Senior forward Arnika Brown scored 16 points and pulled in a school-record 24 rebounds, pushing the Lady Toppers to an 83-78 overtime win over Arkansas State Wednesday night in Diddle Arena. ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/Herald

Arkansas State may have dominated the Lady Toppers in the final minutes of regulation on Wednesday night, but overtime belonged to Arnika Brown.

The senior forward scored Western’s first eight points and pulled down seven rebounds in the extra period, and the Lady Toppers (16-8, 10-3 Sun Belt Conference) gutted out an 83-78 win in Diddle Arena.

Brown finished with 16 points and a school-record 24 rebounds, breaking her own record of 21 set last season against Florida International.

“We penetrated more, and we went inside more,” Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “Arnika hadn’t touched the ball in probably 10 minutes in regulation, and then we go into overtime … and she was just phenomenal. We got her the basketball in ways that she could score and be productive for us.”

It seemed with eight minutes left that forcing overtime would not even be a consideration for the Lady Toppers.

A layup by sophomore forward Teranie Thomas gave Western a 64-51 advantage at the 8:02 mark, but that’s when Arkansas State (10-15, 5-9 SBC) began to chip away at the lead.

The Red Wolves outscored Western 20-7 over the final minutes of regulation and tied the game at 71-71 on a free throw by Lyndsay Schlup with 31 seconds remaining.

The Lady Toppers had two chances to win — a three-pointer by junior guard Amy McNear with three seconds left and a desperation heave by Brown at the buzzer — but both were no good.

McNear had been in the driver’s seat until Arkansas State’s decisive run, scoring nine second-half points that helped Western break out to a double-digit lead.

But Cowles said the Lady Toppers hit a wall when the Red Wolves made a defensive adjustment into a matchup zone.

“We looked like a deer in the headlights,” Cowles said. “We looked like we didn’t know it, and … they’ve got three or four things they’re going to throw at you. It wasn’t a secret. We just froze.”

McNear said the switch took her out of her offensive game, but that the Lady Toppers were able to stay afloat by adjusting themselves.

“It kind of stopped me a little bit from penetrating like I was doing in the beginning of the second half,” McNear said. “I just took my time and found my teammates, and they got open shots.”

Arkansas State led by as many as five points with 5:06 left in the first half, but Western finished on a 9-2 run to take a 37-35 lead into halftime.

The Lady Toppers quickly amassed a lead in the second half but came up empty-handed on nine of their last 12 possessions in regulation.

Fortunately, they were much more efficient in overtime.

Brown scored four straight baskets for Western to open a 79-76 lead, senior guard Kenzie Rich made a layup, and senior forward Dominique Duck later netted two free throws with 17 seconds remaining to ice the game.

ASU Head Coach Brian Boyer was pleased with the decisive second-half run, but said that Western came up with the spurt that proved most important.

“It would have been easy to roll over (down 13),” Boyer said. “We kept fighting to give ourselves a chance, and unfortunately, the final push of the game was theirs, which we weren’t able to answer.”

The Lady Toppers shot 42.5 percent for the game to ASU’s 45.2 percent, but they recorded 18 more shots and out-rebounded the Red Wolves 51-37.

McNear led all scorers with 21 points, while Duck had 15 points and nine rebounds.

Rich added 14 points, and Thomas pitched in seven.

Four players scored in double figures for ASU, led by Sherina Scott and Meghan Lewis’ 18 points each.

Western next hits the road for a game at Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday.

Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark.