West Liberty, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team returns to the road on Wednesday, February 21, as a match-up at Glenville State marks the first of three away contests in the final four regular season games. The Hilltoppers and Pioneers are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off inside the Waco Center in Glenville, West Virginia.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: Glenville, West Virginia (Waco Center)
• Tip-Off: 5:30 P.M.

WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Wednesday's game with a record of 8-16 (5-11 MEC) on the season following a 77-69 loss at home to (RV) Fairmont State on Saturday afternoon.
• The Hilltoppers are currently tied for eighth place in the league standings with West Virginia Wesleyan.
• Through 24 games, WLU is averaging 76.2 points, 36.0 rebounds, 17.4 assists, 6.8 steals, and 3.2 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 40.9 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from 3-point range, and 72.0 percent from the free throw line.
• West Liberty ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in five statistical categories, ranking second in 3-pointers per game (10.7), fourth in 3-point attempts per game (30.0), tenth in assists per game (17.4), 13^th in 3-point percentage (35.7%), and 14^th in scoring margin (76.2).
• Corinne Thomas leads the Hilltoppers in scoring with 18.6 points per game, ranking third in the conference and 24^th nationally. Also, amongst the MEC's scoring leaders are Karly McCutcheon and Bailee Smith who are ninth and 12^th in the league with 14.8 and 13.3 points per game respectively. Rounding out the four players averaging double figures is Jenna Riccardo with a scoring average of 11.5.
• Thomas has 12 games of 20 or more points this season while McCutcheon, Smith, and Riccardo add five, four, and two respectively.
• The trio of Thomas, McCutcheon, and Smith makes WLU a consistent threat to score from beyond the arc as Thomas leads DII with 3.54 3-pointers per game and is second nationally with 85 total 3-pointers. McCutcheon is fourth in the MEC in both categories with 61 total 3-pointers and 2.54 3-pointers per game, ranking 28^th and 32^nd nationally. Smith is seventh in the conference with 2.08 3-pointers per game and 50 total 3-pointers. It is the second consecutive season and the fourth time in the last seven seasons that three players have hit 50 or more 3-pointers during the year for WLU.
• Smith is second in the conference and ranks 32^nd in DII with a 3-point percentage of 38.8 percent while Thomas and McCutcheon are third and fifth in the league with shooting percentages of 37.9 and 34.5 percent from deep respectively.
• The Hilltoppers have recorded double digit 3-point field goal totals in 17 of their 24 games this season, including 13 or more made from beyond the arc in eight contests.
• Riccardo is eighth in the conference with 6.9 rebounds per game and 2.8 offensive rebounds per game. She has collected four double-digit rebounding performances on the year and has grabbed seven or more on 17 occasions. Thomas is second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per game.
• Thomas leads the team with five double-doubles on the season while Riccardo and McCutcheon add four and three respectively.
• Smith, Bailey Beckstedt, Thomas, and McCutcheon have all played pivotal roles in facilitating the Hilltopper offense. Smith leads the team with 3.8 assists per game, ranking third in the conference, while Beckstedt, Thomas, and McCutcheon average 3.3, 3.2, and 3.0 per game and ranking seventh, eighth, and ninth in the MEC. Smith has dished out four or more assists in 12 games while Thomas, Beckstedt, and McCutcheon have done so in 11, nine, and seven games in 2023-24.
• Defensively, Thomas ranks 11^th in the league with 45 total steals and an average of 1.88 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 has been the rim protector for the Hilltoppers this season, ranking fifth in the MEC with 23 total blocked shots and 0.96 blocks per game. She has posted a season-high of three blocks on two occasions and notched a total of six multi-block games this year.
• In his seventh season as the head coach at West Liberty, Kyle Cooper earned his 100^th career win in a home match-up against Davis & Elkins on February 7. He now holds a career record of 100-89 with the Hilltoppers. He became just the second coach in program history to reach the milestone, joining his predecessor, Lynn Ullom.

GLENVILLE STATE STORYLINES

• Glenville State enters Wednesday's game with a record of 16-8 (9-7 MEC) on the season following an 89-76 loss at West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon.
• The Pioneers are currently tied for sixth in the league standings with Concord.
• Through 24 games GSU is averaging 87.1 points, 38.7 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 18.2 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting the ball 40.7 percent from the field, 28.2 percent from 3-point range, and 63.7 percent from the free throw line.
• Glenville State ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in eight statistical categories, leading the country in steals per game (18.5), while ranking second in offensive rebounds per game (17.9) and scoring offense (87.2), third in 3-point attempts per game (32.5) and turnover margin (+11.62), sixth in bench points per game (34.7) and 3-pointers per game (9.1) and 12^th in free throw attempts per game (22.50).
• The Pioneers are led by a pair of the MEC's leading scorers as Hya Haywood ranks fourth with a scoring average of 16.8 and Lauren Calhoun is seventh with 14.9 points per game. Chalon Miles rounds out the group of double figure scorers with 11.5 points per game.
• Dream Cherry is the Pioneers top 3-point shooter who ranks sixth in the conference with 2.25 3-pointers per game and 54 total 3-pointers. She has connected on 52-of-179 (29.1%) from beyond the arc during 2023-24.
• Calhoun leads GSU with 7.5 rebounds per game and leads the MEC with 3.9 offensive rebounds per game. Zhordan Shannon is also averaging 6.1 boards per game.
• Haywood and Miles are the facilitators of the Glenville State offense, as Haywood ranks 12^th in the conference with 2.9 assists per game while Chalon Miles is 13^th with 2.8 assists per game.
• The Pioneer's defense is led by three players who average more than 2.0 steals per game. Haywood leads the conference with 3.25 steals per game while Shannon is fourth (2.89 steals per game) and Kamiyah Lyons is sixth (2.62 steals per game).
• Emily Stoller is in her first season as the head coach at Glenville State with a career record of 16-8 during her time with the Pioneers.

SERIES HISTORY

• Glenville State leads the all-time series 49-22 and has won 17 straight games dating back to 2016-17.
• The Pioneers won the first match-up this season on January 20 inside the ASRC by a score of 93-74.
• Corinne Thomas and Jenna Riccardo each notched double-doubles as Thomas scored 27 points and grabbed ten rebounds, while Riccardo scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Bailee Smith added 23 points in the game.