Box Score
 
WHEELING, W.Va. – The Wheeling Jesuit women's hoops squad was had their two game win streak snapped on Thursday night by the visiting Fairmont State Falcons, falling 52-71 at home.
 
The Cardinals slip back down to .500 on the season at 11-11 overall (8-9 MEC). WJU remains in 8^th place in the conference with tournament time looming. The 5-8^th place teams host the first round game in the MEC tourney.
 
Leading in the stats column for WJU was Jaana Motton, who came off the bench to put up 9 points in in just 19 minutes. Jaila Bryant was close behind with eight points and six rebounds and Breanna Butler put in seven buckets and seven boards. No one tallied numbers in double digits.

"Fairmont is a very good basketball team that took us out of rhythm offensively," said WJU head coach Debbie Buff. "We played great defense in the first half and were only down five points. We missed a lot of shots around the rim the second half, and missed 12 free-throws which is uncharacteristic. We will be resilient and need to bounce back against Shepherd on Saturday."
 
The Cardinals dug themselves a big hole to climb out of early on in the first half, going down 14-2 in the opening 10 minutes. The ball changed hands for both teams, but the Falcons were able to capitalize more frequently, scoring 11 points off 6 WJU turnovers as compared to just three points for the Cardinals off 9 Fairmont turnovers.
 
WJU's field goal percentage was as chilly as the Wheeling night at 30% before the break. The Cardinals couldn't get a shot from behind the arc to fall either in the first half, going 0-5 on threes.
 
The Cardinals shooting didn't get much better in the second half with a 31% performance, putting them at 30.6% for the game. The long-ball continued to elude them as well, going 1-9 on threes.
 
Fairmont state was led by #12 Haily Garrett who had an impressive night with 20 points. Diedra Combs put in a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
WJU will attempt to climb the conference ladder again on Satuday when they travel to Shepherd to take on the Rams at 2:00 PM.