Women's Basketball | 1/19/2017 10:16:00 PM

Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team built a double-digit halftime lead and never trailed in the second half here Thursday night in shocking No. 19-ranked Wheeling Jesuit, 79-72, at the ASRC.
Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (6-11, 5-6) held the nationally-ranked Cardinals (14-3, 9-2) without a field goal over the last 6 ½ minutes of the opening half to key a game-changing 19-4 surge.
McKenna Shives' buzzer-beating 3-pointer sent the hosts into the locker room with a 42-32 lead but Ullom knew the game was far from over.
"Wheeling Jesuit is such a good team and so well-coached that there was no doubt in my mind they would make a run at us," Ullom said.
The Cardinals wasted little time answering the challenge, scoring on their first eight possessions of the third quarter. A driving layup by WJU's Monica Burns forged a 49-49 deadlock with 5:14 still to play in the quarter.
Hilltopper senior Emily Bucon stopped the bleeding with a drive to the hoop and then tacked on a pair of free throws following West Liberty's first defensive stop of the second half for a 53-49 lead at the 4:21 mark.
"That's probably what I'm most proud about from tonight's game," Ullom said. "We haven't handled adversity well as a team this year but we scored enough to stay in it when Jesuit came out so hot at the start of the second half.
"Emily hit those clutch shots and then McKenna got on one of her rolls as she's capable of doing and we were able to finish things out."
West Liberty took a 62-57 lead into the fourth quarter only to see WJU battle back again. Back-to-back power post moves by Jaana Mooton cut the gap to 62-61 but the visitors would come no closer.
Shives answered with two straight 3-pointers and a strong inside move by 6-3 pivot Marissa Brown all but put the game out of reach, 70-61, with 5:27 on the clock as the lead never dropped below six points the rest of the way.
Shives hit seven 3-pointers and several clutch 2-pointers down the stretch to finish with a game-high 28 points. Brown had 14 points and 6 rebounds despite battling foul trouble for most of the night while Bucon added 11 points and 6 assists while going 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.
Johnie Olkosky rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points and made a run at a triple-double with 8 assists and 7 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.
"McKenna was outstanding tonight and Marissa was a real force on the floor," Ullom said, "but this was really a committee game. Emily made some big plays for us at both ends of the floor and Johnie just stuffed the stat sheet but Brandi Beader and Monica Bragg also made major contributions.
"We have been playing better the last few games but we needed a win like this against one of the best teams in the region to really give us a boost. I told them to enjoy the heck out of it for about 12 hours and then we can start getting ready for Notre Dame on Saturday."
Burns led the Cardinals with 19 points while Motton had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The West Liberty women hit the road on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game at Notre Dame.