VIENNA - Ohio Valley University rallied from 13 points down at the half to take visiting West Liberty to double overtime Thursday night before falling to the Hilltoppers 77-69 in a WVIAC women's basketball game at the Snyder Activity Center.
The loss, although close, dropped the Fighting Scots to 0-3 on the season in their conference opener, while West Liberty improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in WVIAC contests.
The score was just 9-8 in West Liberty's favor with only 7:17 to play in the first half before the 'Toppers ran off the next seven points and 19 of the last 26 to lead 28-15 at intermission. The late surge was keyed by Jenn Mohney, who netted all 10 of her first-half points, including two treys, in the run up to halftime.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Ohio Valley University's Shelby Way is swatted in the face as she drives to the basket by West Liberty's Jordan Stacey. The Hilltoppers won, 77-69 in double overtime.
But the slow start scoring-wise was as OVU head coach David Wadlington wanted it. ''We wanted to make it as ugly as possible,'' he said. ''We wanted to pound it inside, didn't want to run, play our zone defense and make them take contested perimeter shots, rebound and then slow it up.
''But we got out of our game plan just a minute and a half in the first half, and that's when they went on that run. That just killed us right there, when we got down and had to play catch-up in the second half.''
But catch up is exactly what OVU was able to do. Behind Tara Benedict and Amy Brooks, the Scots pulled even at 42 with 5:21 left in regulation when Kayla Parsley took a feed inside for the tying hoop.
Fact Box
At Snyder Activity Center, Vienna
West Liberty 77,
Ohio Valley University 69 (2 OT)
West Liberty 28 25 10 14 - 77
OVU 15 38 10 6 - 69
WEST LIBERTY (4-2, 2-0 WVIAC)
Emily Blevins 5-9 3-4 14, Meghan Wiseman 5-9 7-10 19, Liz Flowers 0-8 5-6 5, Hillary Southworth 4-22 1-2 11, Bri Kamarec 1-5 1-2 4, Kierra Simpson 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Stacey 0-0 0-0 0, Jenn Mohney 6-14 5-5 20, Jasmin Kiley 0-2 4-4 4, Julie Young 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 21-69 26-33 77. 3-point goals: 9-39 (Blevins 1, Wiseman 2, Southworth 2, Kanmarec 1, Mohney 3)
OVU (0-3, 0-1 WVIAC)
Shelby Way 6-11 5-5 18, Amy Brooks 6-10 0-0 15, Danielle Dunnagan 2-6 0-0 4, Tara Benedict 5-8 1-4 11, Kayla Parsley 2-9 0-2 4, Janelle Silver 2-6 0-2 4, Josey Hull 0-1 0-0 0, Jasmine Gibson 5-16 3-4 13, TOTALS: 28-67 9-17 69. 3-point goals: 4-14 (Way 1, Brooks 3)
Rebounds: WL 46 (Wiseman 10, Blevins 8), OVU 50 (Brooks 12, Benedict 11, Parsley 8, Way 7). Assists: WL 20 (Flowers 6, Southworth 6), OVU 13 (Benedict 5. Dunnagan 3, Way 2). Steals: WL 11 (Mohney 3, Blevins 3), OVU 6 (Brooks 3). Turnovers: WL 15, OVU 26.
Next game: OVU at Seton Hill 2 p.m. Saturday
Brooks' trey at 4:10 gave the Scots a 45-44 lead. But they had to come back from four down twice in the final 3:08 as Jasmine Gibson notched the last six OVU points, the final two on a bucket with just 18.5 seconds left, to gain a 53-53 deadlock and bring on overtime.
The Scots led right from the start of the first overtime on a Brooks trey eight seconds in, and were up by three on four occasions until Hillary Southworth sank a 3-ball from the corner with 11.9 seconds remaining to send the game to a second extra session knotted at 63.
Gibson twice gave OVU the lead in double OT, the second time at 67-66 at the 3:40 mark. But then seven straight points propelled West Liberty on top to stay at 73-67 with 2:22 to go, and the Scots never got any closer than four the rest of the way.
''That's the best we've played all year,'' said Wadlington. ''In the second half, we pretty well did the things that we had to do to win the game, but we just didn't get it done.''
Mohney paced West Liberty with 20 points, followed by former Tyler Consolidated cager Meghan Wiseman with 19 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Liz Flowers from Williamstown, starting at point guard, scored five points and dished out six assists.
For OVU, Shelby Way led with 18 points, while Brooks had 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, Gibson 13 points and Benedict 11 points and 11 rebounds.
