Women's Basketball | 12/5/2013 8:15:00 PM
Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame (Ohio) came from behind with an early second-half burst and took advantage of 34 second-half free throws to hand the West Liberty women their first Mountain East Conference loss, 85-76, here Thursday night at Murphy Gym.
Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (3-4, 2-1) led for most of the first half and held a 40-37 advantage in the opening ticks of the second half when the Black and Gold went cold, enabling the Falcons (4-1, 2-1) to turn the game around.
West Liberty suffered through a 5-minute scoring drought that saw Notre Dame reel off 16 unanswered points, taking its largest lead of the night, 53-40, on a pair of Martha Nagbe free throws with 14:01 on the clock.
The Hilltoppers got back on the board with a Kiki Simpson layup off a crisp feed from Kailee Howe at the 13:38 mark and cut the margin into single digits on several occasions but the Falcons' endless parade to the charity stripe kept the visitors from getting over the hump.
A Jasmin Kiley 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 67-61 as the clock ticked past 6 minutes but Nagbe restored the double-digit lead, 71-61, with a pair of free throws and a slick drive to the hoop and the Hilltoppers could get no closer.
Liz Flowers led West Liberty with 23 points and 8 rebounds while Simpson chipped in with her first double-double, netting 15 points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds. Kiley had 14 points before fouling out down the stretch and Howe stuffed the stat sheet in a losing cause with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Nagbe led all scorers for the Falcons with 27 points. Erin Entinghe added 17 points and a dozen boards.
The Hilltoppers return home to host Urbana on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the ASRC.
