West Liberty women's basketball coach Lynn Ullom wasn't looking for anything flashy in his Hilltoppers' Mountain East Conference tournament quarterfinal matchup against the University of Virginia College at Wise. He just wanted his team to play the way he knew it could.
"Very businesslike," he said of WLU's 73-51 win over the Cavaliers on Thursday at the Charleston Civic Center, "which was what I was hoping I would get."
Liz Flowers' game-high 26 points put her over 2,000 points for her West Liberty career and MEC player of the year Kierra Simpson set the school's career record for blocks in the opening game in the Hilltoppers' defense of their conference tournament crown.
The No. 17 Hilltoppers (26-3) will play in the semifinals at noon Saturday against Fairmont State.
WLU jumped out to a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter and was able to cruise from there, leading by as many as 25 points. Ullom said the Cavs (13-15) have given West Liberty fits in the past. The Hilltoppers needed two overtimes to beat UVa-Wise in last season's MEC quarterfinals. There was no such drama Thursday night, and Simpson and her fellow All-MEC first-team teammates, Flowers and Kailee Howe, made sure of that.
"Us three, we constantly remind [the team] to make this as smooth of a trip as possible," Simpson said. "Last time, the [quarterfinal] game was stressful. We obviously don't want to go through that again, so we do have to turn that on as soon as we get here."
West Liberty reached that 26-13 lead at the end of the first quarter by holding the Cavs to a 5-for-16 shooting performance. The Hilltoppers clamped down even harder in the second quarter, allowing Wise make just 3 of 12 shots. The Cavs committed 10 of their 21 turnovers for the game by halftime.
"That first half, our nerves, I think we were our own worst enemies in the first quarter," Cavs coach Kristin Kunzman said. "After we got loose a little bit, they were shooting the ball extremely well. That definitely makes it a struggle."
Flowers now has 2,001 career points, just the third Hilltopper women's player to reach that mark. Simpson finished Thursday's game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, giving her 252 blocks for her career. Howe scored 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting with eight assists and five steals.
Blair Harding was UVa-Wise's lone double-digit scorer with 16 points on 4-of-18 shooting.
West Liberty used last season's tough quarterfinal versus UVa-Wise to win its first MEC tournament title, edging Wheeling Jesuit in the semis and thumping Notre Dame College in the championship. Ullom will take Thursday's steady, anxiety-free victory, though.
"It was nice to be able to ... I don't want to use the word 'coast' or 'cruise' ... but it was nice to pretty much have a working lead the whole game and ride it out," Ullom said.