Box Score
 
WHEELING, W.Va. – The Wheeling Jesuit women's basketball team dug a hole they couldn't climb out of against West Liberty on Saturday, falling 71-66 to the Toppers after being down by as many as 18 in the first half.
 
The Cardinals finish the regular season with their first winning record in recent memory at 14-12 (11-11 MEC).
 
"We fought hard, we just got beat on rebounds in the first half and missed too many easy shots around the hoop," said WJU head coach Debbie Buff. "They scored a lot of transition buckets early to put us in a hole, and our transition D couldn't adjust."
 
The Cardinals got off to a slow start, but were in-it-to-win-it in the second half, finishing with a shooting performance of 39-percent for the game and 67-percent from three-point range.
 
Jaila Bryant led all scorers in the game with 23 points on a 9-16 shooting performance. Bryant added six rebounds and three assists for the Cards, but suffered seven turnovers.
 
Senior Taneka Lewis finished her last regular season game as a Cardinal with 14 points, seven boards and a trio of assists. Last week's MEC player of the week, Breanna Butler pitched in 10 points as well for WJU.
 
WJU trailed by only 5 points at the half after being down 32-14 with 5:45 left to play before the break. Lewis and Bryant hit a pair of jumpers to bring the momentum back to the Cardinals side, and Butler hit a big three with 20 seconds remaining to put the Cards back in the game.
 
The loss puts WJU in 8^th place in the final Mountain East standings, meaning the Cardinals will host #9 Concord at the McDonough Center on Tuesday in the first round of the playoffs. The winner of that game advances to Charleston for the Mountain East Quarterfinals. WJU took a pair of wins over the Mountain Lions during the regular season, 70-55 and 64-54.
 
"We talked after the game about how we had a good fight, but now it's time to focus on getting the next win and going to Charleston, which has been our goal all season long," added Buff.
 
Tipoff for round one of the playoffs is set for 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
 
Final MEC Standings
#1 Glenville State
#2 West Liberty
#3 Charleston
#4 West Virginia State
#5 Fairmont State
#6 Urbana
#7 Notre Dame
#8 Wheeling Jesuit
#9 Concord
#10 UVa-Wise
#11 Shepherd
#12 West Virginia Wesleyan