Wheeling, W. Va. – The 2024-2025 women's basketball season kicks off on Friday with teams across the country beginning their schedules. The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (0-0, 0-0) gets things started on Friday, November 8th, with a pair of games at the Edinboro Tip-Off Tournament. The Cardinals will take on the host Edinboro Fighting Scots on Friday and follow that up with a game against CAL-U on Saturday.
The Wheeling Women's Basketball team is coming off another successful season in 2023-2024 that saw them put together a four-win improvement and a two win conference improvement. The key to their success came right off the bat when Wheeling set the new program record for the hottest start to a season. The Cardinals would win each of their first eight games of the season, with their lone first half conference loss coming at the hands of the University of Charleston. The Cardinals battled for the top spot in the conference throughout the second half, and sat tied for that spot in mid January, but they entered the MEC Tournament as the #5 seed. They would draw #4 Charleston in the first round and, despite battling to the final whistle, they would fall 62-60 to bring the night to an end.
Several leaders from last year's team are back again in 2024-2025, led by point guard Kenzie Dalton and forward Rachel Wilson. Dalton was the leader of the Cardinal offense last season and they felt her loss when she had to miss three games due to injury. She finished as the team leader in both assists (109) and steals (66) while helping the Cardinals average 68.7 PPG. She returns to the top spot on the offense in 2024-2025, looking to take her game to the next level. Under the net, it was Wilson that led the way, finishing as the team's leading rebounder with an average of 6.4 REB/G. She also finished just shy of averaging double figures, finishing at 9.5 PPG, and shot a healthy 51% from the floor. Both players look to continue to be leaders in 2024-25, and get their team back to the MEC Tournament and beyond.
However, there is a lot of unknown surrounding this year's Cardinal team, with 15 new players on the roster and 14 of those being freshman. Mah Minthe leads the way as the lone transfer for the team, coming to Wheeling after spending last season at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She appeared in 20 games for the Skyhawks a season ago, averaging 1.6 PPG and got experience at the DI level. She looks to bring some of that experience with her to Wheeling, adding a key piece to the Cardinals. The other 14 new faces for the Cardinals will each be experiencing college basketball for the first time. It is an exciting opportunity for Head Coach Anna Kowalska to bring in such young talent, but she also says that will come with its ebbs and flows early in the season.
As the Cardinals get ready to open the season this weekend, they will have to be road warriors from the get-go. Each of their first four games of the season come away from the Alma Grace McDonough Center, including the two games of the tip-off tournament this weekend. They open the season with an Edinboro team that was ranked #4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSUAC) Preseason Poll. They follow that up with the #2 team in the poll in CAL-U on Saturday to wrap up opening weekend. Kowalska is excited for her team to take on the challenge early in the year, as they prepare for the rigorous schedule that they will have to face night in and night out in the MEC.
The Matchups
Edinboro: The Cardinals and Fighting Scots will be meeting for the fifth time in program history on Friday, with the series being tied at two wins apiece. Wheeling has averaged 66.25 points per game in the all-time series, and will be looking for their first win I Edinboro, where they are 0-1. The two teams met last season in a game the Cardinals would come out on top 74-61. Former Cardinal Shamia Strayhorn would lead the way with 20 points while Rachel Wilson finished with a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
CAL-U: The Cardinals and Vulcans are meeting for the ninth time in program history, with CAL-U leading the all-time series at 7-1. The Cardinals are averaging 68 PPG and are renewing a long-time rivalry with Saturday marking the first meeting between the two teams since 2007. The Cardinals last victory against CAL-U came on March 10th, 2006, when they beat the Vulcans 79-62. In their last meeting on November 20th, 2007, the Cardinals would fall to the Vulcans 88-66.
The Details
Tip-off for Friday night's weekend opener against Edinboro is scheduled for 7 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
