ELKINS, W.Va. - Davis & Elkins continually chipped away into the second half, but could not grab the lead in a 77-59 home loss to West Liberty on Wednesday night.
Allie Taylor notched a career-high 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting for Davis & Elkins (1-8), adding eight rebounds, two steals and an assist. Taylor converted all three of the Senators' shots from beyond the arc, notching her first double-digit scoring game of the season. Starting in each of the last two games, Taylor has strung together a solid three-game stretch for D&E, averaging 11.6 points/game and six rebounds/game over that span.
Arriana Manzay had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds, while Audrey Tingle had a triple-double with 21 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in 38 minutes for West Liberty (3-6). The Hilltoppers went 42.2% from the floor for the game, converting 61% of their shots in the final 10 minutes.
Marissa Berlin tossed in 12 points and snared five rebounds for the Senators, while
Peyton Mohler chipped in nine points and five boards in 26 minutes of action. The Hilltoppers held a 48-34 advantage on the glass as D&E employed a smaller lineup for large stretches.
WLU jumped ahead 6-1 in the wire-to-wire victory, pushing the advantage to 9-3 off a Tingle three. Buckets from Berlin and
Reagan Sharp halted a 9-0 West Liberty spurt, but D&E would not trail by single digits again in the opening quarter. Taylor sliced the deficit to eight at 23-15 with a jumper just 31 seconds into the second quarter, but West Liberty responded with the next several points as the D&E offense dried up.
Taylor scored the next basket for the Senators, canning a three nearly four minutes later at 5:32 in the second. WLU maintained a multiple-possession margin in the quarter.
Lena Lee gave D&E a spark heading into the halftime break, jumping a pass and racing down the court to sink a layup through contact for a three-point play. D&E trailed 36-28 at the intermission.
Jessica Eadsforth-Yates sunk a jumper off a feed from
Brooklyn Maxwell for the first hoop of the third quarter at 9:53, trimming the deficit to six at 36-30. It was as close as the Senators got the rest of the evening as WLU answered with consecutive buckets to push the lead back to 10.
Davis & Elkins is back in action on Saturday, February 6 at Wheeling for a 2:00 PM tipoff.
