West Liberty Women Roll
Hansen scores 24 in 84-56 triumph

By NICK BEDWAY,For The Intelligencer and appears here with permission.
POSTED: February 3, 2009

West Liberty sophomore guard Tori Hansen fired in 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and drew kudos from Coach Lynn Ullom for her defensive intensity during the second half of Monday night's 84-56 pasting of backyard rival Wheeling Jesuit University at the Alma Grace McDonough Center.

The Hilltoppers led only 39-35 at halftime mainly because they were unable to slow down the Cardinals' Lyndsay Stuckey, who scored 19 points and handed out three assists to account for 11 of the 14 Wheeling Jesuit field goals in the opening 20 minutes of play.

''Lyndsay Stuckey is so good that if you don't concentrate on where she is every second, she'll make you pay,'' Ullom said. ''I thought that in the second half, Tori especially, did a tremendous job of always knowing where she (Stuckey) was. We just didn't give her many opportunities.''

According to Wheeling Jesuit acting coach Katie Hine, the Hilltoppers also came up with a defensive wrinkle that resulted in Stuckey only being able to get off five shots, of which she failed to connect on a single one during the final 20 minutes.

''They really congested the middle which is something West Liberty usually doesn't do,'' Hine pointed out.

''Our game plan was to have Lyndsay drive the lane all night and she did that successfully in the first half.

''The whole second half was a nightmare. Our shots just weren't falling and we didn't play well on defense. But they have a lot of offensive weapons and it's hard to guard five people all the time.''

The biggest disappointment for the Cardinals had to be the 84 points West Liberty put on the scoreboard against the team that entered the game leading the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in scoring defense by allowing just 57.8 points per game.

''During one of our timeouts, I told the girls that we already were almost 30 over our average,'' the unhappy Hine said

For Ullom and the Hilltoppers, the victory beat goes on and in an impressive manner.

''We've been on pretty good roll,'' said Ullom after the Hilltoppers outscored the hosts 45-21 in the second half. The victory was West Liberty's eighth in a row and improved its overall record to 14-5.

Now 10-2 in conference play, West Liberty is currently third in the overall WVIAC standings behind Pitt-Johnstown and Charleston.

Supporting Hansen's double-double in the Hilltoppers offense were freshman Kayla Ayers with 15 points and senior Evelyn Woods, who had 12. All of Ayers' points came from behind the 3-point line as she cashed 5 of 9 trifectas.

''How about Kayla Ayers,'' said Ullom, his face lighting up while talking about the performance of the former Parkersburg South standout. ''She knocked down shot after shot. The one at the end of the half when we were on the ropes was huge and she made a couple in the second half during that big run.''

West Liberty's attempts to knock out the Cardinals early were thwarted because of Stuckey's hot shooting hand. A 9-0 spurt keyed by a stickback from Woods and Laura Mallernee's 3-ball pushed the Hilltoppers into their first double-digit lead at 29-18. Stuckey drained one of her three triples to stop the bleeding but Hansen's turnaround shot made it a 31-21 WLSC advantage.

The Cardinals then exploded for 10 straight points capped by a Stuckey 3-pointer from straight away that knotted the score at 31-31 with 2:31 left in the opening half.

Coming of a screen, Hansen took a pass from Woods and her conventional three-point play sent the Hilltoppers back in front by five only to see Wheeling Jesuit get two free throws from Megan Stuvek and a sparkling spin move for a layup by Stuckey that reduced the deficit to 36-35.

However, Ayers took a pass in the corner in front of the WJU bench and swished a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give the Hilltoppers their four-point halftime lead.

West Liberty, which shot 56.7 percent from the floor (34 of 60) overall, got it done on both ends of the court during the final 20 minutes. Cassy Sanderson provided Wheeling Jesuit with its last big move by draining a triple to cut the West Liberty lead to 41-40,

Hansen's backside rebound for a basket, and free throw as she was fouled on the play, put the Hilltoppers ahead by four. Later with the score 48-42, Ayers knocked down two more triples and Malernee added another to spark a 13-1 West Liberty spurt that turned the game into a runaway.

During the second half, the Hilltoppers defense limited the Cardinals to five field goals in 24 attempts.

Sanderson was Wheeling Jesuit's only other double-digit scorer with 12 points.

The loss dropped the Cardinals' record to 10-8, including a 6-6 league mark.

By winning, West Liberty trimmed Wheeling Jesuit's lead to 36-35 in the overall series, but the Hilltoppers have prevailed in the last four meetings. The Ohio County rivals will square off again Feb. 28 in the regular-season finale at the ASRC on the West Liberty campus.