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Wheeling, W. Va. - After earning the first round bye in the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Women's Basketball Tournament, the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (17-11, 13-7) kicks off their tournament run in the Quarterfinals on Thursday. The Cardinals open their tournament run against #6 Glenville State, as they look to advance to the semifinals for the first time since the 2021 MEC Tournament, when they took on The University of Charleston.
The Cardinals closed out their regular season on the hilltop, wrapping up the annual "The Battle for Wheeling" rivalry against West Liberty. The Cardinal's offense came out hot, scoring 16 of the first 18 points over the first five minutes of play, and led 20-13 after one quarter. As the game rolled on, the script flipped in the second quarter, with West Liberty holding a 19-15 advantage, but the teams headed into the locker room with the Cardinals on top 35-32. The third quarter would see the Cardinals pull away, putting up 22 points during the third quarter and making 40% of their shots. They would put up a game-high 22 points in the quarter and upped their advantage to 57-42 with 10 minutes to go. Kowalska would get to turn to their depth for the final 10 minutes and they held the lead putting up 17 points to secure the 74-55 win.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Rachel Wilson, who finished with 20 points in the effort, while shooting 9-13 (69.2%) from the floor. After being held to single-digits in each of the last two games, it was a bounce back effort for the redshirt sophomore. She earned Second Team All-MEC honors for the first time in her career, after leading the Cardinals averaging both 12.4 PPG and 9.0 REB/G. She finished 13th in the conference in scoring this past season and fourth in the conference in rebounding. She finished fourth in offensive rebounds during the season and 14th in defensive rebounds to round out a strong season on the glass. As one of the veterans for the Cardinals this season, Wilson will be relied upon for her effort on the glass throughout the year.
Head Coach Anna Kowalska has emphasized defense throughout her coaching career and Kenzie Dalton has been the epitome of that philosophy. She earned the conference's first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award this season, and is among the conference leaders in both steals and assists. She finished second in the conference with 86 steals, just three behind Concord's Skylar Davidson, and tied for third in the conference with 122 assists. She has led a Cardinal defense that has held opponents to 55 points or less 10 times this season, and looks to continue that success in the tournament. Rounding out the leaders for the Cardinals is Kristel Rattasepp, who is averaging 10.7 PPG during her freshman season. She put up 11 points against West Liberty and looks to make her presence known on the court in her first-ever conference tournament.
The Cardinals enter this year's tournament as the #3 seed in the field, their highest finish since they earned the #2 seed out of the north division in the 2021 MEC Tournament. With the Cardinals getting to skip out on the first round, they will need three wins to get to the MEC Championship game for the first time since the 2016-17 season, which is the last time the Cardinals won the Championship. Over each of te last two seasons, the Cardinals have been eliminated in this quarterfinal round, with losses to The University of Charleston in each of those two seasons. As they enter this year's tournament, the Cardinals are looking to avenge their losses from each of the past two seasons, and get back to the MEC Semifinals on Saturday.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Pioneers are meeting for the 41st time in program history, and the fourth time in postseason history. Glenville State leads the all-time series with a record of 30-10, and also leads the postseason series going 2-1. Wheeling and Glenville State split the 2024-2025 season series in a pair of close contests decided by 12 points or less. The Cardinals are averaging 72.05 points per game in the all-time series and will look for their defense to lead the way in this one.
Their last meeting came on February 22nd, 2025 in a game that Wheeling would win 75-67 inside the Waco Center. Wheeling was led by Kristel Rattasepp, who finished with 22 points and shot 8-15 from the floor in the winning effort. Kenzie Dalton added 21 points, eight rebounds, and six steals in the effort, while Graci Fairman finished the night with 10 points off the bench.
The Details
Tip-off for Thursday's game is scheduled for 2:30 PM inside WesBanco Arena in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
