WEST LIBERTY – The West Virginia Wesleyan women's basketball team dug themselves an early hole that they were never able to climb out in an 85-71 road loss to the West Liberty Hilltoppers in a Mountain East Conference contest.

Wesleyan never led in the contest and found themselves down by a 19-4 margin after six minutes of action.

The Lady Bobcats went into the second quarter down by 13, at 28-15.

Down by a 31-15 score, Mykenzie Martin and Nicole Gilyard each made jumpers to close the deficit to 12, at 31-19.

A Destinee Tunstall free throw made it a 10-point game, at 34-24, with 5:44 remaining in the intermission.

West Liberty closed the half on a 12-7 run to take a 46-31 advantage at the half.

Brittney Allen and Susan Meyer opened the second half with jumpers to bring Wesleyan to within 11, at 46-35.

West Liberty went on a 14-2 run to take a commanding 60-37 lead with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter.

Wesleyan ended the quarter on a 10-5 run to make it a 65-47 contest heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Trailing by a 70-53 score, Kambrie Bosley made consecutive three-pointers to bring Wesleyan to within 11, at 70-59, with 6:54 remaining.

West Liberty though ended the game outscoring Wesleyan by a 15-12 margin.

Tara Goldman scored a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds.

Tunstall came off the bench to score 13 points while Stacy Remer tallied 12.

Wesleyan made 27 of their 70 attempts for 38.6 percent.

The loss dropped Wesleyan to 6-16 overall and 6-13 in the MEC.

Wesleyan will play again this Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Wheeling Jesuit.

The game will be tabbed as "Senior Day" as the Lady Bobcats will honor Meyer and Tunstall.