WHEELING, W.Va. (Feb. 20) – Despite a monster game from junior forward Lilly Ritz (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge), the Cardinals were defeated 73-61 by No. 24 Notre Dame (Ohio) Saturday afternoon inside the McDonough Center.
 
The Wheeling University women's basketball team drops to 7-7 this season. The Falcons, ranked No. 24 in the most recent D2SIDA Top-25 poll, improve to 11-3 this season.
 
Ritz finished two points shy of her career high with 34 points on 16 of 23 shooting to go with 24 rebounds (nine offensive). The 2020 All-American also added five assists and four steals to her final line.
 
Senior guard Kelsi Chapman (New Martinsville, W.Va./Magnolia) chipped in nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from long range.
 
The Cardinals managed to take a 13-11 lead six minutes into the contest. Notre Dame answered back with a 7-2 spurt to close out the quarter with an 18-15 advantage.
 
The Falcons built their lead to 31-17 by the five-minute mark of the second quarter. The Cardinals got the deficit back down to eight, 31-23, but a trey in the final 40 seconds by Notre Dame sent the Falcons into the locker rooms with a 34-23 lead.
 
Wheeling had its best quarter of the evening out of the locker rooms. The Cardinals out-scored Notre Dame 17-5 over the first six minutes of the frame to take a 40-39 lead. The Falcons reclaimed the lead and took an eight-point lead in the final 30 seconds of the quarter, before a steal and fast-break layup by Ritz made it a 50-44 game entering the fourth quarter.
 
Notre Dame extended its lead to double-digits and held that lead for the majority of the fourth quarter. A Chapman trey in the final 30 seconds got the Cardinals within 69-61, but Wheeling was unable to get any closer.
 
Notre Dame's bench helped carry it to the win. The Falcon bench out-scored the Cardinal bench 28-to-4 for the game.
 
Jada Marone scored 24 points and had five rebounds, three assists and three steals for NDC. Lizzie Imrie had 14 points, and Jenn Oduho had 10.
 
The Cardinals will enter the final week of the regular-season with a pair of pivotal divisional games, starting on Wednesday, February 24 when Wheeling travels to Philippi, West Virginia for the first time since 2015 to take on Alderson Broaddus at 5 p.m.