Former Bristol Eastern standout Khadaijia Brooks has been a rock on the backboards for the Marshall University women’s basketball team in the early portion of the season.
Brooks was never bigger than in Marshall’s 72-65 overtime home win over Evansville on Friday night. She led the Herd with 19 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. It was the third time that Brooks had reached double figures in rebounding, and she did it again a fourth time in an 88-67 home win over Coppin State on Saturday.
“My coach was just like ‘we need you to be aggressive, we need you to be a leader,’” Brooks said after the Evansville win. “The momentum of the game and the atmosphere of the crowd, it just pumped me up. I love being in situations where I have to be aggressive because it allows me to compete.”
Brooks was one of three Herd players with a double-double, and that was the first time Marshall has done that since Nov. 10, 2017, in a game at the University of North Carolina. Brooks was also part of the double-double trio in that game.
In Friday’s game against Evansville, Brooks scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting in the first half to go along with seven rebounds. She tallied 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the second half to go along with five rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. Marshall trailed by five points with just over two minutes left. Brooks kept the deficit at five points with a blocked shot. Brooks’ offensive rebound and free throw with 32 seconds left tied the game at 61-61. Brooks came down with a defensive rebound with 10 seconds left to set up a final possession for the Herd, but the scored stayed at 61-61 when the regulation buzzer sounded. In overtime, a Brooks layup with 2:18 left put Marshall up 66-63. The Aces did close to within a point at 66-65, but the Herd were able to extend their lead. Brooks grabbed the game’s final rebound as the buzzer sounded.
“We wanted a new start, we wanted to take care of this win, just not for ourselves, but for the fan base we’ve created throughout the years,” Brooks said about the win, which improved Marshall’s record to 2-4.
Brooks had some foul trouble in the Coppin State win, but still led the Herd with 10 rebounds and three steals as they improved to 3-4. Through seven games, Brooks leads Marshall in total rebounds (51), rebounds per game (7.3) and blocked shots (8). She has a team-leading 16 offensive rebounds.
