CARBONDALE, Ill. – Ivy Brown joked that she can finally share something with Western Kentucky women’s basketball great Kendall Noble.

Noble, the former Lady Topper now playing professionally in Germany, was a do-it-all guard who ranks top 10 in several categories at WKU.

The senior Brown is versatile in her own right as a traditional post player who can stretch the floor with the 3-ball.

Brown flexed that skill set Sunday to get her team rolling in the third quarter at Southern Illinois.

Brown made four straight 3-point attempts to start the second half of WKU’s 75-49 win at SIU Arena. She finished 5 of 7 from behind the arc and was 7 of 10 total from the floor in finishing with 20 points.

She had 16 of those points in the third quarter, which tied Noble for the most points scored in a quarter. Noble scored 16 in the third quarter at UTSA on Jan. 28.

“I can’t wait to text her and tell her we share something,” Brown said.

She finished the night with six rebounds and two steals in 35 minutes. The 6-foot-1 Hodgenville native entered Sunday looking for her fourth straight double-double.

Instead, she stepped back and showed off range in the third quarter.

“It felt good,” Brown said. “Coach (Michelle Clark) Heard told me at halftime just to keep working and my shots would fall. It felt good to see the first one and then the second one. … I think the less time I have to think about shooting, the better it is.

“Just letting it go as soon as it touches my hands. When you see one go in, it just gets bigger and bigger.”

Brown’s first 3 came from the right corner by the Salukis’ bench in the second quarter. WKU opened with possession in the third quarter and immediately went to Brown, who popped up with a triple by the WKU bench, then hit nothing but net in the same spot on the next possession.

She nailed another from the opposite side of the court on the third possession, then hit a longer 3 a few minutes later during WKU’s nine-possession scoring start.

As good as a 5-of-7 clip from behind the arc was for Brown, it still wasn’t her highest mark this season or for her career – that night came against Iowa this season when she made 6 of 9 3-pointers to a career-high 31 points.

She had only hit three triples since that game on Nov. 11 going into the SIU contest.

Brown is now 14 of 32 (43.7 percent) from behind the arc this season.

“I’m really happy for her because she’s an unbelievable 3-point shooter, and she hasn’t really shot that well like she did tonight in previous games,” Heard said. “We all know so well and I’ve coached her for so long and I know that when she hits one or two, you just go back to her. Having a senior like that and a player like that is really important.

“She’s one of those players who is going to do whatever we ask her. It was pretty awesome to see her knock down those shots because she’s doing everything else for this team.”

Notes

Heard is 135-42 overall in six seasons as WKU’s coach and 159-74 overall. … WKU has won four straight and claimed its second true road victory of the season … WKU leads the series with SIU 8-7. Prior to Sunday, the last meeting occurred in 2007. … WKU used the starting lineup of Whitney Creech, Sherry Porter, Raneem Elgedawy, Tashia Brown and Ivy Brown, a lineup that is 3-0 together. … WKU held SIU to eight third-quarter points, the fourth time this season it has held an opponent to single-digit scoring in a quarter. … With two 20-point performances from Tashia Brown and Ivy Brown, WKU has had a 20-point scorer in seven of its first eight games this season.