Wheeling, W. Va. - The holiday break is here and while many student-athletes are at home spending time with their families, the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (8-1, 4-1) are heating things up on the court. They look for a bounce back effort on Friday when they host Pitt-Johnstown in non-conference action in their final home game of the 2023 portion of their schedule. The Cardinals have set up a tough non-conference schedule during the winter break as they get ready for the stretch run towards the Mountain East Conference Tournament in 2024.
They wrapped up the conference portion of their schedule on Saturday when they hosted The University of Charleston in a battle between two of the top teams in the conference. The Cardinals would fall behind early as the Golden Eagles scored the first eight points of the game but battled back to make it 21-13 after one quarter. As they have done all season, the Cardinal's defense stepped up in the second quarter, holding Charleston to eight points and allowing Wheeling to get to within four points of the Golden Eagles at halftime, trailing 29-25. Both offenses came to play in the game's second half, scoring a combined 65 points over the final 20 minutes of play, but in the end, it was Charleston who would have just enough to hold on for the 66-53 victory.
As she has in recent weeks, junior Briarley Rogers stepped up as the Cardinal's leading scorer, putting up 16 points while shooting 45.4% from the floor. Rogers has been on fire over her last five games, going into double digits in all five of those games and averaging 14.2 PPG. She has gone over the 15-point mark in two of those five games and is shooting 38.9% from the floor and 35.2% from three-point range. Rogers has been the Cardinal's second-best shooter from three-point range this season, shooting 35.1%, and sits third on the team in free throw percentage at 79.2%. Rogers is quickly climbing the scoring ladder in the MEC, sitting 14th in the conference entering play on Wednesday, and looks to continue to be an offensive leader for the Cardinals.
The Cardinal offense also continued to get a boost from junior Shamia Strayhorn, who rounded out the double digit scoring effort with 13 points of her own. She came through big from the free throw line, going 3-4, and despite injuring her ankle against West Virginia State, continued to produce for the team. She is averaging a team-best 13.9 points per game, and sits eighth in scoring in the conference, coming off her first All-MEC honor this past season. The Cardinal's defense also played a big part in the team's success, putting up a single-digit quarter for the third straight game. They held Charleston to just eight points in the second quarter as they still sit as the top defensive unit in the conference, allowing 60.2 PPG.
During the winter break, the Cardinals will face three challenging non-conference opponents as they stay sharp for the 2024 portion of their schedule. It kicks off on Friday with their final home game of the 2023 portion of their schedule before they hit the road to finish out the year. They will battle Ursuline on February 19th in their final game before Christmas and add one more game against Lake Erie on December 30th before they ring in the new year with MEC play. The Cardinals have set themselves up in good position for a strong run in the tournament, sitting one game behind Fairmont State and a half game behind Frostburg State for the top two spots in the conference.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Mountain Cats are meeting for the 18th time in program history, with Wheeling leading the all-time series at 10-8. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2019-2020 season and the Cardinals have been successful at home in the series, going 6-2 in eight previous matchups. It has been a rather low scoring series between the two teams, with Wheeling averaging 68.44 PPG in the all-time matchup.
Their last meeting came on November 16th, 2019, when the Cardinals fell to Pitt-Johnstown on the road 68-56. Wheeling was led in the game by former Cardinal Lilly Ritz, who finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds to complete the double-double. Finishing behind her was former Cardinal Taliah Cashwell and former Cardinal Khira Burton, who finished with 12 and 10 points respectively in the loss.
The Details
Tip-off for Friday night's game is scheduled for 5 PM inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
