Women's Basketball | 2/22/2014 8:45:00 PM
Box Score GLENVILLE, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team dug itself into an early hole and never recovered here Saturday afternoon as No. 9-ranked Glenville State avenged an earlier loss to the Hilltoppers with a 105-81 victory at Lilly Gym.
After sitting through a 15-minute Senior Day presentation for the Pioneers' (24-3, 19-2) eight seniors, West Liberty (18-9, 15-6) came out cold at the start of the game and the high-flying hosts took full advantage.
Glenville's full-court pressure forced several early turnovers and the Pioneers raced out to a 17-0 lead just over four minutes into the game.
The hosts went on to hit 10 of their first 13 shots from the floor in taking complete command of the proceedings and wound up taking a 64-37 lead into the locker room at intermission.
The shell-shocked Hilltoppers had more turnovers (18) than field goals (11) at the break and Glenville's 16 offensive rebounds helped give the hosts an 18-2 edge in second-chance points.
The Pioneers ultimately pushed the lead out to 94-55 on a Tasia Bistow fast break as the second half clock ticked past the 12-minute mark but when Kailee Howe and Liz Flowers answered with back-to-back 3-pointers, it finally seemed to take the lid off the West Liberty basket.
Although the outcome had already been decided, the Hilltoppers refused to raise the white flag and battled back to outscore Glenville State by a 26-11 count over the game's final 12 minutes.
Emily Bucon came off the bench to hit all four of her 3-point field goal tries and finished with a team-high 18 points for West Liberty. Kiki Simpson racked up another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Howe and Jenn Mohney wrapped up the double-figure scorers with 13 points each.
Kenyona Simmons led all scorers with 24 points for Glenville State and Keyanna Tate had a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with 11 points.
The Hilltoppers close out the regular season at home on Saturday against Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the ASRC.
GAME NOTES
X The Hilltoppers had handed Glenville State a 107-94 loss on Jan. 13 in their first meeting of the season
X Despite Saturday's loss, West Liberty has clinched a second-place finish and will have the No 2 seed in next month's MEC Tournament
X Simpson went over the 300-rebound mark for the season and is just 4 rebounds shy of the Hilltoppers' single-season record of 306 rebounds, set by Lyndsay Frank in 1996-97
X West Liberty is 18-1 when outshooting its opponents from the floor this season but 0-8 when being outshot by the opponent
