Cassie Seth, associate head coach of West Liberty University’s women’s basketball team, made the suggestion.
When Hilltoppers head coach Kyle Cooper then considered what he described as her “outside the box” idea to dress in the West Liberty Topper the Bear mascot costume to visit recruits, he came to an unsurprising conclusion.
“I, of course, was like there’s no way in hell I was as going to do this,” Cooper recalled thinking.
Then along came Mohawk standout Karly McCutcheon — and the West Liberty coach suddenly found himself slipping into the mascot costume in a Walmart parking lot 10 minutes away from her Bessemer home.
“I wasn’t even sure what to think,” McCutcheon recalled of the recruiting visit. “I was confused at what was showing up at my door. I thought it was hilarious.”
McCutcheon also thought it was a good idea to commit to West Liberty.
She hasn’t looked back in the three years since.
Now a sophomore starting for the Hilltoppers, McCutcheon has made 48 3-pointers — good for a tie for sixth most in the nation among Division II players — and is shooting 45% from beyond the 3-point arc, to place her at 16th in the country.
“We knew that Karly was one of those players that was a fringe Division I kid and then was going to get interest from good Division II programs regionally,” Cooper said of the only recruit he has ever donned a mascot costume to land. “I think it helps when you show up and try to close the deal in a creative way.
“It’s no shock to us,” Cooper added of McCutcheon’s play this season. “She’s just made a tremendous jump this year.”
McCutcheon, who used the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver during the 2020-21 season to now be considered a sophomore, averaged 10.1 points per game and converted on 38% of her 3-point attempts during her first collegiate campaign. She then averaged 13.4 points per game a season ago and again made 38% of her shots from 3-point range.
What McCutcheon called “a family atmosphere” at West Liberty has helped her make the jump from high school — where she scored 1,000 career points and helped lead Mohawk to its first WPIAL girls title as a senior — to becoming a bona fide offensive force at the Division II level.
“It meant the world to me,” McCutcheon said. “Honestly, my biggest obstacle in high school was tearing my PCL, and through that, the coaches here still came to some of my games and supported me even though I wasn’t playing.
“They showed me it was more than just basketball here.”
Through 15 games this season, McCutcheon is averaging 18 points per game, trailing only Hilltoppers 6-foot-3 senior forward Arriana Manzay, who is scoring 20.3 points per game.
“Just this year I think I’ve gained a lot of confidence in myself,” said McCutcheon, whose 3.29 3-pointers per game average is good for fourth in the nation. “We had some of our key players go down with injuries, and I knew someone would have to step up. I changed my mindset, and that seemed to have helped me a lot.”
With junior guard Corinne Thomas and sophomore guard Bailee Smith on the shelf, McCutcheon has seen her opportunities to score increase, but her success has been reliant on more than a higher shot volume.
“I think for Kar it’s that she has the ability to play at multiple levels,” said Cooper of the 5-foot-9 guard. “We recruited her as a player that was going to be able play for us at a high level.
“She just has an ability to not only be a consistent threat from 3,” he added, “but now she’s getting downhill at will.”
In addition to her increased scoring, McCutcheon is averaging 5.7 rebounds per game, has 52 assists, 7 steals and 10 blocks. She said her work ethic has assisted in her development.
“Through high school I got extra reps up and I continued to do that through college,” she said. “I know just letting that thing go it has a good chance of going in.”
That confidence has transitioned to the rest of her team as well, Cooper said.
“She is somebody who has just taken advantage of every opportunity that has been put in front of her,” he said. “We are going to get another two years beyond this with her. It’s incredible. With Kar, it’s so much more than making 3s and the motor and things she does on the court. She’s a positive impact on her teammates.
“We all need to have people we can lean on and Kar has become that, not just for our program, but for me personally as a head coach.”
West Liberty (9-6, 7-3 Mountain East) currently sits in fourth place in its conference standings. With a core of scorers led by Manzay, McCutcheon and West Allegheny graduate Grace Faulk — who is averaging 11.7 points per game and is shooting 40% from beyond the 3-point arc — Cooper said he is confident in his team’s chances to make some noise down the stretch.
“I do think very highly about this group and the ceiling that we have,” he said. “If we can put it together we can make a run down the stretch in the second half.”
As for McCutcheon, she said that means continuing to serve as a steady presence for the Hilltoppers.
“I try to just let the game come to me,” said the daughter of Mohawk football coach Tim McCutcheon. “I know that for the team to be as successful as we want to be I need to be consistent.
“It’s not really a goal to be top in the league for anything,” she added. “I just want to make sure I continue to do what’s best for the team so we can continue to get some wins.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.