WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team opened the game with a 15-4 burst and never looked back Saturday afternoon in coasting to a 91-80 win against Fairmont State at the ASRC.

Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (17-8, 14-5) completed a season sweep of the Falcons (19-6, 13-6) and remained locked in a tie with Shepherd for second place in the Mountain East Conference standings, a game behind Charleston with only three games remaining in the regular season.

West Liberty shot nearly 60 percent from the floor in the first half – including a blistering 7-of-9 (78 percent) showing from behind the 3-point arc – to take a 52-37 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Hillary Southworth keyed WLU's fast start as the 2013 NCAA Division II All-American poured in 18 of her season-high 27 points in the game's first 20 minutes.

"Hillary played like she did a couple of years ago today," Ullom said. "She got in a rhythm early and made a lot of big shots for us."

The Hilltoppers maintained a double-digit lead for most of the afternoon but Fairmont took advantage of some WLU foul trouble to put together a late surge and cut the lead to 84-78 on a Tess Zufall 3-pointer with 3:05 to play.

West Liberty's Kailee Howe answered with a driving layup at the other end and the Hilltoppers put together back-to-back defensive stops before Howe slipped inside for the clincher, restoring the double-digit lead at 88-78 with just over a minute to play.

"We shot the ball very well early," Ullom said, "and then I thought we did a good job maintaining our composure down the stretch. They made a little run and got (the lead) down to 6 but we came right back with a layup and were able to manage the clock pretty well over the last few possessions."

Kiki Simpson had another big game in the paint with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Hilltoppers – who posted a whopping 49-30 edge off the glass. Liz Flowers finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists before fouling out with more than 5 minutes remaining while Howe, who also missed significant minutes due to foul problems, added 15 points and 7 assists. Jenn Mohney came off the bench to add 10 big points.

Hallie Gunnoe paced the Falcons with 19 points while Emily Lohr and Hailey Garrett had 14 each and Amanda Ruffner chipped in with 13.

West Liberty returns to action Thursday night with a 5:30 p.m. game at West Virginia Wesleyan.