WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team went on a 10-0 run in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter to rally past UVa-Wise, 78-73, in Mountain East Conference action at the ASRC.
    "That was probably the definition of an ugly win tonight," WLU head coach Kyle Cooper said. "It wasn't pretty by any means but we did have spurts and those momentum swings were what carried us."
    It was a see-saw game throughout with four ties and a dozen lead changes in the second half alone.
    The Hilltoppers (9-6, 6-3) seemed on the verge of pulling away after sophomore guard Audrey Tingle fed senior post Marissa Brown for a layup and a 66-60 lead with 6 minutes remaining but the Cavaliers (6-9, 4-5) regrouped following a timeout.
    The visitors reeled off eight unanswered points with a Kalee Johnson free throw putting UVa-Wise on top, 68-66, with 4:22 to play.
    West Liberty didn't even blink. Just 10 seconds later, Morgan Brunner drained a 3-pointer off a pass from Brandi Beader to put WLU ahead to stay and the Black and Gold were on their way.
    Beader fed Brown for another layup and Brunner – who scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half – followed with a conventional 3-point play before Taylor Johnson finished off the 10-0 burst with a short jumper off an in-bounds feed from Tingle.
    "I think that sequence showed the maturity of this group," Cooper said. "We preach staying in the moment and dealing with what's in front of us so that 8-0 run didn't exist for us. What started that run was players like Audrey, Taylor and Olivia (Belknap) driving for each other and not for themselves.
    "We were passing up layups to get a wide-open 3-point shot. That's how you finish with 25 assists on 29 field goals. When we share the ball like that, we're a pretty good basketball team."
    Brown had another huge game with 29 points and 13 rebounds while Tingle added a dozen points to go along with a game-high 7 assists. Beader finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals.
    While Brown and Brunner did most of their damage in the second half, Tingle tossed in 11 of her 12 points in the game's first 10 ½ minutes. She went 3-for-3 from the 3-point arc in the first quarter and opened the second frame by sprinting coast-to-coast for a layup.
    "I've definitely been getting in the gym a lot more and working on my shot," Tingle said. "Now that I'm seeing the ball go through the hoop more often, it's really raised my confidence."
    Ada Stanley came off the bench to pace UVa-Wise with 25 points while Cynita Webb added 14 points and 13 rebounds in a losing cause.
    The Hilltoppers return to action on Saturday with a crucial MEC showdown against Concord. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at the ASRC.