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West Virginia State University Athletics

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WBB23 Jordan
Photo: Todd Griffith
80
West Liberty WL 7-12,4-7 MEC
91
Winner West Virginia St. WVSt 11-8,7-5 MEC
West Liberty WL
7-12,4-7 MEC
80
Final
91
West Virginia St. WVSt
11-8,7-5 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
West Liberty WL 22 18 14 26 80
West Virginia St. WVSt 22 24 19 26 91

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Bryan Shepherd, Assistant Sports Information Director

Yellow Jackets out rebound Hilltoppers by 18 in 91-80 victory

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State leads all of Division II athletics in rebounds per game and offensive rebounds per game, and the reason why was obvious following WVSU's 91-80 win over the West Liberty Hilltoppers. The Yellow Jackets grabbed 18 more offensive rebounds than West Liberty, 28-10, and outrebounded them 55-37. WVSU averages 24.0 and 51.7, respectively, both atop the nation.

West Virginia State snaps the two-game skid with the victory, advancing to 11-8 overall, 7-5 in the Mountain East. West Liberty falls to 7-12, 4-7 in the MEC.

Anysa Jordan led the Yelllow Jackets with 20 points, one point shy of her season high set against Glenville State last week. Jordan also grabbed eight boards. Hannah Shriver contributed 14 points and grabbed four defensive boards, while Emyah Fortenberry scored 12 and had nine rebounds, five on the offensive glass. 

In addition to the rebound margin, WVSU was also +9 on the turnover margin against the Hilltoppers. 

The Hilltoppers gained the early advantage by scoring seven unanswered points. West Lib's Bailey Smith hit a three-pointer with 7:20 showing on the scoreboard to put her team up 7-2.

The Yellow Jackets responded with eight unanswered points before the first commercial timeout. State swiped three steals to keep WLU from scoring while four different Yellow Jackets contributed two points each. WVSU ended up with a three-point lead, 10-7, at the conclusion of the two-minute spurt.

The latter part of the first quarter was more of a seesaw affair. The Yellow Jackets shied away completely from taking threes, but made half of their shots from the floor. Meanwhile, West Lib made 3-of-4 shots from behind the arc and was able to even the score at 22-apiece by the end of the first quarter.

The Hilltoppers knocked down two more treys at the beginning of the second quarter to start a 10-3 run. They went up by seven points, 32-25, when the run ended with 8:22 remaining.

State forced seven turnovers over the next six-and-a-half minutes while holding West Liberty scoreless to flip the script. The Yellow Jackets dropped 17 points on the stifled Hilltoppers to seize a 10-point lead, 42-32, late in the first half. Jordan and ZZ Russell scored six and five points, respectively, to fuel the surge.

State's lead was cut to six points, 46-40, by halftime. West Lib drained another pair of treys in the last two minutes to slightly close the gap.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second half with a 17-5 run that lasted over five minutes. Jordan led the charge exclusively this time with 10 points. Hallie Bailey capped the run by making a floater to put WVSU up by 18 points, 63-45, on the other side of the four-minute mark.

The Hilltoppers finished the third quarter better than they started it. They were able to pull back within 11 points, 65-54, of State with a 9-2 run to end the penultimate quarter.

The first half of the fourth quarter was played close to evenly with West Lib outsourcing State by a single point. The result was a 10-point cushion, 76-66, for WVSU around the five-minute mark.

The Yellow Jackets went up by as much as 13 points, 82-69, around the three-minute mark after scoring six unanswered to nearly seal the victory. The Hilltoppers made State sweat in the closing moments by shrinking the lead to single-digits, but WVSU never buckled under pressure. Hannah Shriver was able to restore the double-digit lead by sinking two pairs of free throws in the final seconds of the contest.

WVSU heads north for a weekend matchup against the red-hot Wheeling Cardinals. Wheeling was upset on the road Wednesday by Charleston. Tip-off for Saturday's game is scheduled for 2:00 pm.
 
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