After the first minute, it was fast paced action as the Wheeling offense came out strong. Rachel Wilson got things started with a layup at the 9:11 mark and Graci Fairman followed with a jumper of her own to get the Cardinals out in front 4-0. The Cardinals defense would hold down the fort, allowing just two Yellow Jacket points over the first three minutes of play and Wheeling was staked to a 6-2 lead at the seven minute mark. West Virginia State's Imani Reed would break the run with a free throw and the Yellow Jackets battled back. They went on a 7-0 run leading up to the media timeout, and found themselves ahead 7-6 with 5:45 to go in the quarter. They would extend that lead to as much as 12-6 with 3:24 to go before Bryana Henderson got the Cardinals back on the board with a jumper. West Virginia State maintained the lead the rest of the quarter and after the first 10 minutes it was a 17-10 advantage.
 

The Yellow Jackets kept it going in the second quarter, hitting a three-pointer at the 8:39 mark that went for the only score over the first minute and a half. Kayla Jones would be the one to get the Cardinals on the board at the 7:54 mark and started an 8-0 run as they began to battle back. The run lasted nearly four minutes with a Henderson three highlighting it and shots from Fairman and Briarley Rogers. With 4:40 to go before the half, the Cardinals had cut the lead to 21-18, but an Anysa Jordan three-pointer would break the run. West Virginia State then went on a 9-0 run of their own and extended the lead to 30-18 with 2:36 to go in the half. Both teams would go back and forth down the stretch, with the teams trading the final 16 points. Kadie Colebank accounted for four of the Cardinal's final eight points and the teams would head into the locker room with West Virginia State staked to a 38-26 advantage.
 

As they entered the third quarter, the Cardinal offense was trying to break through, but managed just two points over the first five minutes. West Virginia State would add 11 points during that same run and at the five minute mark it was a 49-28 Yellow Jackets advantage. Kadie Colebank would get her big second half going with a layup to stop the run, but defense once again ruled the quarter. West Virginia State would get three more points on a layup and a free throw, but neither team would get on the board for three minutes down the stretch. The Cardinals would begin their comeback from the free throw line as Jacqui Hinesmon hit a pair of free throws at the 1:12 mark. The Cardinals would end up going 6-6 from the free throw line over the final minute and after three quarters it was a 51-38 game.
 

The fourth quarter would be the highest scoring 10 minutes of the game with the two teams combining for 49 points across the 10 minutes. It would be back and forth early on as West Virginia State upped their lead to 58-43 with 7:16 to play. That is when the Cardinals would hit their biggest run of the quarter scoring six straight points over the next two minutes. As the final media timeout ticked by, the Cardinals cut the deficit to single digits for the first time since the first half and the score sat at 58-49. However, West Virginia State's offense continued to score and would push their lead to 66-54 with 2:04 to play. Hinesmon and Strayhorn for their team going and they cut the lead to 70-63 with under a minute to play. However, that would be as close as the Cardinals got as they fell 73-65 to end the comeback effort.
 

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Graduate Student Jacqui Hinesmon, who continued her recent string of success. She put up 14 points on the night and has now been the Cardinal's leading scorer in each of the last two games. She added a 6-8 effort from the free throw line and was second on the team with four assists in the contest. The other two Cardinals to hit double digits were Shamia Strayhorn (13) and Graci Fairman (10) as they rounded out the offense. Kadie Colebank would lead the defensive effort with seven rebounds on the night while Strayhorn led the passing game with five assists. With the Cardinal's magic number now sitting at 1, either the next Cardinal win or the next Davis & Elkins loss will clinch the Cardinals their playoff spot.
 

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, February 7th, when they host West Virginia Wesleyan at 5:30 PM.