WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Hillary Southworth lit up the scoreboard for a game-high 34 points and the West Liberty University women set a school record with 16 blocked shots Monday night as the red-hot Hilltoppers hammered Charleston, 88-64, at the ASRC.

It was the seventh win in the last eight games for Coach Lynn Ullom's West Liberty (16-6, 14-4) squad, which never trailed in completing a season sweep of the Golden Eagles (12-10, 9-9).

“I thought we were much more aggressive on defense after halftime,” Ullom said, “and we shared the ball very well on offense. There were times tonight, especially in the second half, when we looked like a very good basketball team.”

After building a 38-30 halftime lead, the Hilltoppers opened the second half with an 18-5 blitz that put the game out of reach, 56-35, with 13:19 still to play.

Southworth scored 22 of her 34 points after intermission to fuel the surge and West Liberty also got a big lift off the bench from freshman post Kiki Simpson.

The talented youngster entered the game early in the second half when Hilltopper center Meghan Wiseman picked up her third and fourth fouls in quick succession and quickly made her presence felt.

“Kiki really gave us a boost with her length and her energy,” Ullom said. “Not only did she block some shots and do a good job on the boards, she played great interior defense. She only played about 12 minutes but she made a lot of good things happen.”

It was another big night for Southworth who is in the midst of a season full of big nights.

The nation's second-leading scorer and the reigning WVIAC Player of the Week, extended her own school record with her eighth consecutive game of 25 points or more and became the 28th member of West Liberty's 1,000-Point Club.

“Everybody looks at the points Hillary scores and there's no question she's been on an incredible roll,” Ullom said, “but what makes her special is the way she fills up the rest of the stat sheet every night. Along with her 34 points tonight, she also had 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a couple of blocked shots. There's not a single zero on her stat line.”

Liz Flowers backed Southworth with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocked shots while Wiseman finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds despite being limited to 17 minutes due to foul problems.

Jessi Cowden paced Charleston with 19 points in a losing cause.

The Hilltoppers head to Fairmont State on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. game against the Falcons.

GAME NOTES

X Southworth now has 1,008 career points at West Liberty and 1,055 in her collegiate career. She scored 47 points as a freshman at Appalachian State

X This was Southworth's fifth 30-point game of the season

X The 16 blocked shots eclipsed the Hilltoppers' previous school record of 14 blocks, which came in a 61-50 victory against Fairmont State on Feb. 28, 2001 in a WVIAC Tournament quarterfinal

X West Liberty is 66-1 when scoring 80 or more points since the 2006-07 season – including a 9-0 mark this year

X The Hilltoppers improved to 102-26 (.797) in February games since the 2000-01 season