Brown leads Indians to GoSouthern.com Classic title (SLIDESHOW, VIDEO)

FORT WALTON BEACH – The Choctawhatchee girls’ basketball team capped its successful run through the GoSouthern.com Classic at Fort Walton Beach on Friday with an impressive 67-40 victory over Bullitt East (Ky.).

View a slideshow from the game »

Choctaw’s (15-1) Brittany Brown blew the game open in the second quarter, scoring 15 of her game-high 29 points in the period. Brown was named the tournament’s MVP.

“I was rough my first two games,” Brown said, “then I finally got my shot back.”

For as “rough” as she was those first couple games, the Chargers certainly respected Brown’s shooting ability. They fouled her three times as she shot from beyond the arc. In her first five 3-point attempts, Brown made three and was fouled twice.

“The best feeling was that I didn’t have to do it by myself, everybody is contributing now,” Brown said. “That’s the best thing I love about this season so far.”

Lauren Day helped to open things up nicely on the perimeter for Brown by establishing herself in the post from the opening tip. Day scored all of her 15 points in the first half.

“It was opposite because they didn’t really have size and we did have size,” Day, who was named to the all-tournament team, said. “We were going to go inside first and try to open the outside shots later in the game.”

Lakeshia Clay played well too, finishing with 16 points on the night before being named to the all-tournament team

The Indians led 10-9 mid-way through the first quarter and made a 9-0 run to end the quarter to take a 19-10 lead. The Indians opened the second quarter with a 22-6 run spearheaded by Brown’s 15 points.

Choctaw outscored the Chargers 28-10 in the second quarter to take a 47-19 lead at the half.

Bullitt East continued to battle in the second half, outscoring the Indians by four points. But it was too little too late for the Chargers, who fell to 6-8.

“They actually shot the ball better this game,” Choctaw coach Don Brown said. “It’s what I’ve been looking for all tournament. We shot it pretty good tonight. Inside and out, that’s the way we want to play.”

Follow Pat Flynn on Twitter: @PatFnwfdn