West Chester, PA. – The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (0-2, 0-0) consistently put up points throughout the second game of the West Chester tournament on Sunday. However, the consistency wasn't enough as they fell to Bloomington 74-60. Wheeling was able to score at least 13 points in each of the four quarters, but the defensive effort wasn't there to back it up.

Through the first quarter of the game, both teams were going score for score with each other. After Bloomsburg got out to a 6-2 lead early, Wheeling was able to fight back and brought the score to 9-7 with 4:53 remaining in the quarter.  The Cardinals tied the game at 13-13 at the 2:53 mark of the quarter, but couldn't control the lead as the Huskies went on a 7-2 run to finish out the first 10 minutes of the game and lead things 20-15. Wheeling was hitting their shots early, at a 46.7% clip from the floor, and a big six-point quarter from junior Maura Castelluci was helping to keep the Cardinals in the game.

However, another 7-2 run by the Huskies opened up the second quarter scoring and widened the Wheeling deficit to 27-17. The Cardinals would once again have to start the comeback trail, and Lauren Calhoun got them started with two jumpers. That jumpstarted an 8-0 run for the Cardinals and brought the score to 27-25 with  3:48 to go before halftime. The Cardinals were looking for their first lead since the opening minutes of play, but Bloomsburg got right back on their horse and scored six of the final nine points of the quarter, and went into the locker room leading 36-28.

Castelluci continued to rack up the points bringing her total to 11 for the first half while she shot 66.7% from the floor. Calhoun added eight in the first half, and Wheeling's top scorers were making their mark. The Cardinals kept their shooting in the 40% range throughout the first half, but the short runs by Bloomsburg were making a difference. Wheeling only had one marginal run in the first half and was looking for that chance to spark themselves as they headed into the third quarter. They showed they could go shot for shot with Bloomsburg, but now they had to show they could overtake them.

However, it was Bloomsburg that once again came out strong in the third quarter, pushing their lead to 44-30 before Wheeling could get going. Through the first six minutes of the quarter, Wheeling had only scored four points and Bloomsburg got to a game-high 17-point lead. However, the Cardinals would show fight over those final four minutes, scoring nine points, but Bloomsburg just kept scoring. The score sat at 56-43 by quarter's end, and even though Wheeling matched their first quarter point output, Bloomsburg had scored a game-high 20 points to open the scoring.

The points just kept coming from the Huskies in the fourth quarter, and they eclipsed the 70-point mark with four minutes left on the game clock. Wheeling showed one of their strongest pushbacks of the game over that final for minutes, going on an 11-4 run to end the game. Shamia Strayhorn was the one to step up, scoring seven of those 11 points, bringing her total to 16 on the day, a new career-high for the freshman. In the end, the effort wasn't enough as Wheeling would fall 74-60, and drop to 0-2 at the West Chester tournament.

Strayhorn and Calhoun tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points each on the night. Castelluci was the third and final double-digit scorer for the Cardinals with 11 points, all scored in the first half. Wheeling improved their shooting from game one to game two, posting a 39.3 shooting percentage from the floor, and 30% from beyond the arc. Wheeling struggled from the free-throw line throughout the night, shooting just 28.5% from the charity stripe. Calhoun also was tied for the lead on the defensive side with eight rebounds and Alysa Edwards-Frick added a season-high eight rebounds.

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team is back in action on Wednesday when they head on the road to face Malone University at 5:30 pm.