INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University women's basketball team battled with West Liberty for four quarters, but still came up short, 74-68, on Wednesday night at the Walker Convocation Center.

West Virginia State drops to 8-13 overall, 6-9 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) with the loss. Alternatively, West Liberty jumps to 9-12 on the season, 5-10 in the MEC with the win.

Sophomore forward Chloe Cheresne led all players in scoring with 17 points. She also led her team in rebounding with seven boards. Charity Shears and Sierra Womack both scored in double-digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Scoring was sparse in the first quarter. West Liberty threw up 10 three-point shots and made only one. On the other hand, West Virginia State attempted 13 shots from the field and made six. After 14 turnovers were committed by both teams in the first period, the Yellow Jackets found themselves with a slight advantage, 13-9.

The Hilltoppers started making their shots in the second period to contend with WVSU. Meanwhile, West Virginia State kept taking high-percentage shots to go toe-to-toe with them for the majority of the second quarter.

With about two-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, WLU went on a 9-4 run to pull ahead. At the break, the Yellow Jackets trailed by seven points, 35-28.

West Virginia State made 7-of-7 field goals as part of a 14-8 run in the first five minutes of the third period. WVSU was within one point of going level with West Liberty, 43-42, at the end of the run.

In the next two minutes, West Liberty's Connie Thomas made three shots from behind the arc to suddenly give her team a 10-point lead, 54-44. The Yellow Jackets responded immediately with an 8-3 run that somewhat closed the gap in the score line. The Hilltoppers managed to get off one more three-pointer in the closing seconds of the third period to take a 60-52 lead into the final period.

West Virginia State outscored West Liberty, 16-14, in the fourth period. The strong performance by the Yellow Jackets in the last ten minutes was not enough to overcome the deficit, however.

West Virginia State shot 49 percent from the field, compared to 39 percent by West Liberty. The difference came from the 15 three-pointers made by the Hilltoppers. The Yellow Jackets only attempted five shots from three-point range in the entire contest and did not convert on any of them.

WVSU will head to the northern panhandle of West Virginia to play Wheeling next on Saturday, Feb. 8. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.