Glenville, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (11-5, 6-2) hit the road on Wednesday night as they traveled down to Glenville, West Virginia to take on the defending Mountain East Conference (MEC) Champions in Glenville State on Wednesday. The Cardinals were able to put up 18 or more points in the second and third quarters, but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Pioneers 78-58. The Cardinals had two players finish in double digits on the night as the team dropped just their second conference game of the season.
Glenville State got the scoring started with a three-pointer on their first possession of the night and went on to score the first five points over three minutes of play. Shamia Strayhorn would get the Cardinals going with a layup at the 7:03 mark and a Graci Fairman three pointer 20 seconds later would knot things back up at 5-5. Fairman added three more points with a layup and a free throw to complete the 8-0 run and the Cardinals had their first lead of the night at 8-5. It would end up being a quarter of runs as Glenville State responded with a 5-0 run of their own and Strayhorn tied things up before the media timeout to make it 10-10. However, the Cardinals would score just two more points the rest of the quarter on a pair of Fairman free throws and Glenville State would lead 22-12 after one quarter of play.
The scoring would continue for the Pioneers as they scored seven of the first eight points of the new quarter and took a 28-13 lead with 7:59 to play in the half. Kenzie Dalton broke the run by getting on the board with a layup, but the Pioneers kept on scoring an built a 35-24 lead with 5:24 to play. Dalton was back at it with a free throw as the Cardinals used the success from the free throw line to battle back. Bryana Henderson drew back-to-back fouls and went 4-4 from the free throw line to make it 41-29 with 2:59 to play. The Cardinals allowed one more Pioneer bucket, and got layups from both Dalton and Jacqui Hinesmon to round out the offense. However, the Cardinals found themselves behind 43-33 and looked for more efficency after shooting just over 29% from the floor.
They would clean that up in the third quarter, shooting a game-high 56.25% from the floor during the quarter. After both teams were held off the board over the first minute, they exchanged jumpers as Hya Haywood scored for Glenville State and Briarley Rogers answered for the Cardinals. Wheeling would cut the Pioneer lead to single-digits by going on a short 3-0 spell and trailed 53-41 after the media timeout. After Glenville State added a free throw, the Cardinals would hit what would be their biggest run of the night. Strayhorn hit a layup that started a 10-0 run that lasted more than three minutes. The Cardinals had shrunk the Pioneer lead to 54-51, but a three-pointer from Payton James pushed that lead to 57-51 as the quarter came to an end. With things back to justa six-point game, the Cardinals looked to close out the comeback in the fourth quarter.
Things didn't start the way the Cardinal's planned as Glenville State would go on a 14-2 run that spanned the first 5:23 of the quarter. The Cardinals lone bucket during that time came from Fairman, who hit a jumper at the eight minute mark of the quarter. Strayhorn would break the run with a jumper at the five minute mark and the score sat at 71-55 with five minutes to play. The Cardinals were held to single-digist over the final quarter while Glenville State put up 21 points during the final 10 minutes. Strayhorn and Fairman would round out the scoring with a layup and a free throw respectively as the Cardinals would fall 78-58. The team was limited to just one three-pointer on the night and scored 34 of their 58 points on the night in the paint.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Shamia Strayhorn, who put up 17 points on the night and finished second on the team with nine rebounds. She shot 42.1% from the floor and was the Cardinal's most efficient shooter on the night as she scored 17 or more points for the fourth time in the last five games. Graci Fairman was the other Cardinal to score in double figures on the night, putting up 13 points while shooting 4-7 from the floor. Rachel Wilson led the team's defensive effort, finishing with 11 rebounds while Kayla Jones led the passing game with four assists for the Cardinals. It was just their second MEC loss of the season as they look to bounce bck on their home floor.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, January 20th, when they host Concord with tip-off scheduled for 4 PM.
