Women's Basketball | 2/17/2018 5:05:00 PM

Box Score     WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Marissa Brown shattered a pair of arena records and the West Liberty University women battled back from a double-digit deficit only to see No. 8-ranked Glenville State come from behind to take a 106-103 thriller Saturday afternoon at the ASRC.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Lady Hilltoppers (12-14, 11-9) had to weather an early storm as the high-powered Pioneers (25-1, 20-0) sprinted out to a 54-39 halftime lead.
    "Glenville is really good," Cooper said. "They're No. 8 in the country for a reason. In the first half, we just did too many things you can't do against a team as well-coached and talented as they are but I'm really proud of the way my girls responded.
    "This was a team effort but Marissa was just incredible today. We came out in the second half and played West Liberty basketball. We fought our way back, took the lead in the fourth quarter and gave ourselves a chance to win at the end. We're disappointed with the loss but this shows the progress we've made as a program over the course of the year."
    Brown keyed the WLU comeback with a monster performance.
    The 6-3 junior post worked the paint for career-highs of 43 points and 25 rebounds – both arena records – with 25 of those points and 11 of the rebounds coming in the final two quarters.
    "My teammates just did a great job of finding me, especially in the second half," Brown said. "It's really easy to score when we can get out and run. That's when we're at our best."
    West Liberty erased that halftime lead with a strong third quarter, forging a 68-68 tie when Brown laid in her 30^th point with 1:43 left in the frame. Glenville scored seven of the last nine points in the quarter to take a 75-70 lead into the final 10 minutes but the Hilltoppers weren't going away.
    McKenna Shives made it a one-possession game with her third 3-pointer of the day – and 300^th of her career – cutting the lead to 77-75 as the clock ticked past nine minutes and it was a nail-biter the rest of the way.
    "I'm really happy for McKenna," Cooper said. "She transferred here from Gannon two years ago when we were a very young team but she trusted us as a staff. Her growth as a player this year has just been terrific. I would have loved to see her hit the game-winner at the end but we couldn't get her the ball."
    A 10-foot jumper by the Pioneers' Paris McLeod pushed their lead to 97-94 with 3:40 to play but Brown answered with another strong post move and Olivia Belknap followed with a short jumper to put West Liberty on top, 98-97, with 2:57 on the clock.
    Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers, Glenville never blinked.
    Courtney Davis dropped in a 3-pointer from the top of the circle for a 100-98 Pioneer bulge with 2:47 left. Davis added a pair of free throws after a West Liberty miss and Bhrea Griffin drained a dagger of a 3-pointer to make it 105-98 with less than 2 minutes to play.
    West Liberty had one more surge left in them. Audrey Tingle drove to the hoop for a layup and Belknap hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to make it 105-103. Glenville made just 1-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds but West Liberty couldn't get a shot to go down before the buzzer.
    Brown also had 5 blocks and 3 steals to go along with her 43 points and 25 rebounds. Shives backed Brown with 18 points and 4 assists while Tingle added 15 points and 8 assists. Johnie Olkosky also checked off several boxes with 11 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. Belknap added 9 points and 5 assists off the bench.
    McLeod had 39 points and 8 assists to pace the Pioneers. Davis and Tayana Stewart finished with 16 and 11 points, respectively, for the visitors.
    The West Liberty women hit the road for the final time on Wednesday when they travel to Notre Dame for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.