WHEELING, W.Va. (Feb. 6) – A late rally sunk the Cardinals in a 66-56 loss to Davis & Elkins inside the McDonough Center Saturday afternoon.
The Wheeling women's basketball team drops to 5-4 overall, while the Senators improve to 2-8 on the season.
Junior forward
Lilly Ritz (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge) registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. Sophomore guard
Emily Holzopfel (Rayland, Ohio/Buckeye Local) matched Ritz with 13 points and added a team-high four assists, while classmate
Jacqui Hinesmon (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) chipped in 10 points and six boards.
Wheeling jumped out to a 16-10 lead and a trey by freshman
Shanley Woods (Wheeling, W.Va./Park) in the final 10 seconds of the first quarter gave the home team a 19-12 advantage after one period.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to double-digits and led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, before taking a 31-20 lead into halftime. Wheeling defensively limited the Senators to just 8-of-34 (23 percent) from the field and 2-of-15 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Wheeling out-scored Davis & Elkins 17-8 to start the third quarter and took a 48-28 lead on a Holzopfel three pointer with 3:08 remaining in the period. The Senators scored 12-straight to end the quarter, including a three at the buzzer to narrow the gap to 48-40 after three quarters.
The Cardinals managed to rebuild their lead to 10, 54-44, on a Hinesmon layup with 7:21 left in the game. D&E controlled the final seven minutes of the contest. The held Wheeling scoreless for over six minutes and took a 60-54 lead with 1:33 left on the clock.
Holzopfel ended the drought to make the score 60-56 with one minute remaining in the game, but the Senators knocked down all six of their free-throw attempts to close out the contest.
Davis & Elkins was led by Marissa Berlin's 17 points and 19 rebounds in the win.
The Cardinals will look to get back on track on Monday, February 8 when they welcome nationally-ranked Charleston to the McDonough Center at 5 p.m.
