SOUTH EUCLID, OHIO. (Jan. 22) – The Cardinals were dealt a 65-56 loss at league-leading and No. 24 Notre Dame Wednesday evening.
The Wheeling University women's basketball team drops to 5-12 on the season and 4-6 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. Meanwhile, the Falcons are currently sitting on a 10-game winning-streak after the win and improve to 16-1 this season, 10-1 in the MEC.
Sophomore forward Lilly Ritz (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge) led the Cardinals with 17 points and 18 rebounds in the contest to post her 12th double-double of the season. Senior guards Khira Burton (Cincinnati, Ohio/ Walnut Hills) and Taliah Cashwell (South Charleston, W.Va./South Charleston) added 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The first quarter belonged to the Cardinals. They led for the majority of the quarter, including when Ritz and Cashwell scored consecutive fast-break buckets to make the score 13-7 at the 5:56-mark. Wheeling's lead began to slip, but six-straight points in the final three minutes of the period had the Cardinals in-front 20-15 after one quarter.
Wheeling maintained the lead through the first six minutes of the second quarter and eventually took its largest lead of the game at 24-15 with seven minutes left until halftime. Notre Dame crept back into the contest and sliced the lead to four, 29-25, with 4:10 left in the half. Burton knocked down a three pointer that pushed the lead back to seven, but Wheeling committed four turnovers over the last four minutes of the half to allow the Falcons to take a 34-32 lead into the locker rooms.
Notre Dame came out of the gates hot in the second half. The Falcons scored 10-straight points in the first three minutes to take a 44-32 lead. The Cardinals managed to break the full-court pressure of the Falcons and brought the deficit back down to four, 45-41, on a second-chance basket by Ritz with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame entered the fourth quarter with a 50-45 lead. Wheeling got as close as three, 52-49, on a Ritz layup with seven minutes left in the game, but the Falcons did not allow the Cardinals to get any closer. Notre Dame pushed its lead back to double digits to hold off Wheeling for its 10th-straight win.
The Cardinals held the edge on the glass and out-rebounded Notre Dame 40-to-31 in the loss.
Jada Marone led the Falcons with 21 points in the win.
The Cardinals return home on Sunday, January 26 to take on Ohio County-rival West Liberty inside the McDonough Center at 2 p.m.
