WKU Picks Up 79-65 Road Win at North Texas Friday Night

Friday, January 26

Denton, Texas

7 P.M. CT

Western Kentucky University

15-5 (6-1)

North Texas

11-8 (2-5)

WKU

North Texas

1/26/2018 9:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

DENTON, Texas – In a matchup of C-USA's top scoring offense and top defense, WKU prevailed with a 79-65 decision over North Texas on Friday evening inside The Super Pit behind a team-high 28 points from C-USA Player of the Year candidate Tashia Brown.

WKU (15-5, 6-1 C-USA) put up 79 points against the third-best scoring defense in the nation; North Texas (11-8, 2-5 C-USA) entered Friday's game allowing only 52.9 points per game, and WKU's 79 points were the most scored against the Mean Green by a single opponent this season.

Tashia Brown was a near-perfect 10-for-11 from the charity stripe en route to her 28 points, her second-most against a C-USA opponent thus far in 2017-18. Ivy Brown tallied 16 points and six rebounds for the Lady Toppers, Raneem Elgedawy added 12 points and six rebounds and Dee Givens reached double figures for the sixth straight game, totaling 10 points on the evening.

Terriell Bradley led North Texas with a game-high 29 points and was joined in double figures by Micayla Buckner (13) and Trena Mims (11).

North Texas built an early 5-0 lead over the first two minutes of the contest, but an 11-4 run from the Lady Toppers, capped by a three-pointer from Ivy Brown, gave the Lady Toppers their first lead of the night at the 5:09 mark.

With the two sides tied at 11-11, WKU scored 10 of the final 12 points of the first quarter to take a 21-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. Four different Lady Toppers scored during the WKU run, punctuated by a pullup jumper from Tashia Brown with 42 seconds on the clock.

North Texas' Grace Goodhart cut the WKU advantage to six points to start the second quarter, but the Lady Toppers again responded with a big run, outscoring the Mean Green 10-2 over the next three minutes to build their largest lead of the night to that point. Five points from Elgedawy spurred the run, and Whitney Creech's pair of free throws left the Lady Toppers with a 31-17 lead.

The Mean Green cut the lead back to single digits just once over the remainder of the quarter, and WKU scored the final six points of the frame to carry a 40-24 edge into the locker room at halftime.

After North Texas cut the WKU advantage to just nine points, 40-31, early in the third quarter, the Lady Toppers answered with a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to rebuild their double-digit advantage. Sidnee Bopp tallied five points during the run, including a deep three-pointer, to leave WKU with a 54-35 lead.

WKU's lead grew to as many as 22 points at the end of the third quarter, and the Lady Toppers held off the Mean Green in the final frame despite being outscored 24-16. North Texas pulled to within 11 points with just over a minute remaining, but Givens' triple on the final possession of the game gave the Lady Toppers the 79-65 victory.

Following Friday's bout, WKU will close out its three-game road trip on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. as the Lady Toppers make the trip to Louisiana Tech. The longtime rivalry, dating back to the 1980s, was most recently renewed during the semifinals of the 2017 C-USA Tournament in Birmingham, Ala., when WKU earned a 77-53 win over the Lady Techsters en route to claiming the championship. In the all-time series, Louisiana Tech owns a 26-18 edge, but the Lady Toppers have won each of the last five meetings between the two sides.