The Toppers won the Sun Belt tournament championship.

This weekend, they’ll try to defend it.

“Last year, we faced adversity too. We’ve been in this situation before,” Kerusch said. “The seasoned guys … know how this feels, and we’re just going to come out and do what it takes to bring another one home.

“We’re the previous Sun Belt champs, and that’s the whole attitude all the way through.”

Western’s road to a third straight conference championship — at least for a No. 4 seed, which has never won the tournament — is relatively easy. The Toppers are a combined 9-1 against teams on their side of the bracket, with the sole loss to No. 1 seed Troy on Jan. 21.

Knowing that, McDonald said anything less than a championship will be a letdown, and the Toppers have plenty of basketball tradition telling them that.

“There’s motivation all the time,” McDonald said. “I think the biggest one is, once again, expectations of the program. We have expectations of going to the NCAA tournament, and I’d be lying to you to say we wouldn’t be disappointed if we don’t go in with that kind of attitude.”

Junior guard Amy McNear defends South Alabama guard Shakira Nettles during their game Feb. 17. Western won 67-61. ARIANA MCLAUGHLIN/HERALD

The Lady Toppers have experienced the highs and the lows of the Sun Belt tournament.

Two years ago brought a title, while last season ended with a loss to Louisiana-Monroe in a first-round game in Diddle Arena — before the Lady Toppers could even make it to Hot Springs, Ark.

But Western (20-9, 14-4 Sun Belt Conference) is hoping a first-round bye and a rejuvenated attitude are a good start towards another high this season.

“Last year was a big disappointment for us,” junior guard Amy McNear said. “We lost at home. We lost in the play-in game. We didn’t really get to the first round in Hot Springs. I think going down there has lifted our confidence and given us that extra spark.”

The No. 3-seeded Lady Toppers jump straight to the Sunday quarterfinals of the tournament, where they are 22-2 all-time.

The bye means that the team will have a chance to relax on Saturday and scout potential opponents. Western then meets the winner of the first-round game between No. 6 South Alabama and No. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Lady Toppers split their two games with South Alabama this season and beat Lafayette 74-52 at home.

But senior forward Arnika Brown said that success doesn’t mean anything now.

“It’s tournament time — anybody could get knocked off,” Brown said. “That’s just how it is during tournament time. I just want to know who we’re playing, prepare for that game and go on.”

Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles said the Lady Toppers will practice in preparation for both opponents until they arrive in Hot Springs and will then have more detailed sessions Saturday night when they know who they’re facing.

“I’m curious to see if there’s any surprises, offensively or defensively, that we pick up on, but at this point in the season, most teams know each other in the league pretty well,” Cowles said.

Four of the five starters from the 2007-2008 championship team return this season in Brown, McNear, senior guard Kenzie Rich and senior forward Dominique Duck.

Cowles said that this year’s team has flown much further under the radar than that squad, which is not necessarily something that pleases her.

But whether they have a target on their backs or not, the Lady Toppers are heading to Hot Springs with a chance.

“I like the team that we’re packing up with and taking,” Cowles said. “This is the type of year where we hope we can turn the corner and be playing our best basketball, and I feel like that’s what we’re doing.”

Brown said tournament time is simply a do-or-die situation — and she’d “rather do than die” in the Lady Toppers’ quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

“This whole season, one of our main goals was to do better than we did last year, and I feel like we accomplished that a long time ago,” Brown said. “To get the bye — that was great. Way better than last year, and it’s all smiles from here on out.”

The high hopes that the Lady Toppers had entering the Sun Belt Conference Tournament were left at just that on Wednesday night.

The third-seeded Lady Toppers (14-4-2, 9-2 Sun Belt) lost to sixth-seeded Arkansas State on penalty kicks after being unable to break a tie through two overtime periods.

Though the final score was 1-1, the Red Wolves advanced to the tournament’s semifinals after taking a 4-2 advantage on penalty kicks.

Arkansas State (8-9-3, 5-5-1 Sun Belt) struck in the 17th minute off a goal from sophomore midfielder Michele Clark.

The Lady Toppers responded eight minutes later with a goal from senior forward Megan Meinke.

