WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team dropped its final game of the regular season on Saturday, falling to Davis & Elkins by a 61-55 count at the ASRC.

The Hilltoppers (14-14, 11-11) and Senators (13-13, 12-10) traded leads for most of the second half but the Black and Gold went cold down the stretch, allowing Davis & Elkins to escape with a win that guaranteed the visitors a home game in Monday's first round of the WVIAC Tournament.

West Liberty head coach Lynn Ullom was not happy that his Hilltoppers will be making their first WVIAC Tournament road trip in his lengthy tenure.

“I'm very disappointed,” the veteran coach said, “but we have nobody to blame but ourselves. The same things that have haunted us all season continued to be a problem for us today. As a program, we simply haven't improved in the areas we need to improve in.”

In a second half that featured 4 ties and 8 lead changes, West Liberty appeared to have opened up a little breathing room when Bri Kamarec fed Erica Hershberger for a layup and a 51-47 lead at the 6:16 mark.

It was the largest lead of the second half for either team at that point but it proved to be the beginning of the end for the Hilltoppers as D&E held the hosts without a field goal the rest of the way.

A pair of Emily Blevins free throws pulled West Liberty even for the final time, 55-55, with 3:43 to play but the Hilltoppers never scored again.

Kamarec came off the bench with 14 points to share team scoring honors with Kayla Ayers. Hillary Southworth added a dozen points and a game-high 7 rebounds in a losing cause.

Davis & Elkins got 14 points from Page Turner and 11 more from Ashley Magallanez.

With the loss, the West Liberty women slipped to 9th place in the final WVIAC standings and will hit the road Monday night for a first-round game at 8th place Seton Hill.

“Obviously it's a short turnaround,” Ullom said, “but we know what we need to work on in practice tomorrow. The key will be whether we'll be able to get that accomplished.”

GAME NOTES

X Seniors Kayla Ayers, Jenn Cessna and Erica Hershberger were honored in pre-game ceremonies on Senior Day at the ASRC

X Ayers' 14 points lifted her career total to 992. She needs 8 points on Monday to become only the second Lady Hilltopper ever to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 3-pointers in a career