Women's Basketball | 2/1/2017 10:10:00 PM

Box Score SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – A thrilling comeback effort by the West Liberty University women's basketball team came up just short here Wednesday night as Shepherd escaped with a 73-68 victory in Mountain East Conference action at the Butcher Center.
Coach Lynn Ullom's Hilltoppers (7-14, 6-9) seemed dead in the water when the hot-shooting Rams (10-13, 7-8) turned a 42-30 halftime lead into a whopping 61-42 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
That's when West Liberty - which had gone without a field goal for an 11-minute stretch midway through the game - suddenly found the range.
An Emily Bucon 3-pointer capped a 13-0 Hilltopper run at the start of the fourth quarter, forcing Shepherd into a timeout with the lead down to 61-55 and 6:07 still showing on the scoreboard clock.
Liz Myers finally broke the scoring ice for the hosts with a strong post move for a 63-55 advantage but Bucon fed Marissa Brown for a layup and WLU's Johnie Olkosky drained another 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game, 63-60, with 4:11 to play.
The Hilltoppers closed the gap to 65-64 when Bucon got a 10-foot runner to go down at 2:22 but Shepherd's Kayla Tibbs bounced back with a clutch 3-pointer and West Liberty had run out of answers.
Morgan Arden led all scorers with 21 points for the Rams while Cara Mason and Myers finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Bucon paced the Black and Gold with 18 points - including an 8-for-8 showing from the charity stripe - while Brown added 17 points. McKenna Shives chipped in with 11 points while Olkosky checked in with 10 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
The Hilltoppers return home on Saturday to host Fairmont State. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the ASRC.