WJU Women's Basketball Preview: Cards and Cavs Meet Thursday

By: Michael McDonald, Assistant Sports Information Director

Women's Basketball | 2/8/2017 9:13:00 AM

WHEELING, W.Va. – Wheeling Jesuit and Virginia Wise meet Thursday for the second of their two regular season meetings. On January 16, WJU welcomed Wise into the McDonough Center in what was a battle of the two first-place teams in the Mountain East Conference. In the season's first meeting, the Cardinals rushed to a 14-point halftime lead and would hold off the Cavaliers down the stretch, 64-59. Both clubs finished with three players in double figures led by WJU's Monica Burns, who finished with 22 points and three rebounds. Mariah Callen chipped in 12 points and five boards while Chenelle Moore added 11 points and five rebounds.

WJU enters the contest on a three-game win streak including a pair of road victories over Charleston and Fairmont State and a home court win over Shepherd last Saturday. In the three-game stretch, Burns has averaged 19.3 points while Callen averaged 14.6 points. In their last 10 outings, the Cardinals are 8-2 overall. WJU continues to lead the MEC in scoring defense, allowing a league low 62.1 points on average. The Cardinal offense scores an average of 72.9 points per game, ranking fourth in scoring and second in scoring margin (+10.8).

Burns has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games and now ranks sixth in the MEC in scoring, averaging 16 points per contest. The New Stanton, Pennsylvania native leads the conference in free throw percentage (91.8%) and three-point percentage (41.9%). Callen's 14 points per game is 11^th best in the league while her 4.86 assists per game ranks fourth among MEC players. The junior point guard falls just behind Burns in three-point percentage, shooting at a 39.8% clip. Jaana Motton averages 12.6 points (21^st in MEC) and secures a league leading 9.9 rebounds per game. Chenelle Moore adds 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds to the mix while Kylie Frizell chips in 9.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per night.

Virginia Wise enters Thursday on a two-game win streak and riding the momentum of Saturday's victory over Glenville State. In its last five games, Wise is 3-2 with losses coming at Shepherd and Fairmont State. Makenzie Cluesman, Kayla Carey and Taylor Sandidge contribute a balanced scoring attack consisting of 13.8, 13.7 and 12.3 points, respectively. The Cavs' leading scorers rank 12^th, 14^th and 23^rd in the MEC in scoring.

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