Ivy Woodcock, formally Brown, enters her third season as an assistant coach with WKU in 2023-24. Woodcock has been on the Lady Topper staff for five total seasons coming into the season, previously holding positions as a graduate assistant and director of operations. Woodcock is no stranger to WKU, lettering four seasons with the Lady Toppers (2015-18).
The 2022-23 squad finished the season with 19 wins, earned second place in the CUSA regular season, played in the CUSA tournament championship game, and earned a WNIT berth. WKU broke multiple school records in 2022-23, topping the program high with 389 steals on the season and making 289 3-point shots for the year. The Lady Toppers also broke the single-game record for made 3-pointers, connecting on 16 threes at Middle Tennessee on Feb. 9. WKU finished the season ranked in the top 25 in the nation in six different statistical categories: third in 3-point attempts per game (28.8), sixth in bench points per game (29.0), seventh in steals per game (11.8), 13th in turnovers forced per game (20.3), 14th in 3-pointers made per game (8.8) and 18th in turnover margin (5.30 differential).
Acacia Hayes had an impressive debut season for the Lady Toppers, leading the team in scoring, averaging 11.2 points per game. She’s the first WKU freshman to lead the team in scoring since Crystal Kelly in 2004-05. Hayes was named to the CUSA All-Freshmen team and to the CUSA All-Tournament Team.
The young Lady Topper 2021-22 squad featured just one upperclassman in Meral Abdelgawad to go along with five sophomores and six freshmen. Despite the youth, WKU reached 18 wins and finished fourth in the C-USA East division. WKU’s five true freshmen scored 52.3 percent of the team’s points, averaging 36.9 points per game. After starting the season 1-3, the Lady Toppers regrouped to rattle off 13 wins in the next 14 games that included a 7-0 start to C-USA play.
Woodcock, a member of the Lady Topper basketball team from 2014-18, racked up numerous awards in her time with the program that included C-USA Defensive Player of the Year (2018), 2017-18 C-USA All-Academic Team and First Team All-C-USA (2018). Woodcock broke into the top 10 in rebounding in school history, ranking seventh all-time with 981 boards. She is also fifth in school history with 151 blocks and her 80.5 percent mark from the free throw line for her career is fifth among all Lady Toppers.
Woodcock earned a bachelor’s degree from WKU in 2018 in physical education and health and is currently pursuing her master’s in special education.
Brown is a Hodgenville, Kentucky native and she and her husband, Zeke, currently reside in Bowling Green.
