West Liberty pulls past Falcons in fourth quarter

Notre Dame College standout senior guard Seina Adachi was neither pleased nor particularly upset Feb. 26 after the Falcons were beaten by West Liberty, 82-75, at Murphy Gymnasium.

Adachi, a Player of the Year candidate in the Mountain East Conference, was

WEST LIBERTY 82, NOTRE DAME COLLEGE 75

held to 12 points, well beneath her season per-game average of 18.7.

It was a rare misstep for Adachi and the Falcons, who slipped to 23-4 overall and 17-4 in the MEC.

The loss to West Liberty (11-16, 7-14 MEC) had a negligible effect on the Falcons’ position in the MEC standings with one regular-season game remaining.

NDC is still alone in second place, one game in front of third-place Charleston (21-6, 16-5) and two games behind red-hot Glenville (W.V.) State (234, 19-2). The Pioneers have won 17 straight games, cliched the regular-season title and secured the No. 1 seed in the MEC’s women’s tournament beginning March 34 in Wheeling, W.Va.

Still, it rankled Adachi that the Falcons in their regular-season home finale built a 10-point lead early in the second half only to have the visitors from West Virginia catch them early in the fourth quarter and pull away down the stretch.

The Falcons shot 3-for-15 from the field in the fourth quarter and were outscored, 23-13.

“We didn’t score when we needed to and we didn’t play good defense. We beat ourselves,” Adachi said.

Adachi now has 1,800 career points, second on NDC’s all-time scoring chart behind Martha Nagbe (2011-16) and her 1,938 points.

NDC got 11 points apiece from senior forward Jessie Stout and sophomore guard Jada Marone. Stout added a game-high 10 rebounds. Junior guard Jennifer Oduho had 10 points.

Senior guard Taylor Johnson tallied a gamehigh 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Pioneers.

“This one is an eyeopener for us,” Adachi said. “We need to practice harder and get ready for Urbana and the tournament.

NDC is at Urbana on Feb. 29. Tipoff is 2 p.m.