Women's Basketball | 2/21/2018 7:35:00 PM

Box Score

    SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – National Player of the Week Marissa Brown posted another double-double and scored her 1,000th career point here Wednesday but it wasn't enough to help the short-handed West Liberty women avoid an 88-80 loss to Notre Dame at Murphy Gym.
    Playing without injured freshman point guard Audrey Tingle, Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (12-15, 11-10) still managed to mount a late charge only to see the Falcons (20-8, 16-5) hang on for the win.
    Brown finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds - her 16th double-double of the season - and blew past the 1,000-point milestone in her 55th game. That made her the third-fastest Lady Hilltopper ever to reach 1,000 points, trailing only Hillary Southworth (53 games) and Melissa Hammond (54).
    West Liberty led for most of the first half but Notre Dame used a 15-2 run during the latter stages of the second quarter to take a 42-34 lead at the break.
    With Brown battling foul trouble, the Falcons pushed the lead into double-figures in the third quarter and took their largest lead of the night, 75-57, on a 3-point play by Seina Adachi with 6:48 showing on the fourth quarter clock.
    The Hilltoppers scored 16 of the next 18 points to trim the deficit to 77-73 with just over a minute remaining but could get no closer.
    Olivia Belknap and McKenna Shives backed Brown with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Brandi Beader rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 tallies. Johnie Olkosky just missed a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds, surpassing the 500-rebound mark for her career.
    Adachi and Marisa Finazzo led the way for Notre Dame with 27 and 23 points, respectively.
    The Hilltoppers return home to host Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday in a mutual regular-season finale. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the ASRC.