WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – A balanced scoring attack and high flying fourth quarter fall short for the Notre Dame College women's basketball team (1-4, 1-1 MEC) on Tuesday evening, 78-68 at West Liberty University (3-2, 2-0 MEC). Sophomore Karli Anker paced the NDC offense with a team-high and career-high 15 points scored.
 
The Hilltoppers began the game strong by taking a 20-6 lead at the 3:57 Next, the Falcons responded with a 13-2 run, cutting the WLU lead to 22-19 at the 1:10 mark, following a Cencere McDaniel layup. West Liberty closed out the first period with a 25-19 advantage.
 
In the second quarter, WLU moved their lead back to double-digits (30-19) with 9:38 remaining in the first half. However, NDC anchored down and brought the contest within one bucket (30-28) after Anker buried a three-pointer at the 7:25 mark. The rest of the frame would go back and forth until West Liberty slowly gained a 46-36 lead at the break.
 
WLU opened their largest lead of the contest (58-40) with 3:50 on the clock in the third quarter. They claimed the quarter 16-9, and led 62-45 with 10 minutes to play.
 
Notre Dame ramped up their intensity during the final quarter of play by totaling 23 points and winning the period 23-16. NDC was able to cut the WLU lead to single digits (77-68), before falling 78-68.
 
Five NDC Falcons recorded double figures on the night, with Anker's career-high 15 points leading the way. She was joined by McDaniel and redshirt sophomore Alana Ellis who scored 12 points each, along with sophomore Lilee Carlson and freshman Noel Weathers at 10 points apiece. McDaniel and Weathers notched career-highs on the night.
 
Carlson tied for the team-high and her season-high with three assists and five rebounds. Junior Lizzie Imrie also grabbed five rebounds, while McDaniel dished out three assists.
 
Defensively, Anker swiped a career-high five steals, followed by Carlson's season-high four.
 
As a unit, Notre Dame shot 28-75 (37.3%) from the floor, 4-14 (28.6%) from three and 8-12 (66.7%) from the free throw line.
 
The Notre Dame College women's basketball team will be back in action on Saturday Nov. 26 at 5 p.m. when the Falcons make the short trip over to Ursuline College.