West Liberty rolls to Elkins tonight for a meeting with Davis & Elkins on the strength of a four-game winning streak.
Included in that streak is an impressive 92-76 win against Fairmont Senior, currently No. 2 in the MEC behind the top team nationally in Glenville State.
The Hilltoppers (13-5, 8-4) most recently dismantled rival Wheeling, 110-73, Saturday inside the friendly confines of the ASRC.
Coupled between those two games, WLU knocked off Alderson-Broaddus on the road in Philippi, winning in impressive fashion, 91-38.
“We’re in a really good spot, and we’ve been trending up throughout the year,” said Hilltoppers head coach Kyle Cooper as the team made its way to Elkins earlier Wednesday. “We’re finding out more and more of who we are and what we’re becoming. It’s exciting. We just need to keep fixing what needs to be fixed.
“Everyone has bought in, which is our biggest thing in that our leadership is really, really good.”
Cooper also noted his team is playing complementary basketball right now, defending and rebounding well. The 110 points scored against the Cardinals is the most a WLU team has put up since 2010. The 38 points the Battlers were held to is the best defensive effort since 2009.
During Cooper’s tenure and before with legendary coach Lynn Ullom, you could count on the West Liberty women to exhibit a few telltale features—excellent guard play from the point, skilled 3-point shooting, and a teamwide defensive effort aimed at keeping teams’ shooting percentages, and subsequently their points per game, way down.
This season’s Hilltopper team is doing just that. The team is third in the MEC in both offensive and defensive scoring, averaging 81.6 a night while holding the opposition to 68.4. WL is second conferencewide in field goal percentage and third in defensive percentage.
Offensively, Cooper’s club is getting it done with balance. No Hilltoppers’ player ranks in the top nine in the MEC for scoring average. But the entire WLU starting five is found somewhere between Corinne Thomas at No. 10 (14.9) and Arriana Manzay (12.6) at No. 20.
All five starters average double figures, making the Hilltoppers an increasingly tough team to defend.
“All five of our starters are in the Top 20 in the league,” Cooper said. “It’s an asset because if one of us is struggling, we have four others who can pick up the slack.”
Thomas is the leading 3-point shooter in the conference, both in triples made and in shooting percentage.
Point guard Audrey Tingle is the conference’s leader in assists as well as the No. 4 rebounder in the MEC. Keep in mind, her primary responsibility is to run the offense and dish out assists, not grab rebounds. But Tingle is the consummate competitor and leader. She’s a veteran leader, and her style of play is infectious.
It sets the example for some of the younger players in the Hilltoppers’ starting lineup and reserves.
“That’s the beauty of it, and I’ll give our staff credit because we made a commitment with this group. We knew they were young (overall) but that we also had some anchors, Audrey especially, and also Corinne, who could be strong leaders,” Cooper said. “We knew their leadership capabilities and that we could coach this team hard and hold them accountable, and they’d be able to handle it and grow up faster.
“They set the example, and that allows our younger players sometimes to just follow. They can use their instincts and talent. It’s the perfect storm of a young team growing up quickly.”
A Nice Mixture
As said, Tingle is the experience and the unquestioned leader on this team. She’s a grad student and has been down this road a few times. Thomas, still just a sophomore, started half last season before the injury and is filling into her leadership role nicely.
The remaining starting five is rounded out by the 6-3 junior Manzay, freshman Karly McCutcheon, and true freshman Bailee Smith.
McCutcheon is in her second official season but took advantage of COVID eligibility rules as last season’s campaign didn’t cost her.
Smith’s college career, meanwhile, consists of a total of 17 total games. In that span, she’s averaged 14.6 points per game and leads the team in field goals made. Not bad for a freshman.
“She’s one of those players who has a chance to be a generational talent,” said Cooper of the former Maysville High School standout in Zanesville. “When she made her decision that D-1 wasn’t for her, we knew we were getting a special talent.
“She’s not just talented. She plays both sides of the ball well and wants to be successful. She wants to be an All-America caliber player, not just for herself, but for us. We’ve been able to throw more and more at her and watch her game grow. She still has a long way to go too. She’s by no means a polished player, but she’s ultra-athletic and keeps continuing to play better and better.”
The Hilltoppers as a team are playing better and better and have done so since a tough loss to No. 1 Glenville State that capped an 0-2 week which started with a loss to Concord.
Since then, West Liberty is 4-0 and playing extremely well.
Another big feature to the Hilltoppers’ game on both ends is the play of Manzay and graduate and Division-I transfer Molly Bauer. Manzay stands 6-foot-3 while Bauer has her by an inch at 6-4.
It’s a treasure trove of size West Liberty teams haven’t always enjoyed in the past. But the pair, and the team in general, are enjoying the fruits of this duo’s labor.
Bauer comes off the bench and gives the team a boost on the defensive end, where she’s second in the league in blocked shots behind Concord’s Riley Fitzwater. Manzay? She’s third in the league in blocks, making West Liberty the second-best shot-blocking team in the conference. That’s not a luxury the team’s had consistently through the years.
“This group is longer and more athletic than we’ve been, and our on-ball defense has gone up,” Cooper said. “Our style has always been to shoot the three well, and defensively we try to take away the three. When you do that, you can’t always rely on as much help as defense. You have to keep people in front of you.
“This group is finding ways to do that.”
Big Games Coming Up
The Hilltoppers are hitting a critical stretch in their schedule. After tonight’s matchup with the Senators, West Liberty returns home to face W.Va. Wesleyan on Sunday.
After that, it’s a road rematch with W.Va. State, another trip to face Charleston, then the return-bout with the No. 1 Pioneers at the ASRC on Feb. 9.
Each game is critical as the calendar turns to February and regional positioning becomes important as teams vie for those coveted top regional spots and NCAA tournament berths.
“We’d like to get into next week sitting at 15-5, and we obviously have a really challenging February ahead of us,” Cooper said. “But first we have to defeat D&E and Wesleyan. If we can do that, it’ll put us in a good spot heading into February, and then if we can continue to take care of business, we can show the committee that we’re one of the 2 or 3 best teams in our league.”
