Box Score Fairmont, W.Va.---The Wheeling Jesuit women's basketball team battled back from a 10-point halftime deficit, but fell 64-58 on the road at Joe Retton Arena against Fairmont State University.
 
Taneka Lewis led the Cardinal offense with 18 points, and Kelsey Pacholke followed with 14 points. The Cardinals won the battle of the boards, 46-36, paced by Jamie Sobczak's team-high 15 rebounds and five points. Jaila Bryant added seven rebounds and seven points while Alex Anderson pulled down seven rebounds and chipped in four points.
 
The Cardinals (6-14, 3-13 WVIAC) opened the game with a two point bucket by Lewis and controlled the scoreboard until 11:36 was showing on the clock. During the initial eight minutes of play, Jesuit led by as many as seven points, 12-5, when the Falcons (14-7, 12-4 WVIAC) began to comeback. Fairmont used back-to-back possessions to cut the Cardinal lead to three points, 12-9, and after another defensive stop, FSU added a 3-pointer to tie the game at 12 points apiece.
 
Jesuit regained the lead briefly as Pacholke recorded two points. The Falcons tied the game with a pair of free throws and proceeded to attack with a 16-4 run for a 30-18 advantage with 4:56 left to play. With 3:24 remaining in the first half, Lewis knocked down a pair of free throws to stop the Falcons run, and the two teams traded buckets until time expired. Fairmont led 35-25 at halftime.
 
After the break, the Falcons held on to a 10-point advantage until the 13-minute mark when Pacholke sparked an 8-0 WJU run with a pair of free throws. Bryant followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play, and a 3-pointer by Taylor Lubinsky cut the Falcon lead to two points, 43-41.
 
The Falcons answered with five points for a seven point advantage, and eventually pushed the lead back to 10 points, 59-49, with 3:38 left to play. Jesuit made one final attempt to take control of the game, scoring seven unanswered points, as Lewis poured in two buckets and a free throw mixed with a pair of free throws from Pacholke, 59-56. Fairmont responded with a layup and closed out the game with three made free throws.
 
Kaitlin Snyder led the Falcons with 20 points while Hailey Garret followed with a double-double performance of 13 points and team-high 13 rebounds. Briana Welch and Tiffany Nicholson rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts with 11 and 10, respectively.
 
The Cardinals will be back in action at the Alma Grace McDonough Center on Saturday, February 9 against Davis and Elkins College. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.