IRVING, Texas – For the first time in the history of Conference USA, WKU has secured a pair of First Team All-Conference honorees for the fourth straight season as Tashia and Ivy Brown have earned the accolades as announced by the conference office on Monday morning. In addition, both Browns have been named to the C-USA All-Defensive Team, and Raneem Elgedawy has earned a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team.
In the 23-year history of C-USA, no other school has had multiple First Team selections in the same season more than one time. The Lady Toppers have accomplished the feat in each of their four seasons as a member of the league, and both Tashia and Ivy Brown have now been chosen to the First Team twice, with the former also earning the honor in 2016 and the latter in 2017. Tashia Brown also earned a Second Team nod in 2017 and is the 12th player in Lady Topper Basketball history to earn All-Conference honors in three or more seasons.
Both Tashia and Ivy Brown have also been selected to the C-USA All-Defensive Team for the first time in their careers, joining Chastity Gooch and three-time selection Kendall Noble as Lady Toppers to earn the honor since the 2014-15 season.
Elgedawy, WKU's record holder with four Freshman of the Week awards, is the first Lady Topper to be named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team since Tashia Brown following the 2014-15 campaign. The Alexandria, Egypt, native is also the first international player in Lady Topper Basketball history to earn postseason accolades.
One of the most dangerous scoring threats in the nation, Tashia Brown leads all C-USA players and ranks sixth among all Division I players with 22.9 points per game this season. Brown reached double figures in all 29 regular season games this season, hit the 20-point mark in 21 of those contests and had 30 or more points four times, including a career-best 38 points on Senior Night against Charlotte on Feb. 23.
Tashia Brown ranks fourth all-time in scoring at WKU and 10th in the history of C-USA with 1,994 career points entering the C-USA Tournament. The Lake Park, Ga., native is poised to become the fourth Lady Topper in program history with 2,000 points, joining WKU Hall of Famers Crystal Kelly, Lillie Mason and Tiffany Porter-Talbert. In addition to her scoring, Brown has also collected a career-best three double-doubles this season and is averaging career-best marks in rebounding, assists and steals per game in 2017-18.
The other half of WKU's dynamic duo, Ivy Brown has emerged as a nightly double-double threat in 2017-18 with a C-USA-best 15; Brown is one of only seven players in WKU history with 15 or more points-rebounds double-doubles in a single season, and her 33 career double-doubles rank sixth in program history. The 2014 Miss Kentucky Basketball leads all C-USA players with 9.8 rebounds per game this season and ranks second in the conference with 2.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per outing.
Despite her imposing presence in the low post, Brown has also established herself as one of the top three-point shooters in the conference, ranking fifth in the league by knocking down 42.1 percent (56-of-133) of her shots from beyond the arc. Brown bookended her regular season with career-best 31-point games at Iowa (Nov. 11) and UTEP (March 3) en route to picking up her second straight First Team honors.
Arguably already the top international player to ever suit up for the Lady Toppers, Elgedawy has enjoyed one of the strongest freshman campaigns for WKU in recent memory. She has started all 29 games for WKU and is averaging 8.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game with five double-doubles, the most in a single season by a WKU freshman since Crystal Kelly in 2004-05.
The only freshman ranked in the top 15 in C-USA in rebounding this season, Elgedawy also leads all freshmen in the league with her 48.1 percent shooting mark from the field and ranks second with 1.2 blocks per game. In one of the top performances by any WKU player this season, Elgedawy hauled down 23 rebounds against FIU on Jan. 11; those 23 boards were the most by a freshman and third-most overall in a single game in school history while also matching the C-USA record for the most rebounds by a single player in a league contest.
Elgedawy and the Browns will lead the Lady Toppers into this week's C-USA Tournament at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, as the No. 2 seed. WKU (21-8, 12-4 C-USA) is set to take on the winner of Wednesday's Florida Atlantic-UTSA bout on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. (CT).
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