SALEM, West Virginia - After a tough result on the road, the Salem Tigers women's basketball team was looking forward to a return home to the Valley of Learning ahead of the holiday break. They had that opportunity tonight against the West Liberty Hilltoppers. Despite some initial strides, Salem was unable to keep up with the Hilltoppers and fell 88-76.
In the first quarter, Salem had a great start to the contest. They got things going early with buckets from Lucia Yanez and Carmen Vasquez. Salem gre their lead up to 9-3, but the Hilltoppers surged late in the period to take back the lead at 23-18.
In the second, the Tigers quickly dug themselves out of the hole to take the lead back behind strong play from Vasquez and Kamryn Ruffin. Unfortunately, Salem was stung by yet another Hilltopper rally late in the period to go into the break trailing 42-34.
After the break, the Tigers again clawed their way back out of the hole to take a 47-46 lead. Salem ran their offense through guard Carine Pinkney who bounced back from an unusually quiet first half. From there, it was a back and forth contest with the Hilltoppers narrowly taking the lead in the final seconds of the quarter with a three quarter court heave that found the bottom of the net to make it 58-55.
In the final frame, The Tigers had a tough time dealing with a hot shooting Hilltopper squad. Salem scrapped their way to just a 5 point deficit late, but foul trouble down the stretch spelled doom for the Tigers. Therefore, Salem fell 88-76 in their final contest ahead of the holiday break. Statistically, Salem was led by a staggering 27 points from Carine Pinkney. Kamryn Ruffin also had a solid day with 16 points. Carmen Vasquez controlled the paint for Salem all evening, and she earned a double-double for her efforts with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
After the holiday hiatus, Salem has an exhibition matchup with the NCAA Division I Marshall Thundering Herd on the docket. That contest will take place on December 1st at 2 PM down in Huntington, West Virginia at 2 PM.
