WHEELING, W.Va. – All season long the Notre Dame College women's basketball team has battled. Things were no different in their Mountain East Conference Tournament game against West Liberty that ended in an 84-77 loss.
 
The Falcons were down by 12 points in the fourth quarter before making a late-game push to get the difference back to just two points late, in the final two minutes. In a flashback to a game at WLU just nine days prior, Notre Dame pulled the game all the way back into its grasp before falling in a heartbreaker.
 
"Last time we played them we were down by 18 points and had that dog fight in us to come back," said Jada Marone after scoring 19 points off the bench. "So being down 12 wasn't anything compared to that. We all knew we were still in the game and we just needed to do what we needed to do."
 
The game started off strong for NDC as the Falcons went up 17-10 before the first quarter media timeout. Notre Dame was shooting well over 50 percent from the field and it looked like the fifth-seeded team had control.
 
"We just wanted to play our game and work on our pace and tempo," said head coach Lauren Macer. "We knew it was going to be a good game that we needed to take one possession at a time."
 
After that first media timeout though, things started to shift into West Liberty's favor. The Hilltoppers, practically playing at home just 11.6 miles from their campus, went on a 12-7 run to end the first quarter and leave NDC with just a two-point lead.
 
Similarly, in the second quarter, WLU turned things on following the mid-quarter break. West Liberty ended the second half on an 8-0 run to make it 42-34 in its favor at halftime.
 
Things ebbed and flowed in the third quarter as Notre Dame got the score within four before the Hilltoppers pushed their lead back up to 12. Then, in the fourth quarter, the Falcons got it down to a one-possession game before West Liberty put things away by making 11 of 12 free throws in the final two minutes.
 
"It was a good game, as expected," Macer said. "We saw some good things from our players and definitely have some things to take in to next year. It's a tough way to end the season, but I think it will provide some motivation for next year."
 
Notre Dame was led by Seina Adachi who scored 29 points, making 10 of her 18 attempts. Those 29 points ties for seventh-most in an MEC Tournament game. She made three shots from beyond the arc, but those shots did not come easy as West Liberty played strong defense on the perimeter.
 
"They weren't really giving us the three so I knew I had to drive" Adachi said. "But everyone on the team was working to get open. We can all attack so we used our ability to drive a lot in the game."
 
Jessie Stout scored 10 points to join Adachi and Marone in double digits, she also led the team with seven rebounds. Katie Karalic led NDC with three assists and four steals.
 
The Falcons end the 2018-19 season with a 15-14 record. Notre Dame will have a good chance to improve upon that mark next year as they return all but two players.
 
"It definitely leaves a big window of opportunity for us as long as we work in the postseason and summer," Macer said. "We will have a big senior class next year and I think this game and this season will be motivation for them to keep working. We have a lot to look forward to. We aren't going to dwell on this too long. We are going to stay together and stay positive and get better."
 
"I think we can definitely win the conference," Adachi said. "We just have to work hard this postseason and in preseason. We can get better as a team and have a lot of potential with a lot of us coming back and the freshman coming in."