WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team travels to Frostburg State on Wednesday evening for its second-to-last away game of the regular season.

THE BASICS
February 15, 2023 | 5:30 pm | Bobcat Arena (Frostburg, Md.)
West Liberty (15-9, 13-5 MEC) at Frostburg State (7-17, 4-10 MEC)
Live stats and video links will be available here.

THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty defeated Concord 87-70 at home on Saturday bouncing back from a midweek loss to No. 5 Glenville State. The Hilltoppers took control of the game by scoring the last six points of the first half, and they maintained their lead in the second half, leading by double digits for most of it. WLU had a 13-0 run in the third quarter, which pushed their lead to 18 points, then added an 8-0 spurt in the fourth quarter to lead by a game-high 24 points. All nine players who saw action for the Hilltoppers scored, with Karly McCutcheon leading the way with 18 points. Arriana Manzay and Grace Faulk added 15 and 14 points, respectively. West Liberty made 14 three-pointers, while holding Concord to just three, assisted on 25 of its 34 field goals, and forced 15 turnovers in the game.
 
The Hilltoppers are top-10 in DII in five different statistical categories, ranking third in assists per game (19.0), fourth in three pointers per game (10.2), sixth in field goal percentage (46.8%), and eighth scoring offense (79.6) and three point percentage (37.7%).
 
12 of WLU's 15 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, three-pointers per game (10.2) and defensive rebounds per game (29.1).
 
West Liberty bounced back from its first game being outshot beyond the arc last Wednesday in Glenville with a 14-three-point performance on Saturday inside the ASRC. The Hilltoppers have made 10-plus three in 11 outings and have at least six long balls in all but one game this season. The eight allowed last week versus Glenville State 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, leads the team averaging 18.9 points per game (second in the MEC) and 9.7 rebounds per game (third in the MEC). She has 12 double doubles this season. All but one double-double has been in conference play and she has had one in 7 of the 12 games since January 7. Manzay ranks second in DII and leads the conference with a 66.5% shooting percentage. 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 two weeks ago and has 954 career points.
 
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 17.2 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 recorded 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. She also is second on the team dishing out 3.5 assists per game and has multiple in 10 of the last 11 games with 11 over the last three outings.
 
Grace Faulk averages 11.6 points per game and makes 2.83 three-pointers per game while shooting 38.9% from deep, good for fourth and fifth in the MEC. She posted a career-high 23 points off five threes in the win at West Virginia State. Faulk has made multiple threes in 10 of the last 11 games and scored double figures 16 times this season with two reaching the 20-point mark.
 
Reigning first team all-conference player Corinne Thomas is averaging 11.1 points per game over 14 outings this season after battling an early-season injury. She has scored double digits in eight 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 January 28. Thomas has made multiple threes in 13 of her 14 games played including in 10 straight.
 
Sonia Sarda has started each of the last six games and has been filling in the stat sheets. She tied her career-high in the overtime win over Charleston on February 4 with 25 points. Sarda has scored double digits in five of the last seven games, posted multiple assists in eight straight and 12 of the last 13 games, and has shown her rebounding presence with games of eight, seven, seven, and six in four of the last six games. Sarda is averaging 8.6 points and 3.2 assists per game and is leads the team with 19 steals in her first season on the hilltop as a graduate transfer. She is shooting 86.2% from the free throw line not missing since January 14 at Fairmont State, making each of her last 27 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. Lucarelli has been inactive the past six games.
 
West Liberty is 6-5 in away games this season, 6-3 in away conference matchups, and 2-3 in away games on Wednesday. A win would be the Hilltoppers' fifth season-series sweep of the year, also beating Alderson Broaddus, Concord, Davis & Elkins, and West Virginia Wesleyan in all of their meetings.

THE BOBCATS
Frostburg State is coming into the matchup on its first win streak of the season, taking down Alderson Broaddus (81-72) and Notre Dame (88-75) last week. The two wins snapped a five-game losing skid.
 
The Bobcats are scoring 67.6 points per game with a 38.1% shooting percentage and are allowing 73.7 points on 40.3% shooting for opponents, which ranks fourth in the MEC. Beyond the arc Frostburg State is third in the conference with a 28.4% three-point defense, while draining 5.5 three pointers per game, at 28.1%. Frostburg State averages a -1.08-turnover margin and -3.6-rebounding margin.
 
Freshman forward Emilee Weakley highlights the Bobcats' stat sheet, averaging an MEC-best 25.0 points and second-best 10.3 rebounds per game. Weakley has 16 double-doubles on the season and is leading all of DII with 210 field goals, while shooting 44.3% from the floor.
 
Senior guard Maggie Sharp is scoring 11.1 points per game with a team-leading 2.33 three-pointers per game, shooting 27.9% from deep. Sharp has attempted the fifth-most three-pointers this season of any DII player (201).
 
Senior guard Arianna Briggs-Hall is averaging 7.1 rebounds per game, ninth in the MEC, and is scoring 8.7 points, while junior guard Rhiana Hall is netting 9.1 points per game.
 
Frostburg State is 4-10 inside Bobcat Arena this season.

THE SERIES
The Hilltoppers have won all seven meetings against the Bobcats in a new series that began in January of 2020. Frostburg State recently completed its three-year transition from DIII to DII and was confirmed as a full DII member on September 1, 2022. This will be the fourth trip to Bobcat Arena for West Liberty. The Hilltoppers won 66-58 last January in Maryland and are 3-0 all-time versus the homestanding Bobcats.
 
Earlier this season (Jan. 11 | West Liberty, W.Va): Frostburg State (61) – West Liberty (80)
West Liberty defeated Frostburg State, 80-61, earlier this season by scoring 17 of the last 18 points in the game. Arriana Manzay led the way with 23 points, and Karly McCutcheon posted 18 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Grace Faulk made five three-pointers, three of which were in the last three minutes of the game. After a back-and-forth first half, the Hilltoppers had a strong third quarter, holding Frostburg State to just three field goals and eight points, but the Bobcats kept battling. After the lead went back to Frostburg State early in the fourth, the Hilltoppers heated up and finished shooting 60% in the fourth frame. WLU made nine three-pointers and held Frostburg State to one three-pointer for the game.
 
MEC STANDINGS
West Liberty: 4
Frostburg State: T8
Full Standings here.
 
NEXT UP
West Liberty will host Fairmont State on Saturday for a 2 pm contest inside the ASRC.

Follow Hilltopper basketball all season online at HilltopperSports.com and on Twitter (@WLU_Hoops | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_wbb | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.