URBANA, Ohio. (Feb. 26)- The Wheeling University women's basketball team was defeated 93-68 at Urbana in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) matchup Wednesday evening.
 
The Cardinals drop to 10-17 overall and 9-12 in the conference standings. Wheeling has already clinched a berth into next week's MEC Tournament and is firmly entrenched as the No. 7 seed for the event. Meanwhile, Urbana improves to 17-10 overall and 13-8 in MEC play. The win clinched the No. 5 seed for the Blue Knights. 
 
Sophomore forward Lilly Ritz (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge) registered her 22nd double-double this season with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guards Khira Burton (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) and Taliah Cashwell (South Charleston, W.Va./South Charleston) also finished in double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectfully.
 
The Blue Knights where able to start to pull away in the last six minutes of the first quarter after a back and forth first four minutes of the game. Urbana built its lead to 17 points and took a 31-14 lead heading into the second quarter. 
 
Urbana opened the second quarter with eight-unanswered points to push its lead to 25, before a Ritz three pointer stopped the run. The Blue Knights continued control the game and maintained a lead of at least 20 points the entire second quarter and took a 52-31 lead into halftime. 
 
The Blue Knights continued to add to their lead and opened up a 69-41 lead at the 3:32 mark of the third and eventually ended the period with a 75-49 advantage. Wheeling had its best run of the game with nine-straight points to cut the Urbana lead down to 90-65 with just over a minute remaining in the game, but it was not enough in the end.

The Blue Knights finished with four players scoring in double figures led by Tyra James who finished with a team high 21 points.
 
Wheeling will finish out the regular-season when it heads to rival West Liberty on Saturday, February 29 for a tip at 2 p.m.