Women's Basketball | 12/9/2017 8:17:00 PM

Box Score

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team opened the game on a 15-0 run and fought off a late Fairmont State surge on their way to an 87-79 victory Saturday night at the ASRC.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (4-6, 3-3) led by as many as 21 points midway through the third quarter but the Falcons (4-5, 1-5) were able to whittle the lead down to 11 points, 64-53, heading into the final 10 minutes.
    Fairmont eventually closed the gap to 73-70 on a short jumper from Kelli Jo Harrison with 4:25 remaining but the Black and Gold had the answer.
    "I thought it was great to see the energy we brought to the floor tonight," Cooper said. "It shows the growth this team is making, not just game to game but possession to possession. We lost a game in a similar situation on Wednesday, letting a lead get away from us in the fourth quarter. Tonight we kept our composure and closed it out to get the win. That's the growth we want to see."
    A 10-foot jumper from McKenna Shives stopped the bleeding and 3-pointers from Shives and Brandi Beader finally put the Falcons – and the game – on ice.
    Shives poured in 27 points to lead the Hilltoppers' scoring parade but the senior vet – who surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career – had plenty of support.
    Beader stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and a pair of steals while Marissa Brown worked the paint for 22 points and 14 rebounds. Johnie Olkosky also hit double-figures in rebounds with 10 retrieves while contributing her usual solid floor game.
    "I'm so proud of my team," Shives said. "We definitely learned from the loss at Shepherd because we handled adversity today better than we have all season. We're still a young basketball team but we're learning how to win."
    Sierra Kotchman led all scorers for Fairmont State with 32 points while Brooke Kurucz added 18. Harrison finished with a double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds.
    "It's all about growth and consistency," Cooper said. "We need to get better defensively but we're much better now than we were a few weeks ago.
    "We'll enjoy this win tonight and then tomorrow we'll wake up happy and get ready for Tuesday."
    The Lady Hilltoppers close out their pre-holiday schedule on Tuesday with a non-conference tilt against Cheyney (Pa.). Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at the ASRC.