Thus, it was only fitting that when the two teams squared off Saturday in the semifinals of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center that it took overtime to determine a winner.

In the end, West Liberty made one more play than Wheeling and emerged with a thrilling 70-68 victory earning the Hilltoppers the right to advance toSunday's title game at 1 p.m.

"Give all of the credit to the kids," said West Liberty coach Lynn Ullom, whose team improved to 22-8 with the victory. "We had a lead, we lost a lead, we faced adversity and struggled at the end of regulation. We could've hung our heads and quit, but we didn't. We found a way to make enough plays at the end of the game to advance.

"I have to give Wheeling Jesuit credit too. They're unbelievably well coached, they're disciplined and they try really, really hard."

West Liberty jumped on WJU early Saturday draining four of its first five 3-point field goals attempts and opening a 12-0 advantage less than three minutes into the game. For the rest of the contest Wheeling had to fight its way back. The Cardinals finally pulled even with the Hilltoppers when guard Jaila Bryant hit a contested 12-foot jumper from the wing to knot the score at 59 with 24.9 seconds left in regulation.

On the last possession of regulation West Liberty spread the floor and let point guard Kailee Howe drive the lane and get off an eight-foot jumper which didn't fall and Wheeling's Jaana Motton cleared the rebound as time expired. Motton finished with 16 points and a game-high 17 rebounds for the Cardinals. It was her fifth double-double performance of the season.

In overtime West Liberty senior guard Hillary Southworth set the tone both early and late for her team. She hit a driving layup, was fouled and converted the three-point play seven seconds into the extra five minutes.

"Being a senior you kind of see that flash of your career ending and think it all could end right now if you don't do something," said Southworth, who led West Liberty with 18 points. "I haven't been one to drive to the basket a lot this season. I've had three knee injuries and they've all been a result of driving to the rim, so I've been kind of hesitant to do that. But, at that point you just have to do what you have to do. I wasn't going to lose to Wheeling Jesuit. It was all or nothing."

Later, clinging to a one-point 67-66 lead, West Liberty's Kierra Simpson made a huge play for her team when, from behind, she blocked what appeared to be an open layup attempt by Bryant with 29 seconds remaining and then saved the rebound in to a teammate who got the ball to Howe who found Southworth wide open for a layup to make it 69-66 with 20 seconds to play.

At the other end Bryant, who led all scorers with 22 points, hit a driving layup to make it 69-68 with 8.9 seconds left. West Liberty then did a good job of keeping the ball away from Wheeling which was finally able to foul Southworth with just 3.8 seconds remaining. She made one of two free throws setting the stage for Bryant to get a decent look at a potential game-winning 3-pointer that hit the backboard and bounded off as time expired.

"I knew they were going to try to do something to defend me," said Bryant, who also grabbed eight rebounds and recorded five steals in the loss. "They ended up coming out and trapping me so I knew in that amount of time that I couldn't get to the rim. I knew I was going to have to get a shot up from three. I got it there. It just didn't go in."

Wheeling, which also got 12 points and seven rebounds from Kylie Frizell, finished its season with a 19-9 record. The Cardinals won 11 of their last 15 games.

"The 19 wins is the most we've had in 10 years and we had a shot today to win it at the end," said Wheeling coach Debbie Buff, who just completed her fourth season at the school. "This is emotional for me. I really wanted it for these girls. If Jaila makes that shot at the end we win, but if Jaila didn't do what she did the whole game for us we never would've been in the position that we were to get the win. I'm really, really proud of this team. Our effort was there from start to finish.

"West Liberty is an excellent team. They have a lot of seniors and veterans who have been in these positions in the past. We're young. We'll be back next year."

The Hilltoppers, who won for the 10th time in 11 games, also got 15 points from Liz Flowers and 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Howe. Simpson finished with just seven points, but pulled down a team-high six rebounds and blocked a game-high five shots.

#6 Notre Dame 75, #2 Shepherd 65

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Notre Dame College became the first-ever sixth seed to reach the finals of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament when the Falcons knocked off second-seeded Shepherd University, 75-65, in semifinal-round action here Saturday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.

The victory was the sixth in a row for Notre Dame which improved to 20-11. It also sets up a meeting for the Falcons with top-seeded West Liberty in the tournament's championship game Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

The Hilltoppers eliminated fourth-seeded Wheeling Jesuit Saturday, 70-68, in overtime. West Liberty and Notre Dame split their regular-season series with both teams winning on their home courts.

To date in the MEC Tournament the Falcons have eliminated 11th-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan, third-seeded Charleston and second-seeded Shepherd.

Against the Rams, a Martha Nagbe 3-pointer at the 18:11 mark of the second half gave her team the lead for good. Nagbe, the MEC's Player of the Year, was the catalyst for the Falcons being able to hold off Shepherd in the second half and record the victory. After picking up her second foul and playing just 10 minutes in the opening half, Nagbe scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the final 20 minutes, grabbed five of her team-high eight rebounds in the second half, handed out all three of her assists during that span and recorded two of her team-high three blocks.

"I was really upset with myself for being silly and picking up two fouls in the first half," said Nagbe. "My mentality in the second half was to come out and help our team prosper and score. I was determined to try any type of way to do that whether it was me scoring, me passing the ball or me playing defense. I just wanted us to get the lead and keep it."

That's exactly what the Falcons were able to do. Notre Dame erased Shepherd's 30-28 halftime lead and by the 12:13 mark of the final half had built a 14-point lead.

"It seemed like today's game would never end once we went up," said Notre Dame coach Katie Hine with a laugh. "We battled back and forth the entire first half. Then we came out, got a lead in the second half by double digits and I look up at the clock and there's still nine minutes. You realize you have to sustain this lead for nine minutes and that's not easy against Shepherd. They cut into it. They got it to three. Shepherd is one of those teams which will not go away.

"This was the first time we've beaten them all season and if we had to beat them once I'm glad it was this game."

In addition to Nagbe's 16 points the Falcons, who had 10 players play 10 minutes or more in the game and all score, got 13 points apiece from Lauren Langenderfer and Jessica Garcia and 12 from Kim Cook.

After falling behind 52-38, Shepherd came alive, rallied and trimmed the margin down to 62-59 with 4:40 to play thanks in large part to the efforts of Gabby Flinchum, Briana Vaden, Rachel Johnson and Morgan Arden.

Flinchum finished with a game-high 24 points, 14 of which came in the game's last 16 minutes. She also pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Vaden chipped in 14 points, Johnson added nine and Arden and Liz Myers both finished with eight.

"I thought this was a great game and that both teams played their hearts out," said first-year Shepherd coach Jenna Eckleberry. "I know ours did. That wasn't a question at all.

"We got down there early in the second half and had to keep trying to battle our way back. Against Notre Dame that's not easy. I give them all the credit in the world. They were the one team I didn't want to face down here because if they get a lead on you, they just really make it tough to come back on them. They play great team basketball and make really good decisions. We got two out of three against them this year, but today just wasn't our day."

After Shepherd got within three both teams struggled to score. The Falcons, however, re-grouped and outscored the Rams 13-6 in the game's final 2:45. Nine of Notre Dame's final 13 points came at the foul line where the Falcons finished 27-of-36 as a team.

Notre Dame was also very efficient from the field in the second half connecting on 13-of-22 shot attempts (59.1 percent). By comparison Shepherd took 12 more shots than Notre Dame in the second half and made one less basket. The Rams were just 12-of-34 from the field in the second half (35.3 percent) and for the game were just 15-of-21 at the foul line.