WKU Rallies Past Mercer, 67-62, in Hard-Fought Win Friday Night

Friday, November 24

Atlanta, Ga.

5 P.M. CT

Western Kentucky University

2-3

Mercer

3-2

WKU

Mercer

WKU Rallies Past Mercer, 67-62, in Hard-Fought Win Friday Night

11/24/2017 8:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

ATLANTA – Facing its first deficit of the night with just over 90 seconds remaining, WKU rallied to score 10 of the game's final 12 points to earn a 67-62 victory over Mercer on Friday evening in the 2017 Georgia State Thanksgiving Classic inside the GSU Sports Arena.

All 10 of WKU's points during the final stretch came from the free throw line, and Sherry Porter, making her first collegiate start, secured the victory with two free throws with only five seconds remaining in the game.

Tashia Brown and Ivy Brown led WKU with 21 points apiece; Ivy Brown's first basket of the night also pushed her over the 1,000-point mark for her WKU career, making her the 39th member of WKU's 1,000-point club. Ivy Brown also secured her first double-double of the season with a game-high 14 rebounds.

Whitney Creech rounded out the WKU trio in double figures with 10 points and knocked down two of her three shots from beyond the arc on the night.

As a team, WKU finished 29-of-35 (82.9 percent) from the free throw line, scoring nearly half of its points from the charity stripe while Mercer was held to just four free throw attempts.

For Mercer, KeKe Calloway led the way with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting from deep. She was joined in double figures by Kahlia Lawrence (18) and Sydni Means (11), while Amanda Thompson added a team-high 11 rebounds.

WKU opened the game by scoring the first 13 points of the night over the opening eight minutes. Ivy Brown scored seven points during the early stretch for the Lady Toppers, including a jumper at the 8:33 mark that pushed her over the 1,000-point mark for her career. WKU built a 13-0 lead before Mercer was finally able to get on the board on a jumper from Lawrence with 1:55 remaining in the quarter.

Holding a 15-4 lead entering the second quarter, WKU saw its advantage slip to just four points after the first three minutes of the frame. Mercer used an 11-4 run over that span, spurred by six points from Lawrence, to close the gap to 19-15 with 7:01 on the clock.

Both sides responded with stretches of four unanswered points over the next three and a half minutes, but WKU was able to create separation with a 6-0 run spanning 90 seconds. Tashia Brown knocked down a three-pointer to key the run, and both Ivy Brown and Nichel Tampa converted a pair of free throws to give the Lady Toppers a 29-19 edge.

Another three-pointer, Tashia Brown's second of the night to that point, gave WKU a 36-27 lead entering the locker room for halftime.

WKU's lead grew to as many as 15 early in the third quarter on the strength of back-to-back three-pointers from Creech on the Lady Toppers' first two possessions of the frame. Raneem Elgedawy's layup with 8:20 on the clock put the Lady Toppers up 44-29, their largest lead of the evening.

Seven straight points from Mercer trimmed WKU's lead back to just eight points, 44-36, after a fast-break layup from Alex Williams. WKU immediately answered with four unanswered points of its own, though, rebuilding the double-digit lead with 5:30 to play in the third quarter.

Over the final five minutes of the frame, Mercer used a 12-4 run to slash WKU's advantage to just four points, 52-48, heading into the final 10 minutes of play. Calloway scored eight points during the run for the Bears, including knocking down a pair of three-pointers, to erase WKU's double-digit lead.

Jumpers on two straight possessions from Tashia Brown and Creech to open the fourth quarter pushed WKU's lead back to eight points, 56-48, but the Bears responded with a 10-1 run spanning the next seven minutes to grab a 60-57 lead over the Lady Toppers. Calloway again knocked down two shots from beyond the arc to pace the stretch that left WKU facing its first deficit of the night with just over 90 seconds to play.

Despite facing that deficit, however, WKU stepped up and scored 10 of the game's final 12 points to secure the victory. All 10 of WKU's points in the final 1:43 of the game came from the free throw line; Kayla Smith's pair of shots with 1:05 remaining put the Lady Toppers back in front, and another pair of shots from the charity stripe by Porter with just five seconds remaining iced the 67-62 victory.

WKU will close out the Georgia State Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. (CT) as the Lady Toppers take on the host Panthers. The two sides were previously members of the Sun Belt together for one season in 2013-14, and WKU claimed both meetings against Georgia State, including a 79-63 win in Atlanta in the last meeting on March 8, 2014.