West Liberty, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team is set to return home to the hilltop on Saturday, February 17, as they not only welcome in (RV) Fairmont State for a battle on the hardwood but also the 1997 Hilltopper basketball team who won a pair of WVIAC titles. The Black & Gold will tip things off at 2 p.m. in their match-up with the Falcons inside the ASRC, as they look to build momentum towards postseason play.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: West Liberty, W.Va. (Academic Sports & Recreation Complex "ASRC")
• Tip-Off: 2 P.M.
• 1997 WVIAC Champions: At halftime of Saturday's men's contest, WLU women's basketball will recognize the 1997 WVIAC championship team, who won the first-ever conference regular season and tournament championships en route to the Hilltoppers first of 15 NCAA DII Tournament bids.

WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Saturday's game with a record of 8-15 (5-10 MEC) on the season following a 94-88 loss at Frostburg State on Wednesday night.
• The Hilltoppers are currently eighth place in the league standings.
• Through 23 games, WLU is averaging 76.5 points, 36.0 rebounds, 17.3 assists, 6.9 steals, and 3.2 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 40.7 percent from the field, 36.1 percent from 3-point range, and 71.6 percent from the free throw line.
• West Liberty ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in seven statistical categories, ranking second in 3-pointers per game (10.9), fourth in 3-point attempts per game (30.3), 11^th in assists per game (17.3), 12^th in 3-point percentage (36.1%), 13^th in scoring offense (76.5), 22^nd in free throws made per game (15.43), and 23^rd in free throw attempts per game (21.57).
• Corinne Thomas leads the Hilltoppers in scoring with 18.9 points per game, ranking third in the conference and 23^rd nationally. Also, amongst the MEC's scoring leaders are Karly McCutcheon and Bailee Smith who are eighth and 12^th in the league with 14.8 and 13.5 points per game respectively. Rounding out the four players averaging double figures is Jenna Riccardo with a scoring average of 11.1.
• Thomas has 12 games of 20 or more points this season while McCutcheon and Smith add five and four respectively. Riccardo notched her first career 20-point game with 21 against WVWC last Saturday.
• The trio of Thomas, McCutcheon, and Smith makes WLU a consistent threat to score from beyond the arc as Thomas leads DII with 3.61 3-pointers per game and is second nationally with 83 total 3-pointers. McCutcheon is fifth in the MEC in both categories with 59 total 3-pointers and 2.57 3-pointers per game, ranking 28^th and 32^nd nationally. Smith is seventh in the conference with 2.13 3-pointers per game and 49 total 3-pointers.
• Smith leads the conference and ranks 25^th in DII with a 3-point percentage of 39.8 percent while Thomas and McCutcheon are third and sixth in the league with shooting percentages of 38.1 and 34.5 percent from deep respectively.
• The Hilltoppers have recorded double digit 3-point field goal totals in 17 of their 23 games this season, including 13 or more made from beyond the arc in eight contests.
• After securing ten rebounds against Frostburg State, Riccardo notched her second straight and fourth double digit rebounding performance of the season, she is now up to eighth in the MEC with an average of 6.8 boards per game. Additionally, she is eighth in the conference with 2.7 offensive rebounds per game. In 2023-24 Riccardo has grabbed seven or more rebounds on 16 occasions this season. Thomas is second on the team with 5.8 rebounds per game.
• Thomas and Riccardo are tied for the team lead with four double-doubles this season while McCutcheon has three on the year.
• Smith, Bailey Beckstedt, Thomas and McCutcheon have all played pivotal roles in facilitating the Hilltopper offense. Smith leads the team with 3.6 assists per game, ranking sixth in the conference, while Bailey Beckstedt and Thomas each average 3.3 per game and rank seventh and eighth in the MEC while dishing out 77 and 75 total on the year. McCutcheon rounds out the group with 3.0 assists per game for ninth in the league. Smith and Thomas have recorded four or more assists on 11 while Thomas and Beckstedt have each done so nine times. McCutcheon has posted four or more assists in six games.
• Defensively, Thomas ranks 11^th in the league with 44 total steals and an average of 1.91 steals per game. She has tallied 14 multi-steal games on the year and notched a season-high of four on five different occasions.
• McCutcheon and Paige Julian have been the rim protectors for the Hilltoppers. McCutcheon ranks sixth in the MEC with 22 total blocked shots and an average of 0.96 per game while Julian is ninth in the league with 17 total blocked shots. McCutcheon has posted a season-high of three blocks on two occasions and notched a total of six multi-block games this year while Julian has three multi-block games.
• In his seventh season as the head coach at West Liberty, Kyle Cooper earned his 100^th career win in last Wednesday's win over Davis & Elkins. He now holds a career record of 100-88 with the Hilltoppers. He becomes just the second coach in program history to reach the milestone, joining his predecessor, Lynn Ullom.

