WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team dominated on both ends of the court here Wednesday in sprinting away to a 95-56 victory against Urbana in Mountain East Conference action at the ASRC.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (5-3, 2-1) opened up a 20-point lead early in the second quarter with a 15-0 blitz and the visiting Blue Knights (0-5, 0-3) never recovered.
    "This was a great team win for us," Cooper said, "and the emphasis is on 'team.' Not only did we have balanced scoring with four players in double figures, we had 25 assists on 34 made shots. We were making the extra pass, passing up the good shot to get the great shot. That's West Liberty basketball."
    Making that second-quarter run even more impressive was the fact that All-America center Marissa Brown spent all but the first three minutes of the opening half on the bench after picking up two quick fouls.
    Brown had a big second half after returning to the court, finishing with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, but the issue had long since been decided thanks to the play of her teammates.
    "Obviously you're not planning to have your All-American sitting out the entire first half," Cooper said, "but that gave us the opportunity to show how we're learning to grow as a team. We have other quality options and you saw that tonight with everybody stepping up."
    Senior guard Johnie Olkosky, who made her 100^th career start, drained back-to-back 3-pointers to give West Liberty its largest lead of the first half, 50-25, and the Hilltoppers carried a 52-27 advantage into intermission.
    The hosts picked up right where they had left off when play resumed, opening the third quarter on a 20-4 run to put the game on ice. The Black and Gold led by as many as 42 points down the stretch.
    "I think Johnie making her 100^th start for us tonight was a significant milestone," Cooper said. "She's started every game the past four seasons so we've been through a lot together. I'm really happy for her because she means a great deal to me as a player and an individual."
    Taylor Johnson matched Brown's 22 points while stuffing the stat sheet with 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals and a pair of assists. Morgan Brunner rained in 19 points in 20 minutes off the bench with 14 of her points coming during the decisive second quarter. Brandi Beader rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points.
    Audrey Tingle dished out a season-high 13 assists while Olkosky grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds.
    "With Marissa on the bench, we knew we all had to pitch in and rebound," Olkosky said, "so that's what we did. I could tell during shootaround today that we had more energy; there was more excitement. We took that out on the court with us tonight and just had fun."
    Sylvia Hudson was the lone double-figure scorer for Urbana, finishing with a game-high 27 points.
    The Hilltoppers hit the road on Sunday for a 2 p.m. game at Notre Dame.