Women's Basketball | 1/13/2011 9:56:39 PM

BOX SCORE

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – A cold shooting night and a revenge-minded Fairmont State squad proved to be a lethal combination for the No. 25-ranked West Liberty University women's basketball team Thursday night at Joe Retton Arena.

The Hilltoppers were held scoreless for nearly 5 1/2 minutes at the start of the game and the host Falcons led wire-to-wire in snapping West Liberty's 10-game winning streak with a 76-60 upset nod.

The Fairmont victory avenged an earlier blowout loss to the Hilltoppers, who had rolled to a 113-55 victory against the Falcons on Nov. 30 at the ASRC.

West Liberty trailed by as many as 12 points for much of the opening half before a Jenni Robbins 3-pointer trimmed the margin under double-figures, 37-28, just before intermission.

The Hilltoppers closed the gap to 45-41 on Jordan Stacey's fast break layup with 14:06 remaining but Fairmont State answered with a 13-5 surge, retaking a 12-point lead on Lauren Gilbert's 3-point bomb with 10:40 to play.

West Liberty never got the deficit under 10 points the rest of the night as the hosts led by as many as 22 points down the stretch.

Tori Hansen led the Hilltoppers with 23 points and 17 rebounds while Robbins added 14 points but West Liberty couldn't overcome its worst shooting night of the year. The Hilltoppers shot just 34 percent (25-of-73) from the floor and 25 percent (7-of-28) from behind the 3-point arc. Both numbers are season-lows.

Kaitlin Snyder led all scorers for Fairmont with a season-high 26 points while 6-3 center Rachel Murray added 22 points and 17 rebounds. Gilbert chipped in with 19 points as the Falcon trio accounted for 67 of the hosts' 76 points.

The West Liberty women will try to bounce back Saturday afternoon when they visit Bluefield State for a 2 p.m. tipoff.