CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Feb. 5)- The Wheeling University women's basketball team was handed a 85-67 loss in Charleston Wednesday night.
The Cardinals fall to 8-13 on the season and 7-8 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles improve to 17-4 and 12-3 in conference play.
Sophomore forward
Lilly Ritz (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge) posted another impressive outing. The reigning MEC Player of the Week scored 33 points and had 21 rebounds to go with three blocks in the loss. Senior guard
Khira Burton (Cincinnati, Ohio/ Walnut Hills) was the Cardinals second leading scorer with 11 points in the loss.
The Golden Eagles got off to a hot start in the first quarter and shot 60 percent from the field in the first quarter. Wheeling didn't have the start they needed against the third place team in the conference standings, shooting only 26 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes. After a back and forth first four minutes, the Golden Eagles flexed their muscles in the last six minutes and went on a 13-4 run to end the period and take a 22-10 lead into the second quarter.
Wheeling came storming back in the first five minutes of the second quarter. The Cardinals went on a 10-2 run to open up the quarter, including a Ritz jumper that made the score 24-20 at the 6:11-mark. Despite Ritz's near double-double of 14 points and nine rebounds at the half, Charleston took a 38-29 lead into the locker rooms.
Charleston came out firing in the second half. The Golden Eagles hit seven of their first 10 shots to kick start an 11-1 run and a 49-30 lead with 7:02 remaining in the third. The Cardinals out-scored their hosts down the stretch of the third quarter and a
Maura Castelluci (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) three pointer with 42 seconds left brought the Cardinals deficit down to 11, before a pair of Charleston free throws brought the score to 60-47 heading into the final quarter.
Wheeling was unable to get any closer to the Golden Eagles. Charleston grew its lead to 20 points multiple times and eventually took its largest lead of the night at 24 points with 1:52 seconds remaining in the game.
Charleston had four players score in double figures, including a team-high 20 points from Anna Hayton.
The Cardinals return back to the McDonough Center on Saturday, February 8 to face MEC foe West Virginia State at 2 p.m.
