WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team picked a good time to find its shooting touch as the Hilltoppers drained a dozen 3-point baskets Monday night to knock off Alderson-Broaddus, 63-58, at the ASRC.

“That's a very difficult defense to score against,” West Liberty head coach Lynn Ullom said, “but I thought we hit some clutch shots and executed pretty well down the stretch. Any conference game is important but the wins seem even bigger this late in the season. This will do us some good in the standings.” 

Senior guard Kayla Ayers led the way for the Hilltoppers (13-10, 10-7), pouring in a game-high 24 points and tying a career-high with 6 3-point field goals. Hillary Southworth backed Ayers with 20 points, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the final five minutes to help keep the Battlers (6-17, 4-15) at bay. Emily Blevins came up one point shy of her third consecutive double-double, finishing with 9 points and 10 rebounds.

West Liberty led wire-to-wire after Ayers opened the game with a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key but Alderson-Broaddus was able to keep things interesting most of the way.

The Hilltoppers led by as many as 10 points in the early going but A-B cut the margin all the way to 25-24 late in the half before WLU finished strong for a 30-24 lead at the break.

West Liberty took its largest lead of the night, 42-28, when Emily Blevins cashed in a fast break feed from Erica Hershberger at the 15:45 mark but the Battlers quickly began chipping away again.

A pair of Cayla Rhodes free throws pulled the visitors within a bucket, 47-45, at the 7:37 mark but Ayers mailed in another 3-pointer to stop the bleeding and A-B couldn't get any closer.

Amanda Peoples led the Battlers with 20 points while Tidwell added 17 points and 10 rebounds in a losing cause.

The Hilltoppers hit the road on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. game at West Virginia State.

GAME NOTES

X Despite their sub-.500 record, the Battlers lead the WVIAC in scoring defense, giving up just 64 points per game

X Ayers needs just four more 3-point field goals to become the 10th Lady Hilltopper to reach the 200 career 3-point milestone

X Erica Hershberger handed out a game-high 4 assists, pushing her past the 300 mark for her career with 302 helpers