Women's Basketball | 2/4/2017 5:57:00 PM

Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team saw a late rally go for naught here Saturday afternoon as Fairmont State reeled off 11 straight points in the waning minutes to claim an 83-69 win at the ASRC.
After a see-saw opening half, Coach Lynn Ullom's Lady Hilltoppers (7-15, 6-10) trailed by as many as 15 points in the third quarter before slowly starting to reel in the visiting Falcons (13-9, 10-6).
After a strong start to the fourth quarter, a spinning layup by Emily Bucon and a rebound hoop from Brandi Beader cut the lead to 72-67 with 4:30 still remaining in regulation.
Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, Fairmont's Deidra Combs ignited what proved to be the decisive surge with a strong post move at the other end of the floor and the Falcons were on their way.
West Liberty failed to cash in on four straight possessions while Fairmont got baskets from Makenzie White and Combs to restore the double-digit margin, 78-67, with 1:09 to play.
A pair of free throws from Amanda Ruffner and a 3-point bomb by Emily Puskarich gave the Falcons their biggest lead of the day, 83-67, and put the game on ice.
"I'm just disappointed that when we were making our run at the end, we weren't able to make that one more play to get it to a one-possession game and really put some pressure on Fairmont," Ullom said. "That could have made things really interesting but we just couldn't get to that point."
McKenna Shives knocked down five 3-pointers to lead the Hilltoppers with 20 points while Johnie Olkosky added a dozen tallies. Grace Fodor came off the bench to stuff the stat sheet with 6 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of steals.
"One of the things that hurt today was that we didn't do a very good job of getting shots for McKenna in the fourth quarter," Ullom said. "When she's making shots like she was, we need to find a way to create opportunities for her."
Ruffner led all scorers for the Falcons with 27 points while White and Puskarich added 19 and 17, respectively.
West Liberty will be back in action on Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. game at Concord.