WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Marissa Brown tossed in a game-high 22 points and Audrey Tingle handed out a season-high 13 assists as the regionally-ranked West Liberty University women beat West Virginia Wesleyan, 71-56, for their ninth straight win Wednesday night at the ASRC.
    Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (18-7, 15-4), ranked No. 7 in the Atlantic Region, shook off a sluggish start to take control in the second half, leading the visiting Bobcats (5-17, 5-14) by as many as 22 points down the stretch despite never quite seeming to hit their groove on the offensive end of the court.
    "Give Wesleyan a lot of credit for being very physical and playing with great effort," Cooper said, "which led to one of our worst starts of the season. I'm proud of the way our team battled through that to carry a lead into halftime."
    West Liberty struggled mightily in the early going, making only one shot from the floor in the first 5 ½ minutes as the Bobcats opened up a surprising 12-2 lead.
    The Hilltoppers were staring up at a 16-6 deficit when Brown scored her first points of the night on a power post move with 2:21 left in the opening quarter and it seemed to serve as a wake-up call.
    Brown's hoop ignited a 14-1 West Liberty surge that carried over into the second quarter. When Johnie Olkosky capped the run with a deep 3-point bomb at 8:12 of the quarter, the Hilltoppers had a 20-17 lead they would never relinquish.
    Wesleyan kept things close for the remainder of the half, trailing just 33-29 at the break, but the hosts finally began to create some separation midway through the third quarter.
    Grace Fodor gave WLU its first double-digit lead of the night, 45-35, with a 3-pointer from the left corner and followed that up by sailing coast-to-coast for a layup after a steal at the other end to make it 47-35.
    West Liberty carried a 50-39 lead into the fourth quarter and scored 13 of the first 15 points in the final quarter to put the game out of reach, 63-41, with just under 7 minutes remaining.
    "I thought Grace gave us a great lift off the bench today," Cooper said. "We were a little sluggish but her 10 points and 5 rebounds in 12 minutes was a real shot in the arm."
    Brown finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds to pace the Black and Gold while Taylor Johnson and Morgan Brunner finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Brandi Beader joined Fodor with 10 points in a balanced attack.
    Tingle, a 5-6 sophomore point guard, had only one point on the night but certainly made her presence felt as a floor general with 13 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals in 38 minutes of action.
    "Audrey only took one shot all night but she was a huge factor in this win," Cooper said. "West Liberty has a great tradition of being a point-guard driven system from long before I came here and she definitely fits that mold. Even though we missed a lot of shots we normally make tonight, we shared the basketball well enough to have 22 assists on 28 baskets. Audrey's a big part of that."
    Nicole Gilyard had a strong game for West Virginia Wesleyan with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
    The Hilltoppers head to No. 21-ranked Glenville State on Saturday for a game with significant conference and regional implications. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Waco Center.
    "We don't look at games like that as a challenge," Cooper said. "It's a great opportunity. We played them up here very early in the season. It was a game of runs and they made one more run than we did to come away with the win. We want to be the team that makes that run on Saturday."