STANFORD, Calif. — Western Kentucky’s return to the NCAA Tournament was brief - painfully brief, as WKU fell 92-60 to seventh-seeded and 23rd-ranked UTEP at the Maples Pavilion on Saturday.

WKU (26-8) saw its hopes of advancing fade away during the final 22 minutes, when UTEP outscored the No. 10 Lady Toppers 63-31.

“You have to give credit to UTEP,” WKU coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “We were kind of beside ourselves, so to speak. Offensively, I don’t think we ever got into flow the entire game. Defensively, they just attacked us in areas where we didn’t step up to the challenge.”

UTEP (28-3) forced 22 turnovers and put up the most points against the Lady Toppers since North Carolina scored 93 points against them on Dec. 20.

“I thought we came out and played well for 40 minutes,” UTEP coach Keitha Adams said. “I thought we came out and played aggressive and had a tremendous team effort.”

WKU scored the first basket of the game, but that was its only lead of the game. The Miners built a five-point advantage within the first three minutes and got two quick fouls on senior forward Crystal Kelly.

With Kelly on the bench, the UTEP lead stretched to 17-10 on a baseline jumper by Brittnay Jones with 10:43 left in the half.

Cowles put Kelly back in the game and the senior played the final 10 minutes without picking up a third foul.

Kelly’s return sparked WKU, which went on a 15-8 run to tie the score at 25-25 on a bucket by freshman Arnika Brown with 4:38 remaining in the half.

The teams traded baskets before UTEP scored nine straight to take its largest lead of the half, 38-29. Junior forward Dominique Duck scored on WKU’s final possession, but the deficit was still just seven at halftime.

WKU shot 45.2 percent in the first half, but was done in by 11 turnovers that led to 12 points for the Miners.

UTEP shot 46.9 percent from the field and was a perfect 6-for-6 in the first half.

Western scored the first four points of the second half to whittle the deficit to 38-35, but UTEP struck again with an 18-3 burst to extend the margin to 56-38 with 13:40 remaining.

“I don’t know what went wrong,” Cowles said. “I think you have to give UTEP credit for how aggressive they were. They have players that stepped up. Their team stepped up. They hit some big 3’s in those runs. Those are like daggers ... and difficult to overcome.”

The Lady Toppers scored four straight to make the score 56-42, but UTEP reeled off eight in a row and the lead ballooned to 22 points.

WKU never got closer than 20 the rest of the way. UTEP scored 54 points in the second half, just two points less than the Lady Toppers had allowed overall in their previous seven games.

“We were sluggish on defense,” Duck said. “We weren’t very active with our hands and they were getting easy penetration. It was very sluggish and UTEP executed on it.”

UTEP finished the game hitting 50 percent from the field, including 9-of-16 shooting from 3-point range. The Miners outrebounded WKU 42-35 and scored 30 points off Western turnovers.

“I think what really defined this game was our 22 turnovers,” Cowles said. “You have to give UTEP credit for taking care of the ball so well. We try to put ourselves in position to limit our turnovers ... but when you have 11 in the first half and 11 in the second half against a team like UTEP and they get 30 points off those turnovers, you’re putting yourself in a really difficult situation.”

Natasha Lacy had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists for UTEP. Jarieca Hughes added 17 points and eight assists, while Kasia Krezel finished with 15 points.

Duck had 18 points to lead WKU, while Kelly, playing in her final game as a Lady Topper, finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

“I don’t think these young ladies have anything to (hang) their head about,” Cowles said. “They had an unbelievable season and we are very proud of them. They should be proud of themselves, but obviously this isn’t the way we wanted our season to end.”