Final Stats
West Liberty Postgame
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – No team in the Mountain East Conference made more 3-point field goals this season than West Liberty.
Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the MEC Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center the top-seeded Hilltoppers drained 11 treys, including six in the second half to pull away from sixth-seeded Notre Dame College and record a 76-55 victory.
West Liberty, which shared the conference's regular-season title with Shepherd and the University of Charleston, claimed its first Mountain East Conference Tournament championship. It's also the Hilltoppers first league tournament title in 11 years. West Liberty last won the WVIAC Tournament title in 2004.
“I'm so humbled to be sitting up here,” said West Liberty coach Lynn Ullom, whose team improved to 23-8 with its seventh straight victory. “We talk all of the time about it being moments like this which is why we do this. Playing college basketball is not easy. There's a lot of ups and downs. It's hard work and there's a lot of heartbreak that goes along with it, but if you're fortunate enough to cut the nets down and enjoy a moment like we're enjoying it makes it all worth it.”
West Liberty battled foul trouble in the first half and had three starters on the bench with two fouls apiece, but still only trailed the Falcons by one at the break thanks to the efforts of Bri Kamarec, who scored all 12 of her points in the game's first 20 minutes.
In the second half with senior guard Hillary Southworth back on the floor West Liberty wasted no time going to work from the perimeter. The Hilltoppers canned four of their first six 3-point attempts in the final half, three of which came from Southworth to help turn their 39-38 halftime deficit into a 53-41 lead with 13:22 to play.
“I honestly don't have a lot of confidence in my 3-point shot,” said a smiling Southworth, who finished with 14 points, 12 of which came in the final half. “As a senior you see your career possibly coming to an end if you don't do something. I took the shots and hoped they'd go in. They felt great leaving my hand, but it may have been luck more than anything.”
West Liberty ended up shooting 50 percent from the field (30-of-60) in the win, including an 11-of-23 showing (47.8 percent) from 3-point range. The Hilltoppers also handed out 25 assists on 30 field goals. Point guard Kailee Howe finished with a game-high 12 assists and eight points, while center Kierra Simpson added 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Guard Liz Flowers chipped in seven points and 10 rebounds.
As good as West Liberty's offense was, it was the Hilltoppers' defense which really made the difference in the contest. Notre Dame was held to just 16 second-half points and finished the game with its second-worst shooting performance of the season as a team. The Falcons connected on just 17-of-59 field goal attempts (28.8 percent), including a dismal 5-of-23 showing (21.7 percent) in the final half. Notre Dame did not connect on its first field goal of the second half until the 11:42 mark. By then the Falcons were behind by double figures.
“When you score 16 points in a half it's going to be tough to stay with a team that you were pretty much even with after the first half,” said Notre Dame coach Katie Hine, whose team ended the year with a 20-12 record. “In the second half our percentages were low across the board. We got to the foul line 32 times which was great, but we shot under 60 percent from there and only 36 percent from there in the second half. Our 3-point shooting was also only 14 percent in the second half. If we had gotten a couple of those buckets to fall then maybe it would've been a momentum changer for us, but we just couldn't get them to drop.
“West Liberty just played really good 'D.' We weren't getting very many good looks. It was a tough loss, but we can't hang our heads.”
Martha Nagbe and Kelsey Miller led Notre Dame with 18 and 15 points respectively. Nagbe also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Miller added seven.
“It's been a great year for us,” said Nagbe. “I had a great time playing with my teammates. It's sad it had to end this way when we came so far, but it was still a great season and I'm proud of us for getting this far and having the chance to play for a championship.”
The MVP of the Mountain East Conference Tournament was West Liberty's Kailee Howe. Members of the league's all-tournament team included West Liberty's Kierra Simpson and Hillary Southworth, Notre Dame's Martha Nagbe and Lauren Langenderfer, Shepherd's Gabby Flinchum, Wheeling Jesuit's Jaila Bryant and Glenville State's Keyanna Tate.