WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Senior guard Morgan Brunner poured in a career-high 34 points and the West Liberty University women dominated the second half here Wednesday night in coasting to 79-69 victory against Winston-Salem State (N.C.) at the ASRC.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (3-1) closed out a sluggish first half by scoring the last eight points of the second quarter to take their first lead, 33-32, just ahead of the break and it was apparent they had found their stride.
    "The first half wasn't great but these young ladies really responded in the second half," Cooper said. "They came out of the locker room and absolutely floored it for the entire third quarter. They played with tremendous pace and it really opened the game up for us."
    West Liberty held the Rams (3-2) to just one basket over the first four minutes of the second half while picking up the tempo at the other end of the court. Junior guard Audrey Tingle sailed coast-to-coast for a layup to make it 43-34 Hilltoppers as the clocked ticked past the 6-minute mark, closing out an 18-2 run dating back to the end of the first half.
    The lead hit double-figures for the first time, 48-38, on a Brunner 3-pointer with 4:44 on the clock and reached 14 points on multiple occasions before the Black and Gold settled for a 62-52 bulge after three quarters.
    Winston-Salem State mounted a brief surge late in the fourth quarter, cutting the margin to 73-65 on a Teara Johnson free throw with 2:33 to play.
    The visitors forced a WLU turnover on the ensuing possession but couldn't capitalize. Tingle rebounded the missed shot and got the ball to fellow guard Taylor Johnson, who whipped a pass to Brunner in the right corner for a dagger of a transition 3-pointer to put the game out of reach, 76-65, with just 1:47 to play.
    "This team is still evolving our late-game strategies when we're playing with the lead in terms of when do we try to burn clock and when do we just keep playing," Cooper said. "We're better right now when we let them keep playing but whenever we can get layups or wide open 3-pointers, we're going to take them."
    Brunner had six 3-pointers in her second 30-point outing of the season and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. The 5-6 Tingle made a run at a triple-double with 13 points along with a game-high 13 rebounds and a game-high 7 assists. In the early going, she's ranking among the national leaders in assists per game (6.0) for the third straight year but is also near the top in rebounds per game (11.0).
    "We don't have our big girl (graduated All-America center Marissa Brown) rebounding for us this year," Tingle said, "so my teammates and I are all stepping up to do whatever it takes to help the team."
    Johnson rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Black and Gold with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
    The Rams, who saw a three-game winning streak go by the boards, got 20 points from Brandi Segars and 18 more from Jahlia Williams.
    "We start (Mountain East) conference play with a very tough game at Urbana on Saturday," Cooper said, "but I think our non-conference schedule has helped prepare us. We do schedule a little tougher than some teams but it works to our benefit because we can head into conference play knowing that we have been tested by some very good opponents and still found ways to win. That level of confidence in invaluable in a league as competitive as the MEC."
    The Hilltoppers are scheduled for a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday afternoon in Urbana.