Wheeling, W. Va. – The early portion of the season has seen the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (2-1, 0-0) get to defend their home court. On Sunday, the early season non-conference portion of their schedule comes to an end when they host Washington Adventist with tip-off at 2 PM. The Cardinals will play the second half of the first home basketball doubleheader of the season as they look to keep their winning ways going.
Last time out, the Cardinals hosted Pitt-Johnstown in a midweek non-conference match-up. Early on it was back and forth between the two teams, with the score sitting even at 14-14 after one quarter of play. The second quarter would see the Cardinals use the three ball to their advantage, shooting 2-3 from the arc to go along with a 50% mark from the floor. The result was the Cardinals outscoring Pitt-Johnstown 19-10 in the quarter and heading into halftime with a 33-24 advantage. Wheeling's defense would hold the Mountain Cats to a 40% mark from the floor in the quarter, and that defense would be enough to keep the Cardinals in front the rest of the way. Despite being outscored 16-14 in the third quarter, Wheeling would hit 54% of their shots in the third quarter and translated that to fourth quarter success. Wheeling and Pitt-Johnstown would go back and forth with one point separating the team, but the Cardinals were able to hold on for the 62-54 victory.
For the third game in a row, the Cardinals were led by Kenzie Dalton, who finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, with each of those marks at least tying for the team lead in those categories. With the effort, the Cardinal senior has now scored 18 or more points in each of the three games, while shooting a team-best 52.2% from the floor on the season. She brought her season average to 21.7 on the season and continues to pace the Cardinal's offensive effort. Along with her offensive output, she has also led the defensive side of the floor, leading the way with 8.3 rebounds per game as well as 21 assists. She is also pacing the effort in the steals game, with seven on the season and, although she did not have a steal against Pitt-Johnstown, she stet her season-high with four against Edinboro in the team's first win of the season. She has led the Cardinals in almost every category in the early going, having three near triole-doubles, and looks to continue leading the team down the stretch.
The other Cardinal to have a big impact on the floor was freshman Emma Reynolds. Reynolds has been thrown right into the starting lineup from day one, and scored a career-best 14 points in the winning effort. She tied with Dalton for the team lead with seven rebounds, while having the highest +/- on the team at 11. When she was on the floor, the Cardinal defense held strong and their offense made the most of their opportunities. It was the first time this season that Reynolds has reached double digits on the season, thanks to an efficient shooting percentage, seeing her go 5-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the three-point line. The final double digit scorer for the Cardinals was Emilia Sierra Lacosta, who equalled Reynold's mark of 14 points on the day. The Cardinals would shoot 31.6% from three-point range and half of those came from Sierra Lacosta. She would go 3-7 from beyond the arc on the day, hitting a 42.9% mark from three point range.
Through the first three games of the season, the Cardinals have continued to show the Hallmark defense that has led them over the past couple of seasons. Entering play on Sunday, the Cardinals are allowing an average of 57.7 points per game. They currently sit second among conference opponents in defense this season, with the only team ahead of them being Point Park, who played one game so far on the season. As a result of the strong defensive effort, the Cardinals are tied for second in the conference with a 7.0 margin that has helped them to this early season success. In the early going, the Caridnals have kept right up with the rest of the conference, sitting fifth with a record of 2-1 through three games. They are one of three teams with only one loss in the preseason, with Concord sitting ahead of them at 3-1 and West Virginia Wesleyan sitting behind them at 1-1. The Cardinals look to keep their strong defensive effort going as they push through the early season homestand.
The Match-up
The Cardinals and Shock are meeting for the first time in program history when they meet up on Sunday. Washington Adventist is a member of the NAIA and plays in the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC). They have gotten off to a strong start to the 2025-2026 season, going 4-0 through their first four games of the season. Last time out, they would beat Eastern Mennonite University in a 67-62 game. Last season, the Shock would go 16-11 overall and 7-1 in CAC play. The Cardinals look to open the all-time series with a win on the home court.
The Details
Tip-Off for Sunday's game is scheduled for 2 PM inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