[RV] FAIRMONT STATE STORYLINES

• Fairmont State enters Saturday's game with a record of 18-5 (12-4 MEC) on the season following a 78-71 win at home against Wheeling on Wednesday night.
• The Falcons are currently in sole possession of first place in the league standings.
• Through 23 games FSU is averaging 77.4 points, 34.8 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 12.7 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting the ball 43.8 percent from the field, 32.6 percent from 3-point range, and 68.8 percent from the free throw line.
• Fairmont State ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in six statistical categories, ranking seventh in free throw attempts per game (23.00), ninth in scoring offense (77.4) and turnovers forced per game (24.00), 12^th in turnover margin (+5.74), 14^th in steals per game (12.7), 17^th in free throws made per game (15.83),
• The Falcons are led in scoring by Alyssa DeAngelo who ranks second in the MEC and 11^th nationally with 19.6 points per game. She is joined amongst the league's leaders by Katy Darnell who averages 14.4 points and is ninth in the conference. Jalen Gibbs and Leslie Huffman round out double figure scorers with 13.0 and 12.3 points per game respectively.
• DeAngelo is the top scoring threat from beyond the arc for the Falcons. She ranks fourth in the league with a total of 61 made shots from deep and an average of 2.65 3-pointers per game, ranking 23^rd and 25^th nationally. Shooting the ball 61-of-176 for a 34.7 percent clip, she ranks fifth in the MEC in 3-point shooting percentage.
• DeAngelo and Huffman are a pair of the top free throw shooters in the league, knocking down 99-of-114 (86.8%) and 68-of-87 (78.2%) to rank second and sixth in the MEC.
• Darnell leads FSU on the glass, ranking sixth in the conference with 7.3 rebounds per game and is fourth with 3.1 offensive rebounds per game. Jalen Gibbs has also made her presence known on the glass with an average of 6.7 rebounds for tenth in the MEC and is seventh with 2.9 offensive rebounds.
• Huffman is one of the top offensive facilitators in the country, leading the MEC and ranking 18^th in DII with 119 total assists on the year. Her season average of 5.2 assists per game is 21^st nationally.
• Darnell leads a trio of Falcons in the league's leaders for seals as she ranks fourth in the conference and 28^th nationally with 2.74 steals per game. She is joined by Huffman and Gibbs who rank ninth and tenth in the conference with 2.22 and 1.96 steals per game respectively.
• Gibbs is the rim protector for Fairmont State, ranking second in the conference with 34 total blocked shots and an average of 1.48 blocks per game.
• Stephanie Anderson is in her fifth season as the head coach at Fairmont State, holding a career record of 78-51 during her time with the Falcons.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 49-40.
• Then No. 9 Fairmont State won their third consecutive game in the series in the first match-up of the season on January 13, an 89-72 win inside Joe Retton Arena.
• Karly McCutcheon led the way with 23 points in the game while grabbing five rebounds and recording three blocked shots. Corinne Thomas added a double-double 20 points and ten rebounds to go along with five assists and two steals.