BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Marissa Brown and Taylor Johnson had huge games here Monday night as the West Liberty University women's basketball team sprinted off to an 86-63 Mountain East Conference victory at West Virginia Wesleyan.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (3-2, 1-1) jumped out to a double-digit lead after one quarter and pulled away down the stretch to keep the host Bobcats (0-3, 0-2) winless on the young season.
    "Tonight was a real moment of growth for our team," Cooper said. "We struggled to play on the road last season but we not only played well tonight, we found a way to push through some adversity with some scoring droughts. The key was that we shared the basketball really, really well which got everybody in the flow."
    Brown, WLU's returning All-America center, just missed a triple-double with another dominating performance. The versatile 6-3 post worked the paint for 32 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and was charted with 9 blocked shots despite missing significant stretches of the second half due to foul trouble.
    Johnson, a 5-9 shooting guard in her first season at WLU after transferring from Belmont Abbey (N.C.), was forced to play the point on Monday with starting point guard Audrey Tingle sidelined due to injury and the West Liberty offense didn't miss a beat.
    The junior transfer backed Brown with 18 points but also dished out a career-high 13 assists and didn't fall that far short of her own triple-double by adding 6 rebounds to her stat sheet.
    Morgan Brunner, a junior transfer from Youngstown State, moved into the starting lineup in Tingle's place and added 11 points before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury.
    West Virginia Wesleyan stayed within striking distance for much of the first three quarters, trailing by scores of 33-27 at the half and 57-49 heading into the final 10 minutes but a 14-0 Hilltopper surge in the early part of the fourth quarter sealed the deal.
    The West Liberty women step out of conference play on Wednesday for a 1 p.m. game at Winston-Salem (N.C.) State.