EL PASO, Texas - With the Conference USA Tournament only weeks away, Louisiana Tech heads into its final three regular season games with plenty to play for as the Lady Techsters are vying for a top four seed and a first round bye.

Head coach Tyler Summitt and Co. will begin the final three-game stretch - all on the road - with a Thursday night 8 p.m. CT match-up in El Paso against the UTEP Miners, a team that LA Tech defeated 90-72 in Ruston on Jan. 8.

Tech (14-12, 9-6) is currently alone in fourth place in the C-USA standings holding a slim half game lead over UTSA and Old Dominion. In all, a total of six teams are within two games of fourth place in the C-USA Standings with two weeks remaining in the season. The reward for finishing as a top four seed is a bye in the first round of the conference tournament in Birmingham.

"We really haven't talked a lot about (the standings)," said Tech head coach Tyler Summitt. "It is getting to the point that maybe we start to mention it and focus on what the reward is for finishing as a top four seed. Ultimately, we have to focus on us getting better. We are still looking for that complete performance. We've been playing much better on the road lately and I think we are a much more confident basketball team on the road now as opposed to early in the season."

Thursday's game will be the 13th meeting all-time between Louisiana Tech and UTEP - the Lady Techsters lead the all-time series 10-2 - and the second of this season. Tech defeated UTEP 90-72 at the Thomas Assembly Center on Jan. 8 in one of the most complete performances of the year by the Lady Techsters.

In that win, Kelia Shelton scored 28 points and Whitney Frazier added 19 points while both Shelton and Kevione Moten registered double doubles. Tech led 50-28 at the half before coasting to the victory. Thursday night will be more difficult in El Paso, a place that the Miners defeated LA Tech twice last year.

UTEP (10-13, 5-9 C-USA) enters the game fighting for its conference tournament lives as only the top 12 teams (out of 14) qualify. The Miners are currently in 11th place in the league standings, two full games in front of 13th place Rice.

Cameasha Turner is UTEP's top player, averaging 15.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest while leading the Miners in steals (46) and ranking second in assists (43). Sparkle Taylor (9.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Lulu McKinney (7.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg) and Irene Gari (7.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg) have also provided production for the Miners this season.

The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network with the pregame show starting at 7:30 p.m.