CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The top-seeded West Liberty University women's basketball team punched its first ticket to an MEC Tournament championship game here Saturday afternoon with a 70-68 overtime win against No. 4 seed Wheeling Jesuit in semifinal action at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum.

Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (22-8) will take on No. 6 seed Notre Dame (20-11) at 1 p.m. Sunday in the MEC Tournament title tilt. The Falcons shocked No. 2 seed Shepherd, 75-65, in Saturday's other semifinal.

"I give our kids all the credit," Ullom said. "We had a couple of big leads and lost them so we could have put our heads down and felt sorry for ourselves. Fortunately, we found a way to make enough plays at the end and then Kiki (Simpson) came up with the big block to get us the win."

The block Ullom was referring to came with West Liberty nursing a 67-66 lead in the final 30 seconds of overtime.

Jaila Bryant, who led all scorers for the Cardinals with 22 points, turned the corner and went up for what would have been a go-ahead layup only to see the 5-11 Simpson seemingly appear out of nowhere to reject the shot.

Not only did Simpson collect her fifth block of the game, she controlled the rebound and whipped a quick outlet pass to Kailee Howe, who found a streaking Hillary Southworth down the floor for a runout layup and a 69-66 Hilltopper lead with 23 seconds left.

Bryant cut the lead to 69-68 with a basket at the 9-second mark but WLU got the ball in and was able to run several precious seconds off the clock before Jesuit was able to foul Southworth with just 3 seconds remaining.

Southworth hit 1-of-2 free throws to wrap up the scoring.

"I didn't want to risk a foul," Simpson told reporters afterward, "so I knew I needed to let (Bryant) go in front of me before I blocked the shot."

Ullom was effusive in praising his junior post.

"Kiki's not making that up," Ullom said. "She's our most cerebral player and she understands angles and all that. No one is a bigger Kiki fan than me. She's a game-changer who truly understands what it takes to win games."

The Hilltoppers had dominated the action from the opening tip, hitting four straight 3-pointers to jet out to a 12-0 lead before the game was three minutes old.

West Liberty hit 8 3-pointers in the first half alone and led by as many as 13 points before settling for a 38-28 lead at the break but the Hilltoppers didn't make another 3-pointer the rest of the afternoon and WJU was able to slowly chip away at the deficit.

The Cardinals trailed, 59-55, heading into the final minute of regulation but a Jaana Motton steal set up a quick layup for Kylie Frizzell, which cut the lead in half, and Bryant tied it with a tough jumper at the 25-second mark to force overtime.

Jesuit took its first lead of the game, 63-62, on an inside move by Motton with 3:27 left in overtime and took its largest lead of the day, 66-64, on Mariah Callen's drive to the hoop with 2:12 on the clock.

But West Liberty got the ball in quickly and Liz Flowers cashed in a conventional 3-point play just seconds later. That put the Hilltoppers ahead to stay, 67-66, at the 2:05 mark and set the stage for Simpson's late-game heroics.

Southworth paced WLU with 18 points while Flowers added 15 points and Howe finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Simpson had 7 points but was an incredible force in the paint with a team-high 16 rebounds to go along with her 5 blocked shots.

Bryant had 22 points and 8 rebounds but was just 10-for-26 from the floor. Motton also had a big game with 16 points and 17 rebounds while Frizzell added a dozen points off the bench.

"I can't say enough about the defensive job Liz did on Jaila Bryant," Ullom said. "I know Bryant had 22 points but she's a terrific talent and Liz made her work for every one of them. 

"I give our kids all the credit in the world. We weren't a very good defensive team the first few months of the season but they've really bought in the last few weeks and it's paid off. All we talked about was just coming down here and playing our best basketball. Nothing would please me more than to see them get a chance to cut down the nets tomorrow.