Neidell said he thought his team was outplayed in the first half but was able to control the game in the second half despite being unable to break the tie.

“I thought we found our game and a little bit of a rhythm in the second half and started wearing them down,” he said. “But we missed some key opportunities to score the go-ahead goal.”

The Lady Toppers outshot Arkansas State 13 to 3 in the second period, including a shot by sophomore forward Mallory Outerbridge that struck the goal post, but were unable to find the net.

The match went into two overtime periods, but neither team was able to score.

Sophomore goalkeeper Libby Stout led off the penalty kicks for the Lady Toppers but missed her shot attempt. She then returned to her normal duty as goalkeeper, only to allow a goal by Arkansas State sophomore goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus.

The teams both scored on two consecutive attempts before Lady Toppers’ defender Chelsea Grover missed her shot.

Lyndsey Patterson found the net on her attempt to give the Red Wolves a 4-2 advantage, sealing the win and the upset.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Neidell said. “I have to give credit to Arkansas State. I thought they played really hard, especially in the penalty kicks. They came out and nailed all four of their shots.”

Neidell said the early goal by Arkansas State was a “wake-up call” for his team.

“I don’t think we were playing poorly, but I don’t think we were expecting to be in the kind of battle we were in,” he said. “So I think we started playing a little harder and pushing forward a little better.”

Sophomore forward Kaylyn Pratt said the match was disappointing because the team created a number of chances that they couldn’t capitalize on.

“It stinks really badly,” she said. “We’re disappointed. All we can do is come out next year and want to win 10 times more.”

Neidell said the team’s early exit, which comes just a season removed from a trip to the conference tournament championship game, is just a roadblock on a bigger journey.

“It may be the end of the season, but we’ve got a lot of soccer left ahead of us in this program,” he said. “There are a lot great things ahead. It’s just a bump in the road. Hopefully this makes us hungry for the future.”

Neidell said most of the disappointment that the team feels is for the senior class, who leave as the winningest class in program history.

“They’ve had an unbelievable four years, and it’s heartbreaking to go out like that,” he said. “Anything less than a championship this year was going to be disappointing.”

Though the No. 3-seed Lady Toppers could be considered one of the elite teams at this week’s Sun Belt Conference tournament, Head Coach Jason Neidell said he hopes they adopt a “blue-collar” mentality in their matches.

“There’s so little that separates the talent of the teams in our league that you need something intangible to carry your team over the top,” he said. “We really want to get after it and be tough as nails and hard-working and have that quality that makes the difference between good and great.”

Sophomore forward Mallory Outerbridge said the key will be “getting down and dirty and figuring out the details.”

The Lady Toppers (14-4-1, 9-2 Sun Belt) enter the conference tournament seeded behind Florida International at No. 1 and Denver at No. 2.

The Lady Toppers play No. 6-seed Arkansas State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in their first match of the tournament, held in Boca Raton, Fla.

The winner of that match will play either Denver or Troy, who face off at 3 p.m.

The Lady Toppers have never won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and have yet to reach the NCAA tournament, and Meinke said the team’s goal is to change that this season.

“We just need to win it,” she said. “We’re just going to play as hard as we can in order to do that.”

But Neidell said it’s going to be difficult to win three games in four days, especially with the loss of senior defender Katie Walker.

Walker broke her ankle in practice last Wednesday and will be inactive the rest of the season.

“That’s an unfortunate injury for us, because she’s a big part of that defense,” he said.

Despite the unexpected loss, Meinke said the team remains confident going into Wednesday’s matches.

“I think we have more momentum going into the postseason than last season,” she said.

The Lady Toppers lost to Denver 2-0 in the championship match of last season’s tournament.

Meinke said the team’s confidence is a result of advancing so far a year ago.

“Experience is going to be key,” she said. “We know what it’s like to get that far, so it makes us a little more prepared. We’ve been there, and now we expect to clinch the tournament title.”

Neidell said his team still has a few things to work on before the tournament.

“I’d like to see us improve our defensive organization, both our back four and our organization between our back four and our midfield,” he said. “Hopefully we just improve our communication and organization back there and sure things up.”