Wheeling, W. Va. - As the winter sports seasons reach their first half finales, the Cardinals are finishing up the year on the hardwood. The Wheeling University Athletic Department announced their weekly Cardinal High Flyer of the Week awards on Wednesday, and it was a pair of career-best efforts that brought home the awards this week. Wheeling Women's Basketball player Emilia Sierra Lacosta earned Female High Flyer of the Week honors while Men's Basketball player Ayden Goll earned the Male High Flyer of the Week honors.
Three Cardinal programs were in competition during the week, with the Men's and Women's Basketball teams kicking things off with a road trip to Institute, West Virginia. The Wheeling Women's Basketball team would fall to the Yellow Jackets 62-51, while the Men's Basketball team fell 92-81 to round out the doubleheader. After two days off, all three Cardinal teams were in action on a busy Saturday, with Wrestling joining the mix. The Cardinal wrestlers traveled to The Midwest Classic, where they were able to spread three wins across seven wrestlers, totaling 5.5 team points. The action wrapped up on the home court, with the Wheeling Men's Basketball team starting the doubleheader against Charleston. The men would earn a 77-75 win, and the women would wrap up the doubleheader with a 56-51 win over the Golden Eagles to round out the weekend.
Emilia Sierra Lacosta earned her first Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award of the season after pacing the Cardinals against a pair of tough MEC opponents. The sophomore finished with 41 points across the two games, while shooting 15-33 (45.4%) from the floor and 9-18 (50%) from three-point range. Her top performance of the week came against West Virginia State, where she set her new career high with 23 points in the effort. She was the lone Cardinal to reach double digits on the day, and shot a healthy 5-9 (55.5%) from three-point range. She also made her presence felt on the defensive end of the ball during the week, finishing with six rebounds and two steals to help lead a Cardinal defense that leads the conference with 52.3 PPG allowed this season.
Redshirt freshman Ayden Goll is also earning his first Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award of the season, and also had a career-high effort. It would come against the University of Charleston, where he put up 23 points while shooting 6-16 (37.5%) from the floor and a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe. For the week in total, the redshirt freshman finished with 38 points, four assists, and seven rebounds while shooting 10-27 (37%) from the floor and 5-14 (35.7%) from three-point range. He added a perfect week from the charity stripe, going 13-13 on free throws to round out the big week. He has been in double digits in every game for the Cardinals this season, while holding the MEC's best free throw percentage with a 92.7% mark from the free throw line.
Emilia Sierra Lacosta is the third Wheeling Women's Basketball player to earn Cardinal High Flyer of the Week honors, while Ayden Goll is taking home the second award for the men. Sierra Lacosta joins teammates Emma Reynolds and Kenzie Dalton in earning honors while Goll joins Caleb Murray as Men's Basketball honorees. Last week, the Cardinals honored Women's Track & Field athlete Autumn Kerchner and Wheeling Men's Basketball player Caleb Murray.
The next Wheeling University athletic event is scheduled for Saturday, December 20th, when the Wheeling Women's Basketball team takes on Cedarville with tip-off at 2 PM.
