Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (15-4, 10-4) was back in action inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center on Wednesday and was looking to get back on track. They did just that as they defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 65-42 led by a strong defensive effort that saw the Cardinals allow just 12 Bobcat points through the first half. With the win, the Cardinals officially clinched a spot in the 2024 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament as they continue to fight for a first round bye and one of the top six spots in the tournament field.
The Cardinal's defense owned the floor over the first 10 minutes of play, allowing just two Bobcat baskets during that time. Rachel Wilson would start the scoring with a layup and the first Bobcat basket of the night came at the 8:04 mark courtesy of Maile Hunt. They would not get on the board again until the final minute of play, with the Cardinals holding them at bay. Wheeling created four turnovers during that run and converted three of those turnovers into points. While the defense was holding down their end of the floor, the Cardinal's offense did it's part, going on a 12-0 run. Wilson was one of the driving forces to the charge, scoring six of those 12 points as the Cardinals took their lead to 14-2. West Virginia Wesleyan's Sydney Baird would break the run with a three-pointer, but Graci Fairman would respond with a three of her own as the Cardinals held a 17-5 advantage after the first.
The Cardinal's offense kept their success going into the second quarter with a Shamia Strayhorn free throw, but West Virginia Wesleyan quickly responded with a layup to make it an 18-7 game. It was another defensive half, with neither team getting on the board for the next three minutes. Wilson would break the dry spell with her eighth point of the night, before a short 5-0 run by West Virginia Wesleyan got them into double digits. By the media timeout, the score sat at 20-12 in favor of the Cardinals and the defense continued its strong performance. They would shut them out for the remainder of the half, allowing the fewest points to an opponent in one half this season as they continue to be an asset down the stretch. The Cardinals would go on to put up the final nine points of the half with Strayhorn and Fairman leading the way with three points each down the stretch. The Cardinals went into the locker room leading 29-12 and looked to keep things going in the second half.
The third quarter started with just as much fire power for the Cardinals as Briarley Rogers got things started with a three-pointer in the new half's first minute. It was West Virginia Wesleyan's defense's turn to step up as they would hold the Cardinals to just that one point over the first four minutes and battled to bring the score back to 32-16. Strayhorn got her team back on track with seven straight points, capping the run off with a three-pointer to give the Cardinals a 39-20 lead with 3:14 left in the quarter. The Cardinals offense would continue to tack on over the final two and a half minutes of the quarter with Bryana Henderson capping off the run with a big three-pointer. The Cardinals were staked to a 46-26 advantage after three quarters of play and got the chance to tap into some of their depth in the final quarter.
West Virginia Wesleyan would hit the first run of the new quarter, scoring four of the first five points as they crept closer, making it a 47-30 affair with 8:36 to play. Kadie Colebank broke the short Bobcat surge with a layup and the Cardinals would pull away to as much as 53-30 with 7:35 left on the clock. As the game drew closer to its conclusion, Head Coach Anna Kowalska began to go to some of her depth pieces, getting them some experience on the court. Jalynn Shapley would appeared in her second game of the season, playing a career-high three minutes at the end of the game, while Kayla Jones checked in to run the offense for the final eight minutes of play. In the end, the Cardinals got back in the win column with a 65-43 victory and officially clinched their spot in the tournament.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Shamia Strayhorn, who put up a team-high 18 points on the day while also picking up her second double-double of the year with 10 rebounds. The junior also put together one of her most efficient outings of the season, shooting a team-best 66.7% (6-9) from the floor in the game while adding a 5-9 mark from the free throw line. The Cardinals also had two other players finish in double figures on the night, with Rachel Wilson (14) and Graci Fairman (10) each hitting the mark to round things out. Three different Cardinals led the passing game with three assists as Strayhorn, Jacqui Hinesmon, and Briarley Rogers all finishd the day with three.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, February 10th, when they travel to Davis & Elkins with tip-off at 2 PM.
