RICHMOND, Va. – The No. 17-ranked West Liberty University women's magical basketball season ended one game short of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight here Monday night thanks to a spectacular performance by No. 8 Virginia Union's Kiana Johnson.

Johnson, a Michigan State transfer who leads the nation in scoring, poured in an NCAA Division II Tournament record 49 points as the top-seeded Panthers (28-2) outgunned Coach Lynn Ullom's No. 3-seeded Hilltoppers, 91-77, in the Atlantic Region championship game before a raucous home crowd at the Barco-Stevens Center.

The 5-6 senior guard all but carried Virginia Union to its first regional title since 1984. Along with breaking a tournament scoring record that had been on the books for more than a decade, the mercurial 5-6 guard dished out 8 assists and came up with 6 steals to keep the Panthers comfortably in command for most of the night.

West Liberty (29-5) traded leads with Virginia Union in the early going but Johnson put the hosts ahead to stay, 11-10, with the first of two back-to-back 3-point bombs at 5:35 of the opening quarter.

Struggling to find the range from the perimeter in the up-tempo affair, the Hilltoppers trailed just 21-16 with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter when Johnson shifted into overdrive.

A pair of free throws followed by her third 3-pointer of the period produced the Panthers' first double-digit lead of the night, 26-16, with 41 seconds on the clock. 

The Hilltoppers missed at the other and Johnson dashed all the way to the rim for a layup – her 18th and 19th points of the quarter. She then forced a WLU turnover in the waning seconds to set up a follow shot by Rahni Bell just ahead of the buzzer, putting West Liberty on the short end of a 30-16 tally heading into the second quarter.

Johnson seemed to have the answer whenever the Hilltoppers threatened to go on a run and the Panthers held on for a 49-34 lead at the half. Johnson, a three-year starter for the Spartans before transferring to the Richmond school this season, had 30 of Virginia Union's 49 points.

With Johnson leading the way, the hosts picked up the pace when play resumed and threatened to turn the game into a blowout with a 13-2 run midway through the third quarter. Johnson gave the Panthers their largest lead of the game, 68-42, when she closed out the surge with a 15-foot jumper at 3:04 of the third quarter but the Hilltoppers saw a glimmer of hope seconds later when Johnson went to the bench after committing her fourth foul.

With Johnson off the court, West Liberty began to whittle away at the 26-point deficit.

Emily Bucon began the assault with a 3-point bomb and Kailee Howe followed by snaking down the lane for a layup.

The hosts couldn't get anything going on offense and when Flowers closed out the quarter with back-to-back 3-point bombs, the lead was back down to a much more manageable 15 points, 68-53, as the third quarter ended.

With momentum squarely on the Hilltoppers' side, VUU head coach AnnMarie Gilbert rolled the dice and put Johnson back on the court to start the fourth quarter.

The Panthers held West Liberty off the scoreboard for the next four minutes while reeling off 9 unanswered points. Johnson put an exclamation point on the surge with a driving layup and a stop-and-pop 12-footer to give Virginia Union an insurmountable 77-53 lead with just over 6 minutes remaining.

The Hilltoppers spent the final six minutes of their season chipping away at the lead but Johnson and her teammates did just enough to hang on and WLU simply ran out of time.

Johnson didn't lack for help from her supporting cast as Virginia Union's 6-2 "twin towers" of Lady Walker and Taylor White each posted double-doubles to help the winners muscle out a decisive 47-33 rebounding advantage. Taylor had 11 points and 14 rebounds while Walker finished with 11 points and 13 boards.

West Liberty's All-Region senior trio of Flowers, Simpson and Howe closed out their careers with strong performances.

Flowers led the way with 33 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds while Simpson had 14 points and a dozen rebounds to go along with Howe's 10 points and 11 assists.

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

X Flowers and Simpson joined Walker and Johnson on the All-Tournament Team along with California's Shatara Parsons. Johnson was the Tournament MVP

X The previous record for points in an NCAA Division II Tournament game was set by Fort Valley State's Sherika Tarpkins, who scored 46 points in a 103-88 loss to Central Arkansas in a 2005 regional semifinal

X Flowers finished the season with 705 points to tie Tori Hansen's single-season school scoring record

X Flowers also finished third on WLU's all-time scoring list with 2,135 career points. Melissa Hammond is No. 2 with 2,150 while Hansen holds the school record of 2,300 points

X Howe's 11 assists pushed her NCAA Division II single-season record assist total to 326 

X Simpson led the nation with a school-record 452 rebounds, which ranks 14th in NCAA Division II history

X Simpson also leaves West Liberty as the school record holder for rebounds (1,244) and blocked shots (272). She ranks No. 22 on the school's career scoring list with 1,113 points

X West Liberty's 29 wins are a program record. The 2004 Hilltoppers went 27-4 in a run to the NCAA Division II East Region semifinals