Women's Basketball | 2/8/2014 4:22:00 PM
Box Score
WISE, Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team rolled to its seventh straight win here Saturdayafternoon, pulling away to a 76-58 victory at UVA-Wise's Prior Center.
Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (15-8, 12-5) drained 13 3-pointers and shot nearly 50 percent from behind the arc in sending the Cavaliers (8-13, 4-13) to their fifth straight loss.
West Liberty held UVA-Wise to just 2 field goals in the first 12 minutes while racing out to a 22-6 lead but the hosts battled all the way back to take their first lead of the game, 31-30, on a Taylor Sandidge steal in the first minute of the second half.
The teams traded leads six times during the first 5 minutes of the second half until Colleen McCormick's 3-pointer with 15:35 on the clock put the Hilltoppers ahead to stay, 40-38, and ignited what proved to be the game's decisive run.
Jasmin Kiley followed with one of her career-high 6 3-pointers and the Black and Gold was on its way.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jenn Mohney and Kiley capped what had blossomed into a 21-5 Hilltopper surge and put the visitors on top, 58-43, with 8:45 remaining. The margin never dropped below double-digits the rest of the way.
Kiley led all scorers with 21 points while Kailee Howe made another run at a triple-double with 15 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. McCormick added 13 points and 6 rebounds in a strong performance off the bench while Kiki Simpson chipped in with 8 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
West Liberty shot 43 percent (24-of-55) from the floor and 48 percent (13-of-27) from behind the 3-point arc. The Hilltoppers won the battle of the boards by a 43-32 margin and showed good offensive efficiency with 21 assists on their 24 field goals.
Sandidge paced three double-figure scorers for UVA-Wise with 17 points.
West Liberty returns to action on Thursday when the Hilltoppers host Shepherd in a 5:30 p.m. game at the ASRC.
GAME NOTES
X Simpson set a Hilltopper sophomore record with 262 rebounds, shattering the old mark of 245 set by Erica Bevington in 1996-97
X The 262 rebounds rank No. 5 all-time on West Liberty's single-season rebound list
X The Hilltoppers improved to 9-3 on the road this year. The 9 road wins are tops in the MEC
X West Liberty has a 111-27 record in February games under Ullom since the 2000-01 season
X The Hilltoppers are now 15-1 when outshooting their opponents from the floor but 0-7 when being outshot by their opponents
X West Liberty extended its 21-year-old streak of consecutive games with a 3-point field goal to 596 games
