Box Score CHARLESTON, W.Va. –  The University of Charleston suffered its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon at the Eddie King Gym, falling to the visiting West Liberty Hilltoppers 84-80 in a game marred by 50 total fouls.
 
Charleston and West Liberty were still knotted up at the 16 minute mark of the first half, tied 4-4, but fouls were already starting to mount for both teams. The Hilltoppers Liz Flowers from hit a three to break the early tie that led to first media timeout with WLU up 7-4. Ten fouls were whistled over the first six minutes of action, a glimpse of thewhat the entire game would entail.
 
The Hilltoppers hit the bonus at the 12:47 mark with Kailee Howe knocking down two foul shots to extend WLU's lead to 13-6.  Each possession a whistle blew as teams took turns shooting free throws nearly every possession with each team hitting the double bonus before the midway point of the first half, where UC would trail 19-12.
 
UC would narrow the lead to 23-18 after a Kayla Dozier free throw at the 8:30 mark.  The Golden Eagles pulled within two after a driving Dozier layup, 22-24, with 6:30 to go in the half. At the final media timeout of the first half, Charleston found themselves trailing West Liberty, 24-30.
 
Trailing by nine, 25-34, LeAnne Ross made back-to-back buckets and converted a three-point play to bring it back to four, 30-34.  Ross continued her late first half surge and hit a three to go into the break trailing by one, 37-38. 
 
West Liberty's Howe was nearly unstoppable in the first 20 minutes, going for 21 first half points. Ross led UC with 12 points, most coming off of the drive instead of behind the arc.  The teams totaled 28 fouls in a half where UC never held the lead. Charleston shot 31% on 10-32 shooting but went 15-19 from free throw line for 79%. West Liberty hit on 54% of their 26 shot attempts and 9-12 from free throw line.
 
WLU scored the first five before a Tianni Kelly drive to get the lead down to four, 39-43.  Kelly began the half aggressively,  scoring UC's first five to again trail by 1, 45-44 three minutes in.
 
Dozier drilled a three and got a driving layup after West  Liberty pushed the lead out to 5 to cut the lead to 2, 52-50 with 13:30 remaining on the game clock.  Dozier stayed hot for UC scoring seven straight points early in the half. 
 
WLU went on a 9-2 run to again grab a 7-point lead, 61-54, before  Chyress Lockhart  started to find her way to the paint either scoring buckets, getting to the foul line or finding open teammates to get UC within four, 68-64, with 7 to go.  A pair of free throws from Kelly got it to one possession and Lockhart tied it at 68-68 on another drive. 
 
Charleston grabbed their first lead on a made free throw but the Hilltoppers quickly got it back by a Jasmin Kelly triple making it 71-69 in favor of West Liberty. UC tied it back up at 73-73 on a Kali Cuttaia free throw but the Hilltoppers responded with an easy layup by Kierra Simpson on the offensive end to take the two point lead with 2 minutes to go.
 
Lockhart again tied up the game on two free throws but the Golden Eagles couldn't contain Howe on the other end as she scored four consecutive to hold a 79-75 lead with one minute to go. A timely steal by Simpson led to a break away lay extending the lead to 6 but Cuttaia answered with a three to cut the lead in half with 30 seconds remaining.  Howe converted from the stripe down the stretch and gave Charleston their first loss of 2013, 80-84.
 
Lockhart scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half to lead Charleston.  Kali Cuttaia played well in her season debut coming off of the bench for 14 points and 9 boards.  The Hilltoppers defended the perimeter well against UC, limiting Charleston to just 10 attempts from behind the arc, hitting on five on them.
 
WLU was led by Howe's game high 36 points and 8 rebounds.  Jasmin Kiley chipped in 17 points in playing all 40 minutes for the Hilltoppers. 
 
Charleston travels to Wheeling Jesuit on Monday to take on the Cardinals in a 5:30 matchup.