Joe Corcoran

The WKU women's basketball team fell 84-66 to Auburn Sunday afternoon to finish their season 22-11 and 13-7 in the Sun Belt Conference. It was a 13 win improvement over the 2011-12 season and the largest single season improvement in Conference history.

Sophomore Alexis Govan led WKU with 23 points and 8 rebounds. Sophomore Chastity Gooch had 19 points and 12 boards as she posted her 26th double-double of the season. WKU hit a season high 10 three-point field goals, just the 19th time in school history that WKU had 10 or more three's in one game.

It took them overtime to do it, but the WKU Lady Hilltopper basketball team beat East Carolina University 88-77 Thursday night at Diddle Arena to advance to the second round of the 2013 Women's National Invitational Tournament.

Alexis Govan's three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining forced the overtime and the Lady Tops outscored ECU 15-4 in the extra session. Govan posted a double-double in the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

Tuition at the University of Kentucky is expected to rise 3% next year, the smallest increase since 1997. The finance committee of the UK Board of Trustees approved the suggested tuition hike without any discussion. The full board later approved it also. The increase still has to go to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education for final approval.

The average in-state undergraduate student will pay $10,110 in the 2013-14 school year. It will be the first time that annual tuition has topped $10,000. Tuition at UK, the state's largest public university, has jumped 150% in the past decade.

The Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents has approved a plan to reduce staff in an effort to reallocate $23 million.

The Richmond school said in a news release Tuesday that the regents approved a combination of layoffs, staff voluntary buyouts and faculty early retirements to achieve its goals. EKU has about 2,100 full-time faculty and staff on its main campus and regional campuses in Corbin, Danville, Manchester and Somerset.

According to the school's website on the staff reductions, the number of layoffs won't be determined until voluntary buyouts are concluded. EKU says it's seen a 15.2% decline in state support over the last five years.

Western Kentucky University will host East Carolina at E.A. Diddle Arena Thursday night in the first round of the 2013 Women's National Invitational Tournament. It's the 26th postseason bid for the Lady Toppers in the last 30 seasons.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. central time.

WKU is one of four Sun Belt Conference teams to reach the NCAA Tournament or WNIT this postseason. They faced six teams on nine occasions during the 2012-13 season that reached one of the two tournaments. The Lady Toppers are 29-27 in postseason play in the school's history, owning a winning record all-time in both the NCAA Tournament and in WNIT play.

East Carolina is 22-9 on the year and finished 11-5 in their Conference USA. The Pirates have four players averaging between 9.6 and 12 points per game this season.