Women's Basketball | 12/7/2013 5:02:00 PM
Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Urbana's DeVonyea Johnson hit a driving layup with one second remaining here Saturday afternoon to hand West Liberty a frustrating 75-74 loss in Mountain East Conference women's basketball action at the ASRC.
The Hilltoppers (3-5, 2-2) had used a 17-3 run to overcome a double-digit deficit in the first five minutes of the second half and never trailed again until Johnson beat the buzzer with the game-winner for the league-leading Blue Knights (6-1, 4-0).
West Liberty had a couple of chances to put the game away coming down the stretch.
After a free throw by Urbana's Katy Barkley cut the WLU lead to 74-73 with 50 seconds to go, the Hilltoppers ran the shot clock down into single digits but couldn't get a shot to drop. The ball was knocked out of bounds during the scramble for the rebound and the Blue Knights took over with 20 seconds remaining.
Johnson, the team's leading scorer at 21.8 ppg., drove toward the basket but was cut off just outside the paint and lobbed up a hurried 8-footer. West Liberty's Kiki Simpson grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled with 11 seconds left.
Simpson couldn't get either foul shot to drop and Urbana called its final timeout with 10.5 seconds on the clock to set up for the final shot.
"We knew what was coming," Hilltopper head coach Lynn Ullom said. "We had just stopped it on the previous possession but we figured they'd have Johnson try to get to the rim again looking to score or get to the foul line. It came down to a one-play game and they made one more play than we did."
It was a frustrating loss for a West Liberty team that had roared out of the blocks to take a 20-9 lead midway through the first half only to see the Blue Knights respond with a sustained surge that sent the visitors into the locker room with a 34-28 lead.
Urbana pushed the margin to 38-28 in the first 30 seconds of the second half but a conventional 3-point play by Bri Kamarec touched off the run that put West Liberty ahead for most of the second half.
Jasmin Kiley's 3-pointer forged a 41-41 tie with 16:23 on the clock and Colleen McCormick followed with another bonus bomb for a 44-41 lead as the clock ticked past the 16-minute mark.
West Liberty pushed the lead as high as seven points, 52-45, but Urbana battled back to knot the score, 62-62, on a 3-point play by Kate Francisco with 7:53 to play and the margin never got past four points the rest of the way.
Kiley drained 5 3-pointers and scored 21 points to pace five double-figure scorers for the hosts. Kailee Howe added 11 points and 8 rebounds while Liz Flowers had 10 points despite missing much of the second half due to foul problems.
Former Wheeling Central teammates McCormick and Emily Bucon were impact performers off the bench. McCormick posted her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Bucon weighed in with 11 points, 7 rebounds and a game-high 5 assists. Kamarec, still on the mend from a November concussion, donated 8 points and 3 steals.
Johnson finished with a game-high 24 points for the Blue Knights. Kennedy Boggs added 19 and Barkley finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The West Liberty women will be off next week for semester exams before heading to Puerto Rico to play in the Puerto Rico Classic Dec. 17-18.
