Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (16-11, 12-7) wrapped up the home portion of the 2024-2025 schedule on Wednesday night with a chance at a first round bye in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament on the line. After falling behind early, the Cardinals offense came charging back in the second half and ended the home slate on a 64-43 win over Point Park. With the win, the Cardinals clinched one of the six first round byes in the 2025 MEC Women's Basketball Tournament.
Both sides had their best defense working early on, with only eight combined points over the first five and a half minutes of play. The Cardinals would get the scoring started with a Rachel Wilson layup at the 9:10 mark, and it wasn't until Wilson added her second layup at the 5:53 mark that the Cardinals were back on the board. With the game sitting tied at 4-4, Point Park's Alexis Giles banked in a three, and Wilson responded with another layup to send things into the media timeout sitting at 7-6 in favor of the Pioneers. The Cardinals temporarily took the lead back on a Sierra Lacosta layup, but Point Park once again answered with a short 5-0 run that gave them a 12-8 advantage. Kristel Rattasepp broke the run with a layup, but it was enough to send the Pioneers into the second quarter with a 14-10 lead.
As the second quarter began, the Cardinals would look for an opening and found it with Bryana Henderson. Two minutes into the quarter, Henderson would work her way to the free throw line and kicked off a 4-0 Cardinal run that tied the game T 14-14. The Pioneers responded with four straight points of their own, before Henderson as back G if from three-point range. Kristel Rattasepp would follow with a three-pointer of her own to get the Cardinals back in front at 20-18. Point Park would even the score once again before the media timeout and the next two minutes would be quiet as both defenses held the tie. Point Park overtook the Cardinals at 22-20, but it was freshman Emilia Sierra Lacosta that put the Cardinals ahead for good. She scored the final seven points of the half for the Cardinals and they headed into the locker room up 27-22.
They kept the momentum going into the second half, pushing their run to 11-0, with Lacosta adding two more points to make it a 32-22 lead. Point Park momentarily broke the run, but Sierra Lacosta wouldn't be stopped as she made back-to-back buckets for make it a 36-26 Cardinal lead. As the quarter went on, the teams would go back and forth as the Cardinals built their biggest lead of the night at 40-29 with 3:14 to go in the quarter. The Pioneers got back to within single digits at 40-32, but the Cardinals rounded out the quarter strong. Henderson was the one to get things going, hitting a three-pointer as she kicked off an 8-0 run. Graci Fairman would end the run with a three and a layup to end the quarter and the Cardinals were staked to a 48-32 lead.
The Cardinals would shoot a game-best 55.33% from the floor in the quarter and would seal the deal over the final 10 minutes. Wilson would hit a layup to start the quarter before Point Park went on a 6-0 run to make it a 50-38 game, before Dalton broke the run with a layup. It started a 5-0 run for the Cardinals and, with 4:23 to go it was a 55-38 game. It was the freshman duo of Kristel Rattasepp and Sierra Lacosta who brought the game home. They scored six of the final nine points, including a pair of layups from Sierra Lacosta. The final points of the night would come from Hillari Baker, and the Cardinals would go on to win by the final score of 64-43. The Cardinals would continue their efficient second half effort, shooting 42.86% from the floor over the final 10 minutes of play.
Pacing the Cardinal effort was freshman Emilia Sierra Lacosta, who tied hee career-high with 19 points in the effort. She was efficient from the floor, shooting 9-17 (52.4%) as she equaled her career-high, which she set back on December 21st against Ohio Dominican. The other Cardinal to hit double figures was Bryana Henderson, who finished with 17 points in the effort, while leading the team with a 3-6 mark from three-point range. Rachel Wilson would lead the defensive game, finishing with 10 rebounds, while Kenzie Dalton added four assists to lead the passing game. With the win, the Cardinals have guaranteed themselves a first round bye in the MEC Tournament as they play for seeding in their finals.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, March 1st, when they hit the road to face West Liberty with tip-off at 2 PM.
