WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team exploded for 54 second-half points Monday night and raced away to an 85-50 victory against Bluefield State at the ASRC.

Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (12-5, 10-3) got off to a sluggish start and trailed the Lady Blues (10-8, 8-7) by as many as 11 points midway through the opening half before hitting the comeback trail.

“We picked things up on defense and I think that's what turned the game for us,” Ullom said. “We were able to put enough stops together to get the game going north-south and that's much better for us than walking the ball up and running half-court sets.”

West Liberty closed out the first half on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.

Hillary Southworth ignited the surge with a short jumper and Bri Kamarec added a pair of free throws to trim the Bluefield State lead to 28-27.

Southworth put the hosts ahead to stay when she followed in her own miss for a 29-28 Hilltopper edge and pushed the halftime bulge to 31-28 when she finished off a pretty assist from Jordan Stacey just ahead of the halftime horn.

The Hilltoppers hit three 3-pointers in the early part of the second half to take command. Southworth's 3-pointer at the 14:30 mark upped the count to 44-32 and the Lady Blues never got the margin under double-digits again.

A 16-0 run midway through the second half put the game on ice. Meghan Wiseman capped the run – and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career – with a conventional 3-point play for a 63-37 lead with 8:40 on the clock.

Ullom cleared the bench and West Liberty led by as many as 37 points down the stretch.

Southworth, the nation's third-leading scorer at 22.4 ppg., led all scorers with 26 points while Wiseman finished with 16 points. Liz Flowers added 8 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“I thought Liz Flowers was a difference-maker for us tonight,” Ullom said. “Her stats don't really show it but she really pushed the ball and created a lot of good number situations for us in transition. It was good to see Hillary find her shot after getting off to a little bit of a slow start tonight. We had a lot of people contribute and that's what we like to see.

“Also, I was very happy to see Meghan get her 1,000th point. She's a great student so she could have gone ahead and graduated last year but she chose to pick up a double-major, rehab her knee after surgery and come back to the team. It's always great to see that kind of effort and dedication rewarded.”

Shae Mebane paced Bluefield State with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

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

GAME NOTES

X Wiseman became the 27th 1,000-point scorer in Lady Hilltopper history. The former Tyler Consolidated standout now has 1,002 career points

X Wiseman joins WLU Hall of Famers Ashlea Bland and Kelly Easton as the only Lady Hilltoppers with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocked shots in their careers

X West Liberty has won the last 19 meetings against Bluefield State