WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team will look to restart a late-season winning streak Saturday afternoon hosting Concord.
THE BASICS
February 11, 2023 | 2:00 pm | ASRC (West Liberty, W.Va.)
Concord (9-13, 7-10 MEC) vs. West Liberty (14-9, 12-5 MEC)
Live stats and video links will be available
here.
THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty suffered an 86-61 defeat against No. 5 Glenville State, breaking their 4-game winning streak which tied the longest of the season. Glenville State took the lead in the first quarter and continued to increase it every quarter, ultimately winning by 25 points.
Arriana Manzay posted a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
Karly McCutcheon scored 15 points, while
Sonia Sarda and
Corinne Thomas chipped in 10 points each. West Liberty was held scoreless from beyond the arc in the first half and had three made three pointers in the second half, while Glenville State made eight three pointers for the first time an opponent made more threes than the Black and Gold in a game this season. The Hilltoppers had 28 turnovers, which were turned into 21 Pioneer points. WLU shot 49% overall compared to Glenville State's 42.3%. The 25-point loss is the largest conference game deficit this season for West Liberty.
The Hilltoppers are top-10 in DII in five different statistical categories, ranking third in assists per game (18.7), fifth in three pointers per game (10.0), eighth in both field goal percentage (46.5%) and scoring offense (79.3), and ninth in three point percentage (37.3%).
11 of WLU's 14 wins have come by double digits. West Liberty leads the conference in field goal percentage, assists per game, three-point percentage, three-point percentage defense, and defensive rebounds per game (29.1).
Last game was the first time WLU was outshot from beyond the arc snapping a four-game streak with double-digit triples. The Hilltoppers have made 10-plus three in 10 outings and have at least six long balls in all but one game this season, making just three last time out. The eight allowed was the first time allowing more than seven made threes in a game. They have held opponents to just one triple eight times along with a shutout of West Virginia Wesleyan beyond the arc on January 28.
Manzay, a senior forward, recorded her 12
th double-double of the season and second straight on Wednesday with 22 points and 14 rebounds. All but one double-double has been in conference play and she has had one in 7 of the 11 games since January 7. Manzay ranks third in DII and leads the conference with a 66.7% shooting percentage. Manzay is scoring 19.1 points per game and is pulling in 9.9 rebounds, good for second and third in the MEC. She has scored double digits in all but two games with 11 games at 20-plus and a pair of 30-point outings. The Texas native is a two-time MEC Player of the Week this season. Manzay went over 500 rebounds in her career last Wednesday sitting at 527 entering the matchup.
McCutcheon, a sophomore guard, ranks ninth in DII and third in the MEC averaging 3.04 three pointers per game, while shooting 43.2% from beyond the arc, the second-best mark in the conference. She is scoring 17.1 points per game and has double-digits in all but one outing along with seven games scoring 20-plus and two 30-point games this season. McCutcheon posted nine rebounds in the win at West Virginia State, her second time just missing a double-double this season. She has one double-double off a career-best day of 32 points, 12 rebounds, and eight three pointers at D&E on December 3. McCutcheon has multiple three pointers in all but two games. McCutcheon also is second on the team dishing out 3.4 assists per game and has multiple in nine of the last 10 games.
Grace Faulk averages 11.9 points per game and makes 2.78 three-pointers per game while shooting 38.8% from deep, good for fourth and fifth in the MEC. She posted a career-high 23 points off five threes in the recent win at West Virginia State. Faulk snapped a streak of six straight double-digit games on Wednesday with four and no threes after having multiple in nine consecutive games.
Reigning first team all-conference player
Corinne Thomas had her first game back from injury against the Mountain Lions in early January and has heated up since. She has scored double digits in seven straight games featuring a pair of 20-point outings with 25 points and seven three-pointers at W.Va. Wesleyan and 23 points off six threes on Saturday. Thomas has made multiple threes in 12 of her 13 games played including nine straight. She shot 71.4% (10-for-14) from beyond the arc last week and added a 2-for-4 performance from long range on Wednesday. Thomas is averaging 11.1 points per game.
Sonia Sarda has started each of the last five games and has been filling in the stat sheets lately. She tied her career-high on Saturday with 25 points. Sarda has scored double digits in five of the last six games, posted multiple assists in seven straight and 11 of the last 12 games, and has shown her rebounding presence with games of eight, seven, and seven in three of the last five games. Sarda is scoring 8.6 points per game and is second on the team with 17 steals in her first season on the hilltop as a graduate transfer. She is shooting 85.7% from the free throw line not missing since January 14 at Fairmont State, making each of her last 25 attempts.
Sophomore guard
Anna Lucarelli leads the team averaging 3.9 assists per game. She has reached her career high (seven assists) four times this season, the most recent last against Alderson Broaddus on January 18. She also leads the team with 18 steals. Lucarelli has been inactive the past five games.
West Liberty is 7-3 at home this season and 1-3 on Saturday's picking up its first win last weekend over RV Charleston. A win would be the Hilltoppers' fourth season-series sweep of the year, also beating Alderson Broaddus, Davis & Elkins, and West Virginia Wesleyan in all of their meetings.
THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
Concord has won four of its last five games including a 75-68 home victory over Wheeling on Wednesday night.
The Mountain Lions are averaging 68.2 points per game shooting 39.5% from the field and 27.7% from three with just 4.2 triples per game. They are allowing 71.7 points per game on 41% shooting with the worst three-point defense in the MEC (33.9%). Concord averages the second-best rebounding margin in the conference, at 3.9, along with a -1.36 turnover margin.
Freshman forward Abbie Smith leads the team netting 12.9 points per game with a 56.7% field goal percentage, the second-best mark in the conference. She also pulls in a team-leading 7.6 rebounds per game and ranks fourth in the MEC averaging one block per game (22 on the season).
Junior guard Jaisah Smith is scoring 12 points per game and is third in the MEC swiping 2.32 steals per game, while graduate student Maggie Guynn leads the team with 32 three pointers and scores 11 points per game.
Concord is 3-8 on the road this season.
THE SERIES
West Liberty snapped a five-game losing streak to the Mountain Lions earlier this season to extend the all-time advantage to 37-22, in a series that began in 1981-82. Since the creation of the MEC, it's been dead even at 9-9. WLU is 6-4 in the last 10 meetings inside the ASRC, with Concord winning each of the last three back to the last home win for WLU being on February 3, 2018.
The Hilltoppers downed Concord on the road 87-74 in the first game after the New Year. West Liberty started strong, shooting 60% in the first quarter to build a double-digit lead. Concord managed to cut the lead to one in the third quarter but WLU heated back up in the fourth, draining seven three pointers to secure the win.
Grace Faulk led the team with a career-high 21 points, since broken with 23 at West Virginia State recently, while
Sonia Sarda (15) and
Karly McCutcheon (14) also scored double-digits. West Liberty dominated in three-point shooting and free-throw shooting, shooting 46.4% (13-for-28) from beyond the arc and 20-for-24 (83.3%) from the charity stripe. The team shared the wealth and had 10 players in the scoring column.
Anna Lucarelli dished out a game-high seven assists.
MEC STANDINGS
West Liberty: 4
Concord: 7
Full Standings
here.
NEXT UP
West Liberty will travel to Frostburg State on Wednesday for a 5:30 pm tip off in the Old Line State.
Follow Hilltopper basketball all season online at HilltopperSports.com and on Twitter (@WLU_Hoops | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_wbb | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.
