Women's Basketball | 2/25/2017 7:34:00 PM

Box Score WHEELING, W.Va. – A stirring upset bid by the West Liberty University women's basketball team fell just short hereSaturday afternoon as Monica Burns hit a spinning layup with 1.8 seconds remaining to give Wheeling Jesuit a 59-58 win in a mutual regular season finale.
It was a frustrating end to a strong effort from Coach Lynn Ullom's Lady Hilltoppers (9-19, 8-14), who led for most of the second half but missed 5-of-6 free throws in the final 49 seconds to leave the door open for the regionally-ranked Cardinals (22-6, 17-5).
"We had 80 percent foul shooters at the line so you don't expect that," Ullom said, "but that's not where we lost the game. We lost the game when we went up by 9 points in the second half and just stopped doing what we had been doing.
"We were moving without the ball, making good passes and getting just about any shot we wanted but once we got the big lead, we just lost our minds."
West Liberty held a 30-27 halftime lead and led by as many as 9 points on multiple occasions in the third quarter before taking a 47-40 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Jesuit, which had dropped a 79-72 decision at WLU in the season's first meeting, took advantage of the Hilltoppers' offensive struggles to reel off 9 straight points at the start of the fourth quarter and go up 49-47 with 6:21 to play.
Johnie Olkosky put West Liberty back on top, 53-52, with a 3-pointer as the clock ticked under 4 minutes and a Grace Fodor layup off a feed from Marissa Brown pushed the margin to 55-52 with 2:49 to play.
Jesuit's Chenelle Moore cashed in a rebound hoop but Olkosky dropped in a pair of free throws to restore the 3-point margin, 57-54, at the 1:32 mark.
The Cardinals tied the game, 57-57, when Chelsea Richardson knocked down her first 3-pointer of the season with1:14 to play but West Liberty followed that up with three straight defensive stops.
Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, they made just 1-of-6 free throws during that stretch and led just 58-57 when Jesuit got the ball back for the last time with 11 seconds left.
With time running down, Burns dribbled to the top of the key before spinning to her right and charging to the hoop for a contested layup that dropped through the twine with just 1.8 seconds to play. The Hilltoppers were unable to get off a shot before the final buzzer.
Brown led four double-figure scorers for West Liberty with a game-high 14 points while Brandi Beader had a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Olkosky and McKenna Shives also finished with 13 points while Fodor added 9 rebounds, 5 points and 5 assists off the bench.
Moore and Lydia Hyburg had 12 points each for Jesuit while Jaana Motton finished with 11.
The WLU women open MEC Tournament play on Wednesday when they take on the University of Charleston in a 2:30 p.m. game at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum.