Tashia Brown matched the program record with 16 points in the third quarter and finished with a game-high 29 points on the afternoon as WKU defeated Toledo, 70-56, to conclude play at the 2017 West Palm Beach Invitational inside the Countess de Hoernle Student Life Center on Sunday afternoon.
Brown scored 16 of WKU’s (8-3) 18 points in the third quarter to spark the Lady Toppers to their seventh consecutive win. For the day, she finished 12-of-21 from the floor and also pulled down nine rebounds, falling just shy of a double-double.
Ivy Brown double-doubled for the sixth time in her last seven games, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Raneem Elgedawy rounded out the trio in double figures with 10 points.
As a team, WKU shot 28-of-64 (43.8 percent) from the field while holding the Rockets to just 18-of-51 (35.3 percent) shooting.
Kaayla McIntyre led Toledo (7-3) with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Sara Rokkanen (11) and Mikaela Boyd (10) also reached double figures.
Toledo jumped out to an early lead over the Lady Toppers after scoring the first five points of the game. Rokkanen knocked down a three-pointer just 14 seconds into the contest, and a jumper on the next possession by Sarah St-Fort left WKU facing an early deficit.
The Lady Toppers fired back with a 7-2 run over the next four minutes, sparked by four points from Elgedawy. The two-time C-USA Freshman of the Week knocked down a pair of jumpers, and Tashia Brown’s free throw at the 4:57 mark knotted the game at 7-7 just after the first media timeout of the afternoon.
Leading 12-10 with just over three minutes left in the first quarter, Toledo closed the frame on a 10-4 run to take an eight-point lead after the opening 10 minutes, capped by Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott’s late triple.
Facing a 24-16 deficit early in the second quarter, WKU surged in front for the first time on the strength of 10 unanswered points. Four different Lady Toppers scored during the stretch, which was keyed by a three-point play from Tashia Brown and Sidnee Bopp’s three-pointer to cap the run and give WKU a 26-24 lead.
Toledo trimmed the lead to one point on three different occasions, but WKU maintained its lead through the halftime break with a 37-32 edge.
In the third quarter, Tashia Brown took over for the Lady Toppers, scoring 16 of the team’s 18 points in the period. Each time that Toledo would look to make a run, a basket from Brown would rebuild the three-possession lead for WKU, and the lead grew to 10 points, 55-45, by the end of the quarter.
Over the final 10 minutes, WKU did not allow Toledo any closer than seven points as the Lady Toppers closed out the 70-56 win to close their time at the West Palm Beach Invitational.
With its Florida trip over, WKU will round out play before the holiday break with another short road trip to Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State at 6 p.m. (CT) on Thursday evening. The all-time series between the Lady Toppers and Cardinals is tied 3-3, and the teams have split the last two meetings. WKU claimed the most recent meeting, 68-61, between the two sides inside E.A. Diddle Arena last season.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Lady Topper Basketball, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @LadyTopperHoops on Twitter, @LadyTopperHoops on Instagram and on Facebook at facebook.com/WKUWomensBasketball.
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Currie P. McFayden
WKU Associate Director of Athletic Communications
