Wheeling, W. Va. - As the quarterfinal round of the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Women's Basketball Tournament kicked off on Thursday, the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (17-12, 13-7) made their way to WesBanco Arena. The young Cardinals team would fall behind early and, despite battling back, came up short as they fell to Glenville State 58-49. The Cardinal defense played strong throughout the day, holding the Pioneers to a 39.3% mark from the floor, but the Cardinals were unable to get things going on offense.
Both defenses were doing their part early on, with the two teams combining for just nine points over the first 4:30 of play. Glenville State would score seven of those nine points, with Rachel Wilson hitting the first Cardinal bucket with 5:44 to go in the quarter. The Pioneers pushed their lead to 11-3 after the media timeout, before a pair of free throws from Kenzie Dalton got them back in the game. Kristel Rattasepp would hit a layup and the Cardinals cut the advantage to 11-7, but the Pioneer's fast-paced offense just kept going building an 18-7 lead. The Cardinals would get the last points of the quarter when Graci Fairman went 1-2 from the free throw line, and Wheeling would trail 18-8 with the first quarter in the books.
The Cardinal defense continued to lock down, holding the Pioneers off the scoreboard for just under four minutes straight. The offense responded to start the new quarter, with Wilson sparking the Cardinals under the net scoring six straight points. It brought the run to an end at 7-0 for the Cardinals as they made it a two-point game at 18-16 with 7:54 to go in the half. It was a back and forth battle for position as the Cardinals got to within two points of the Pioneers on two different occasions. Dalton would hit a coast-to-coast layup with 6:41 to go in the half that brought the score to 24-22, capping a short 4-0 run for the Cardinals. However, the script flipped by quarter's end as Glenville State found their groove with a 10-0 run that lasted over the final six minutes of the quarter. Layla Merriweather would hit a three with 19 seconds remaining and the Cardinals would go into the half down by nine at 34-25.
The Cardinals would regroup during the halftime break, and Emilia Sierra Lacosta got them on the board with a three as they started the third quarter. After a pair of Pioneer free throws, the Cardinals would hit one of their biggest runs of the night, started by a Bryana Henderson jumper. It would be an 8-0 run for the Cardinals, with Wilson being responsible for six of those eight points and the Cardinals tied the game at 36-36. A short 4-0 Glenville run got them back on top at 40-36, and Bryana Henderson would hit a three that got the Cardinals to within one point at 40-39. Wheeling outscored Glenville State for the second straight quarter at 14-11, but a 5-0 Pioneer run at the end of the quarter had the Cardinals trailing 45-39 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
It was Wilson under the basket again that would break the run and she single handedly scored the first six points of the quarter for the Cardinals. After 10 points were scored over the first two and a half minutes of the quarter, things would quiet down with just one point scored, a Glenville State layup, over the next three and a half minutes. With the score sitting at 51-47, Rattasepp would break the scoreless stretch with a layup, but it came too little too late. A 6-0 Glenville State run over the next three plus minutes made it a 58-47 advantage that put the game out of reach. Kenzie Dalton would add the final Cardinal points of the season, hitting a layup with 16 seconds to go, an the Cardinals would fall by the final score of 58-49.
After the game, Head Coach Anna Kowalska talked about her team's youth and how they will grow from this experience.
"For us to have such a strong year, we end up being home for the tournament, it shows that we are moving in the right direction, just the number of freshmen we have costs us," said Head Coach Anna Kowalska. "It was their first time playing here and to do well here you have to have been here before to know what it takes. Overall I'm extremely proud of this team and how we competed this year, and we are excited to move forward and take steps in the right direction."
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Rachel Wilson, who picked up her team-leading 13th double-double of the season. She finished with a team-high 20 points and 11 rebounds in the game, while shooting a near perfect 10-12 (83.3%) from the floor. The other Cardinal to reach double figures on the day was Kenzie Dalton, who finished with 10 points, an added six rebounds in the effort. Kristel Rattasepp would lead the passing game, finishing with three assists, while Dalton rounded out her big day with a team-high four steals as she continued to show why she was the MEC's first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award winner.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team now heads to the off-season as they look to grow and get back to the MEC Tournament in 2025-2026.
