WISE, Va. – Kailee Howe scored 11 of her season-high 22 points in the final 1:55 here Monday night to lift the West Liberty University women's basketball team to a 77-71 come-from-behind win in Mountain East Conference action at the Prior Center.

Coach Lynn Ullom's short-handed Hilltoppers (8-4, 5-1) had to overcome a poor shooting night to hang onto second place in the MEC chase as the Cavaliers (4-8, 3-3) led for nearly the entire game.

UVA-Wise took its largest lead, 42-28, on a Kayla Carey post move with just 1:36 left in the first half but some late heroics by Jenn Mohney cut the deficit in half at intermission.

Mohney – who was 5-of-6 from the 3-point arc in the first half – hit back-to-back bonus bombs down the stretch to pull West Liberty within single digits. 

Cavalier head coach Kristen Kunzman was so upset following Mohney's final 3-pointer, a rainbow from deep in the corner in front of the hosts' bench just 4 seconds before the halftime horn, that she shattered her clipboard on the floor and was whistled for a technical. Mohney added a free throw to cut the lead to 42-35 at the break.

West Liberty kept the deficit under double-figures the rest of the way but didn't take its first lead of the second half until Baylen Dyrlund finished off an assist from Liz Flowers for a 61-59 Hilltopper edge with 5:49 remaining.

The Cavaliers refused to fold and the game headed into the final two minutes tied at 64-64.

That's when Howe took control.

The junior guard – who leads the nation in assists – put WLU ahead to stay, 67-64, with a conventional 3-point play off a fast break with 1:55 to go.

Carey cut the margin to a single point on back-to-back possessions but Howe hit a stop-and-pop jumper for a 71-68 Hilltopper lead with just 37 seconds remaining before coming up with a huge steal and drawing a foul with 22 seconds left.

Howe drained both charity tosses to make it a two-possession game and went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 9 seconds to put this game on ice.

Howe just missed a double-double with 22 points and 9 assists while Mohney finished with a career-high 6 3-point field goals and 21 points. Flowers, the nation's leading scorer, managed just 10 points on 4-for-21 shooting from the floor but contributed in other ways with 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Jasmin Kiley also hit double-figures with 10 points while Kiki Simpson dropped in 8 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds before fouling out as the Hilltoppers played their fifth straight game without injured guards Hillary Southworth, Bri Kamarec and Emily Bucon.

Carey led all scorers for UVA-Wise with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Blair Harding added 22 points.

The West Liberty women return home for a crucial MEC test on Thursday when they host league-leading Shepherd in a 5:30 p.m. game at the ASRC.