Wheeling, W. Va. – The 2023 home slate came to an end for the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (8-2, 4-1) on Friday when they hosted Pitt-Johnstown. The Cardinals fell behind early and, despite their efforts to battle back in the second half, they would come up just short, falling 73-65. It was their first home loss of the season as they showed fight throughout to start their Christmas break schedule.

As they entered the second half, the Cardinals were trailing 43-26 and looking to generate some offense. However, as the third quarter began, Pitt Johnstown continued to find ways to score, putting up nine of the first 15 points as they extended their lead to 52-29. After having to sit out most of the first half due to early foul trouble, Briarley Rogers would get the Cardinals going with a jumper  as the Cardinals slowly battled their way back into the game. It started a short 7-0 run for the Cardinals, capped off with a three-pointer and a jumper from Bryana Henderson and the Cardinals cut the Mountain Cat's lead to 54-38. The two teams would battle back and forth over the final 1:48 of the quarter and as they hit the final run the score sat at 60-42 in favor of Pitt-Johnstown.

The Cardinals saved their biggest offensive output of the night for the fourth quarter as they scored 23 points in the final 10 minutes. Strayhorn started things with a pair of free throws and, after a pair of Mountain Cat jumpers, Jacqui Hinesmon would answer with a layup to keep it an 18-point game with 8:35 to play. As the quarter moved on, the Cardinals kept chipping away and as they hit the media timeout it was a 13-point game. Over the final four minutes of play, the Cardinals defense made a stand, allowing just three points during that run. Wheeling would continue to battle, outscoring the Mountain Cats 12-3 during that stretch. Strayhorn led the way with five points during the run, but it wasn't enough as Pitt-Johnstown walked away with a 73-65 win.

At the beginning of the night, the Mountain Cats took control early, scoring the first five points of the night They extended their lead to 10-2 before Head Coach Anna Kowalska called a timeout to regroup. Pitt-Johnstown would hit one more shot before the Cardinals got going with a three-pointer by Rogers  and Shamia Strayhorn would add a layup for her first points of the night. The Mountain Counts, however, put together some of their best play of the night over that first 10 minutes, putting 28 of their 73 points up in that first quarter. Jacqui Hinesmon would lead the way with five of the Cardinal's 15 points in the quarter, all coming after the five minute mark. The Cardinals would trail 28-14 after one quarter and looked to chip into the Mountain Cat lead.

The second quarter saw both offenses get off to slow starts, with a combined 12 points scored over the first five minutes. The Cardinals got buckets from Henderson, Strayhorn, and Graci Fairman during the first five minutes of the quarter, and the Cardinals would trail 37-19 at the media timeout. Pitt-Johnstown would extend their lead to 40-22 with 1:40 to play before half when the Cardinal's offense found their groove. Kadie Colebank would hit a pair of free throws and Fairman added two more during that stretch and the Cardinals would finish with 26 first-half points. They trailed 42-26 heading into halftime before they began to battle back in the second half.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Shamia Strayhorn, who finished with 19 points on the night. It was her highest total in a game since November 21st when she scored 23 points, while she also led the defensive effort with nine rebounds on the day. Bryana Henderson finished behind her with a career-high 15 points in the game, while going 3-8 from three-point range. The final Cardinal to finish in double figures was Jacqui Hinesmon, who scored 11 points and shot 55.5% from the floor. Five different Cardinals finished with one assist on the night to round things out as the Cardinals continue through their Christmas Break schedule.

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Tuesday, December 19th, when they take on Ursuline with tip-off at 2 PM.