Wheeling, W.Va- A loss is never ideal, no matter what part of the season it is. However, the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (5-3), (1-1) has a chance to make it right with a small two-game home stand, starting off with a team that is essentially a mirror image of the Cardinals: The Charleston Golden Eagles. It is still early in the season, but Wheeling is out to assert itself as a serious threat in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). A win against the Golden Eagles would go a long way toward helping their agenda.
This past Wednesday marked the first MEC loss for the Cardinals this season when they traveled to Institute, W.V, to take on the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets. State jumped out to an early 15-9 lead in the first frame, but Wheeling made sure to stay locked in defensively to force steals and limit the opposition from scoring as State managed to take a 25-20 lead into the break. Wheeling would start the third quarter off nicely, scoring the first five points, but WVSU matched the pace and proceeded to go on a 7-0 run late in the third quarter for a 41-34 advantage headed into the final period. The Yellow Jackets started the fourth hot to go up by 15 into the final media timeout. The Cardinals worked hard in the final minutes, but ultimately, it was not enough to overcome the deficit as they fell 62-51.
Emilia Sierra Lacosta was by far the most active Cardinal and player of the game, recording a career-high 23 points. Additionally, she shot an impressive 8-17 from the field and drilled five of nine attempts from behind the arc. Lacosta continues to make a name for herself in the conference with each game she plays. She sits second in the MEC with a 36.2% three-point percentage and averages 2.6 per game, which is also second in the conference. She has also made her first appearance in the top 15 field goal percentage leaders, making 36.0% of her shots from the field this season.
After back-to-back games finishing with double-digit points, Kenzie Dalton managed just six points in the loss to the Yellow Jackets. This is only the second time this season that she has not ended with 10 or more points, with the last time coming against Washington Adventist on November 23rd. Despite this performance being an outlier for Dalton, she continued to prove why she is the greatest ball thief in the conference. She set a new season-high and tied her career-high with six steals, and she leads the MEC with 27 steals and averages 3.4 per game.
Even though the Cardinals were unable to get the job done on the road against the Yellow Jackets, they will have a chance to host a Golden Eagles team that plays extremely similar to them. Wheeling still boasts the best scoring defense in the MEC, only giving up 51.9 points per game; Charleston sits right below them at 65.5 , though. Wheeling is the best team to defend against the three-ball, allowing an average of 18.2%, but UC is a team that likes to shoot the deep ball with a 34.0% chance it will land. When looking at the statistical categories, there is not much that separates these two squads, so it will all come down to who wants it more.
Eagles Flying to the Nest
UC is coming off a 73-67 win at home against West Liberty. With the win, they moved to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the MEC. The Golden Eagles shot a collective 50% from the field and sank 7-16 shots from downtown against the Hilltoppers due in large part to depth scoring and a 21-point effort by senior Ksenija Mitric. She would be helped by freshman Jordan Scully, who recorded a career-high 16 points and a double-double for Harper Annarino, making it her third of the season.
Wheeling snapped a 15-game losing streak to Charleston in the last contest the two played against one another on January 29th, 2025. The 56-48 win came in large part to the Cardinals shutting down the Golden Eagles' top scorers all game long and severely limiting their chance of a comeback in the second half. Former Cardinal Kristel Rattasepp, who transferred to UC this past summer, finished with 20 points after sinking 7-14 attempts from the field.
The Details
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team will host the University of Charleston tomorrow, December 13th, 2025, at 2 pm inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. The game will be live streamed on the Mountain East Digital Network HERE and LiveStats can be viewed HERE.
