Wheeling, W. Va. - Wheeling Women's Basketball is making its push to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament as they finish out the last two games of the regular season. They wrap up their non-conference schedule on Wednesday night, when they hit the road to take on Salem University, with tip-off at 5:30 PM. The Cardinals look to use the outing to improve on the court and get momentum on their side before heading into their big rivalry matchup with West Liberty on Saturday.
Last time out, the Cardinals did unfortunately lose to Glenville, but it was a close hard fought game as they would head to overtime, before the Cardinals fell 97-90. After Glenville took an early lead, scoring 28 points in the first quarter, the Cardinals responded with 28 of their own in the second. They would trail 48-44 entering halftime and looked to complete the comeback over the final two quarters. They would do just that, with a 23 point outburst in the fourth quarter and they tied things at 83-83 heading into overtime. The two teams would go back and forth throughout the extra period, with the teams sitting tied at 88-88 with 2:44 to play. However, a 9-2 run over the final two minutes would seal the deal as the Cardinals fell 97-90. They had a lot of positive things happen in that game, battling back after being down in the second half, and they look to build that momentum into Wednesday night.
Shamia Strayhorn has been a big reason for the Cardinal's success this season as she averages 14.2 PPG, 63 assists, and 37 steals, so she is great on both ends of the court. She led the Cardinals with 21 points against Glenville State, and nearly hit a double-double, tying for the team lead with nine rebounds. The effort marked the sixth time this season that Strayhorn has scored 20+ points in a game, with her career-high being a pair of 24 point efforts against Concord and Notre Dame College earlier this season. Rachel Wilson has also been strong for the Cardinals as of late, averaging 8.8 PPG, has 16 blocks, and 29 steals, so whenever she is in the paint, she can be dangerous.
Salem also has some great players, and it all starts with Elena who is amazing on both sides of the ball. She is averaging 13.5 PPG, 37 steals, and 43 blocks, so whenever she is on the floor she can be dangerous just about anywhere. Teodora Popovic has also been good for Salem this season, averaging 9.5 PPG and 51 assists. The Tigers are playing a full slate of MEC games this season after signing a non-conference agreement with the conference earlier this summer. They enter Wednesday's contest sitting at 4-22 overall, with a 3-9 mark on the road and a 1-11 mark inside their home gym.
With the final week of the regular season kicking off Wednesday, there is still a lot yet to be decided in the crowded MEC standings. The Cardinals currently hold the #6 seed in the conference, with a half game advantage over Concord and a half game deficit behind Glenville State. The Cardinals will not be in conference play on Wednesday night, so they will wait and see what happens in the rest of the conference. The Cardinals hold the tiebreaker over Concord but not against Glenville State. If Concord falls to West Virginia State on Wednesday, it will set up a scenario where a Wheeling win against West Liberty would insure them a first round by in the upcoming MEC Tournament.
The Matchup
This will be the 25th meeting between these two schools with Wheeling dominating at 23 wins to Salems one win, so this matchup will most likely be much of the same, but overall Salem hasn't had a bad season as they sit at 13-17, so Wheeling cannot take them lightly especially with every win being important down the stretch.
In their first meeting of the season, the Cardinals hosted Salem and picked up an 85-56 victory on their home court. Shamia Strayhorn led the way in the effort, putting up 23 points and shooting 10-19 (52.6%) from the floor. Graci Fairman added 20 points in the effort while Briarley Rogers (11), Jacqui Hinesmon (11), and Bryana Henderson (10) each went into double digits on the night.
The Details
Tip-off for Wednesday night's game is scheduled for 5:30 PM inside the T. Edwards Gymnasium on the campus of Salem University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
