BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – With a hot start bookended by a hot finish, the Notre Dame College women's basketball team earned a big road win at West Virginia Wesleyan 64-43.
 
The Bobcats scored the first points of the game, but throughout the remainder of the first quarter the Falcons outscored their hosts 20-2. Much of success in the first 10 minutes, and throughout the game, came from the offensive output of the NDC forwards.
 
In the first quarter the strong play down low started with Jessie Stout and Abi Oriti. The two combined for 13 of the team's first 20 points. Stout would end up leading the team with 14 points, while Oriti was second with nine.
 
The frontcourt would score 31 points for the Falcons throughout the game and shoot 66.7 percent from the field (12 of 18). The forwards for NDC were also a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
 
"They played well today," said head coach Lauren Macer on her team's bigs. "When those players are on it helps us get some scores close to the rim. Coach Imani Gordon has been working a lot with them and it was good to see them have a great deal of success down low today."
 
West Virginia Wesleyan bounced back a bit in the second quarter to make it 29-19 at halftime. The Falcons held on to their lead and only allowed it to into single digits once in the third quarter.
 
Notre Dame had another big quarter in the fourth, outscoring the Bobcats 18-9 to win by 21 points. With its largest margin of victory this season, and its best defensive performance of the season, holding WVWC to just 43 points, NDC improved to 13-11, 10-8 MEC and took one step closer to securing a first-round bye in the Mountain East Conference tournament.
 
Part of the Falcons steady performance on the defensive end was playing a clean game. Notre Dame ended the contest with just 12 fouls, a mark that is its second lowest in MEC play this season.
 
Another area that NDC excelled at was making free throws. On 15 attempts, the Falcons only missed one shot from the charity stripe. It marks the second time this season the team has shot above 90 percent on free throws.
 
Along with Oriti, Ajia McIntyre was second on the team in scoring with nine points. Stout led the team in rebounding with eight while Jada Marone, Julie Kemp and Tamia Ridley each pulled down six. Katie Karalic led the team with three assists and two steals.
 
Notre Dame returns home on Thursday, February 21, for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff against Concord.