Wheeling, W. Va. - It was back home for the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (5-0, 1-0) on Tuesday night as they hosted Salem in their finale before the Thanksgiving break. The Cardinals would continue their historic run, winning their fifth straight over the Tigers with an 85-56 win. The start matches the 2016-2017 team for the best start since the team joined the Mountain East Conference (MEC) back in 2013 as they played their final early season non-conference affair.

Early on, the two teams went back and forth, trading the first six points of the night spanning the first three plus minutes of play. Briarley Rogers got the game started with a layup and the two teams just kept trading two pointers until the score sat at 6-6 at the 6:51 mark of the quarter. Salem would take the lead with a three from Teodora Popovic, but Strayhorn answered with a three of her own just before the media timeout and the Cardinals would cut the Tiger lead to 13-12. Coming out of that timeout, Strayhorn would hit another layup to get the Cardinals ahead 13-12 and they wouldn't look back. The defense hunkered down, allowing just one more Tiger free throw during the final 4:53 of the quarter and the Cardinals were staked to an 18-13 advantage.

As the second half began, the Tigers started battling back, cutting the Cardinal lead to just three points with 7:41 to go in the half. Freshman Kadie Colebank would get the ball in her hands, and hit a layup that swung the momentum to the Cardinals. Bryana Henderson added a big jumper to make it 24-17 and force a Salem timeout that led into the media timeout. After that, the Cardinals went on a tear, scoring 13 unanswered points, pushing their lead to as high as 33-17 before the Tigers were able to get back on the board. Once they got back on the board, the Cardinals would not back down as they scored 11 more times before the quarter was out, with two big shots right before half. Henderson it a three-pointer with just over a minute to play and Strayhorn added a layup with 11 seconds showing on the clock as the Cardinals went into the half up 44-24.

The big second quarter had the Cardinals with their 20-point lead as they shot a game-best 56.35% from the field during the quarter. The two teams traded three-pointers to start the new half, with Elena Pericic hitting for the Tigers and Briarley Rogers answering for the Cardinals. Wheeling would continue to build on their lead, outscoring the Tigers 9-6 over the first five minutes. The Cardinals went into the media timeout with a 53-30 lead and would maintain the 20-point advantage down to the final minute of the quarter. After Salem cut that lead to 55-38, Graci Fairman got her big second half going with a three-pointer before Rogers added a free throw that sent the teams into the final 10 minutes with Wheeling leading 59-38.

With the lead firmly in hand the Cardinals just kept shooting to round out the day. The Cardinals spread the ball around with four different players getting on the board early. It would be the start of a big quarter for the sophomore, as she hit a three-pointer and led the team with 11 points over the final 10 minutes of play, accounting for more than half of her scoring on the night. As a team, the Cardinals finished one point shy of their season high for a single quarter, scoring 26 points to mail down their fifth consecutive win to start the season. On the defensive end, Wheeling allowed just 18 points during that spam and it was enough to give the Cardinals an 85-56 win. With their preseason non-conference schedule wrapped up, the Cardinals shift their focus to MEC play.

It was a big day for the Cardinals offense as they had two players finish with 20+ points in the victory. Shamia Strayhorn led the way with a season-high 23 points while sitting second on the team with four assists. It was the fourth time this season that the junior has gone over the 15-point mark this season as she continues to be a leader on offense. The other 20+ point day came from Graci Fairman , who set a career-high with 20 points, with 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Briarley Rogers and Kenzie Dalton each led the defensive game with six rebounds each, while Dalton led the way with six assists. As a team, the Cardinals shot a healthy 44.3% from the floor as they continue to get their offense going.

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, November 29th, when they battle Davis & Elkins with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM.