WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team opened up a 13-point lead in the first quarter and never took its foot off the gas in coasting to a 92-76 win against Fairmont State Saturday afternoon inside the ASRC.
    It was the second straight win for Coach Kyle Cooper's Hilltoppers (11-5, 6-4), who placed all five starters in double-figures to hand the Falcons (8-5, 6-2) only their second Mountain East Conference loss of the season.
    "That was an awesome win," Cooper said. "We had two great days of practice with this group and then they came out and just executed the heck out of the game plan from the opening tip. That's a very good basketball team we just beat and I'm beyond pumped for this team."
    The WLU women took the mystery out of this one in a hurry as an 11-0 run produced the game's initial double-digit lead, 17-6, less than five minutes after the opening tip. Corinne Thomas capped the first quarter with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and the Black and Gold took a 28-15 advantage into the second 10-minute frame.
    Fairmont State never really recovered. The visitors trimmed the margin to eight points on two occasions early in the second quarter but an Arianna Manzay layup followed by another Thomas bonus bomb made it 35-22 at the 6:30 mark and the lead never dropped below double-figures again.
    West Liberty cruised into halftime with a 53-36 lead and the Falcons never threatened over the final two quarters. The lead hit 20 points on multiple occasions in the second half before WLU coasted across the finish line.
    Senior point guard Audrey Tingle had another monster game as the 5-6 veteran pumped in 22 points to go along with game-highs of 14 rebounds and 6 assists. Manzay, who missed Wednesday's win at Frostburg State, showed no ill effects from the layoff with 18 points and 9 rebounds, highlighted by a 6-for-6 showing from the foul line.
    The Hilltoppers' two leading scorers didn't lack for support. Bailee Smith joined the double-figure party with 16 points while Thomas and Karly McCutcheon added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
    "I thought we shared the ball really well today," Smith said. "You can't have five players in double-figures if you're selfish. It definitely felt like we were out there playing for each other."
    The Falcons got a game-high 28 points from Sierra Kotchman and brought Jalen Gibbs off the bench to add 20 in a losing cause as they shot just 39 percent (30-of-76) from the floor while knocking down just 4-of-18 (22 percent) shots from behind the 3-point arc against the aggressive West Liberty defense.
    The Hilltoppers are back on the MEC road Wednesday night for a 5:30 p.m. game at Alderson Broaddus.