WEST LIBERTY, WV - Tonight the Tigers (3-13) traveled out to West Liberty for a regular season matchup against the Hilltoppers (6-10) of West Liberty University. Salem entered tonight's matchup looking to bounce back after a tough loss on their home court last Saturday to Frostburg State.

Salem got the offense going early and often in tonight's game with 10 points in the first three minutes of play. It was a mixed bag for the Tigers with four starters getting in the scoring column early. The Hilltoppers kept with the early pace the Tigers had shown to keep the game close. Halfway into the first quarter of play, the Tigers found themselves up 17-11 on West Liberty, but this is where the tide began to turn. The Tigers allowed a 13-2 run by the Hilltoppers to end the quarter and forfeit their advantage now down 24-19.

Points proved harder to come by in the second quarter for the Tigers. While the offense was still a collaborative project which was a good thing for Salem, the frequency with which they had been scoring hadn't been able to maintain their first-quarter pace. West Liberty showed more of the same in the second quarter. They seemed to have a philosophy of three-pointers and layups with almost all of their points before the half coming from right at the rim or beyond the arc. At the half, Salem found themselves down 51-32.

Salem came back swinging to start the second half on the offensive end. Their outpouring of buckets from the game's opening minutes had seemed to return to the Tigers as they scored 12 points in the opening five minutes of the quarter. Unfortunately for Salem, the Hilltoppers had not seemed to cool off during the break. Their offense kept pace with what they had done in the first half, preventing Salem from taking a large chunk out of the Hilltopper lead. Going into the fourth Salem found themselves down 74-49.

The fourth quarter was a masterclass of offense from both teams. West Liberty continued their trend of threes and buckets at the rim while Salem gained some rhythm attacking the basket, from mid-range, and beyond the arc. Salem's offensive efforts just were not enough tonight as they fell to the Hilltoppers 97-73 to bring the Tigers record on the season to (3-14).

Salem is back on their home court this Saturday as they play host to the visiting Falcons (4-13) of Notre Dame College (Ohio) at 2:00 pm.

SALEM STAT LEADERS:

Points: Liliani Krause (22)

Assists: Elena Pericic (5)

Rebounds: Liliani Krause (7)

Blocks: Cassandra Smith, Elena Pericic (2)