WEST LIBERTY, WV – A spirited West Liberty rally ran out of gas down the stretch Saturday as league-leading Glenville State women closed the game on an 8-0 run to escape the ASRC with a 75-66 victory.
The Hilltoppers (13-12, 10-9) had overcome a double-digit deficit to trail just 67-66 after a Hillary Southworth jumper with 3 minutes remaining but the hosts never scored again, missing their last six shots from the floor as the Pioneers (18-6, 16-4) put the game on ice.
The disappointing conclusion took the edge off a stirring West Liberty comeback as the Hilltoppers had struggled against Glenville’s full-court pressure throughout the first half, making only 5 shots from the floor and heading into the locker room at intermission with nearly as many turnovers (21) as points (22).
A different Hilltopper team returned to the court, handling the pressure with much more efficiency and taking advantage of the frenetic pace with several wide-open 3-pointers.
Little-used freshman Shanae Ash came off the bench to play a major role in the WLU rally, draining 5 3-pointers en route to a team-high – and career-high – 18 points.
“We thought coming into this game that the matchups and pace would really play to Shanae’s strengths,” West Liberty head coach Lynn Ullom said. “We told her she might have an opportunity to get some major minutes today and I’m very proud of Shanae for taking advantage of that opportunity. She gave us a great performance.”
Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers, it wasn’t quite enough to put them over the top.
West Liberty cut the lead to a single point on three separate occasions in the final 6 minutes but Glenville scored each time on its next possession to keep the hosts at bay before finally putting the game away in the final 3 minutes.
The Hilltoppers won some of the statistical battles, outrebounding the Pioneers by a whopping 58-37 margin and holding the No. 1 scoring team in the nation a full 20 points under its season average, but Ullom was quick to point out the most significant shortcoming.
“I thought we played with good effort, our base defense was good and we rebounded well,” the coach said, “but you just can’t turn the ball over 31 times against the No. 1 team in the conference and expect to win.”
Kayla Ayers backed Ash with 12 points and a career-high 18 rebounds while Emily Blevins just missed a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Southworth and Jenn Cessna rounded out West Liberty’s double-figure scorers with 10 points each.
Jelena Elez paced the Pioneers with a game-high 20 points.
The Hilltoppers swing right back into action on Monday with a 5:30 p.m. game at West Virginia Wesleyan.
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