SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team saw a late comeback effort fall short here Thursday night as Shepherd knocked WLU out of a share of the Mountain East Conference lead with a 77-72 win at the Butcher Center.

Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (16-8, 13-5) led by as many as 9 points in the early going but a 12-0 run put the Rams (17-7, 14-4) on top midway through the first half and the teams settled for a 38-38 deadlock at intermission.

Shepherd went ahead to stay, 43-42, on a Rachel Johnson 3-pointer with 16:30 on the clock and slowly began to pull away from the cold-shooting visitors.

The Rams took their biggest lead of the night, 65-54, on a Morgan Arden fast break as the clock ticked past the 7-minute mark and still led by double-digits, 71-61, after a pair of Rachel Mason free throws with only 1:13 remaining.

Kiki Simpson kept WLU's hopes alive with a conventional 3-point play and Hillary Southworth followed with a 3-point bomb to pull the Black and Gold within four points, 71-67, with 40 seconds still to play.

Unfortunately, that was as close as West Liberty would get.

Shepherd's Briana Vaden swished a pair of free throws and, following a Hilltopper miss, Arden came through with a conventional 3-point play of her own to put the game out of reach, 76-67, with just 21 seconds left.

Liz Flowers led four double-figure scorers for West Liberty with 19 points while Southworth finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Kailee Howe posted her 9th double-double in the last 10 games with 13 points and 12 assists before fouling out while Simpson added 11 points and 17 rebounds before also exiting with her fifth personal.

The Hilltoppers had no answer for the hosts' Gabby Flinchum. The 6-3 post came off the bench to rack up 21 points and 19 rebounds – both game-highs. Nine of Flinchum's rebounds came off the offensive glass as the Rams overcame a poor shooting night by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds to create numerous second-chance scoring opportunities.

Johnson and Mason backed Flinchum with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

West Liberty, which saw its four-game winning streak go by the boards, will try to start another oneon Saturday when the Hilltoppers host Fairmont State in a 2 p.m. game at the ASRC.