Women's Basketball | 1/28/2018 4:57:00 PM

Box Score

    FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Marissa Brown muscled in a 3-point play with just 7 seconds remaining here Sunday afternoon to give the West Liberty University women a thrilling 78-77 comeback win against Fairmont State at Joe Retton Arena.
    The third win in the last four games for Coach Kyle Cooper's rising Hilltoppers (9-11, 8-6) completed a season sweep of their series with the Falcons (9-10, 5-9) and boosted them into a three-way tie for third place in the MEC standings with Urbana and West Virginia State.
    West Liberty rallied from a double-digit deficit in the final 3 ½ minutes to come away with the win.
    Trailing 72-62 after a Kelli Jo Harrison layup with 3:45 remaining, Brandi Beader hit a pair of free throws at the 3:26 mark to start the Hilltoppers on the comeback trail.
    McKenna Shives highlighted the surge with a 3-point bomb before Johnie Olkosky assisted on back-to-back layups to Brown and Shives, with Shives' hoop trimming the margin to 72-71 with 1:11 remaining.
    With WLU fouling to stop the clock, Fairmont's Sierra Kotchman and Osge Yarga went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds but West Liberty got quick-hitting hoops from Olkosky and Brown to keep it a one-point game, 76-75, with 15 seconds left.
    The Hilltoppers fouled Kotchman again with 13 seconds left and caught a break when the second free throw spun around and out. Olkosky grabbed the rebound and called West Liberty's last timeout to move the in-bounds spot up to the frontcourt.
    After inbounding the ball, Olkosky got it back near the baseline and flipped a quick pass to Brown. The powerful 6-3 post banked in a spinning post move as she was fouled to knot the score at 77-77 and hit nothing but net with the free throw for a 78-77 Hilltopper lead.
    Fairmont got the ball past midcourt but a hurried 3-point attempt failed to draw iron at the buzzer.
    Brown continued her incredible stretch of dominant performances with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocked shots – all game-highs. It was her sixth straight double-double and 12^th of the season, which ranks among the Top 10 nationwide.
    The junior standout had plenty of help. Shives and Beader joined her in double-figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively, while freshman point guard Audrey Tingle checked off a lot of boxes with 7 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Olkosky led all players with 7 assists, 6 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
    Kotchman and Brooke Kurucz led the Falcons with 24 and 21 points, respectively, while Harrison finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds in a losing cause.
    The West Liberty women return home to host UVa-Wise on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at the ASRC.