Wheeling, W. Va- The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (12-11), (7-8) had a dream start against the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons on Wednesday night, leading 18-7 by the end of the first. The Falcons soared back in the second, but the Cardinals were still ahead by halftime. Fairmont came out of the locker room making 10-14 (71.4%) from the field to take their first lead since the early stages of the first and stayed out in front for the remainder of the contest. Wheeling was unable to mount a comeback in the fourth and therefore came up short at Fairmont State 68-60. They now prepare to welcome the Frostburg State Bobcats, who sit right behind Wheeling in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) standings, and the Cardinals will try to get refocused and pick up a win in front of their home crowd.
Kenzie Dalton continues to wreak havoc on anyone bold enough to defend her. Against Fairmont, she put up 20 points and 11 rebounds, which marks her fourth double-double finish this season. Dalton has proven herself to be one of the top talents in the league, but she has truly been on another level recently. In the past four games, she has dropped in nine baskets and has made a little under half of her shots from the field(45.5%). To validate her dominance, she has made 21 of 29 free throws, grabbed 31 rebounds, dished out 27 assists, and snatched the ball from the opposition nine times. Dalton has recorded back-to-back double-doubles in the last two games the Cardinals have played, and there seems to be no sign of her slowing down. She is doing all she can to move her squad up the standings to give them the highest possible seeding for the MEC Tournament, which is set to start on March 4th.
Following a five-game stint of being held under 10 points, Graci Fairman broke the double-digit threshold when she finished with 12 points against the Fighting Falcons. Her performance was respectable, making 50% of her shots from the field and 75% from behind the arc while collecting three rebounds and two assists. The senior from Pittsburgh, PA probably feels a little bit relieved with her shooting performance from deep because she had not made a three-pointer since January 21st against Salem. Hopefully she has found new confidence from distance and can get back to being a threat from the corner.
She has only started in just half of the games for the Cardinals this season, but Elena Marin Dawid has been quietly cooking. In the past two games, the sophomore from Luxembourg has 16 points, 16 rebounds, and has made 58.3% (7-12) of her shots from the field. She has seen an uptick in her minutes played, averaging 41.5 minutes per game over the last two outings, meaning that the Cardinals know they can count on Dawid to produce on the court in a depth role.
As previously stated in the beginning, the Cardinals started out very favorably against the Fighting Falcons, making 50.0% (8-16) shots from the floor. However, they were simply unable to keep pace with Fairmont throughout the duration of the game. Wheeling is known to be responsible with the ball, but the 16 turnovers against the Falcons says otherwise. Wheeling remains the number one scoring defense in the MEC despite the loss and will need to stick to that identity in their upcoming battle against a team who they have beaten already, but it may not be as easy to beat them again.
Bobcats Coming Out of the Frosty Den
Frostburg State snapped a two-game losing streak on Wednesday when they took down West Liberty 68-62. Junior forward Jenna Muha recorded a career-high 29 points and a game-high of 15 rebounds to mark her eighth double-double of the season. Muha added three blocks and four steals to round out her career night. Sophomore guard Ayla Hileman finished as the next-highest scorer with 14 points after dropping in 6-11 shots from the field.
Sophomore forward Julie Spinelli leads the Bobcats and is third in the MEC scoring race, averaging 17.6 points per game. Muha's name appears in the conference's top five rebounding, field goal, and free throw percentage lists, averaging 8.5rpg, making 53.9% from the field, and 80.8% from the free throw line. Spinelli is placed higher than Muha with an 86.1% from the charity stripe, making Frostburg State the ninth-best free throw percentage team in Division II with a 79.2% success rate. The Bobcats are lethal from the perimeter, making 35.4% of their attempts from behind the arc thanks in part to the efforts of Hileman' 40.8% from that part of the court.
Frostburg sits seventh in the MEC right behind Wheeling, so this matchup is a must-win for both schools in terms of positioning and seeding for the tournament. Wheeling took down Frostburg 72-63 in the last meeting on January 10th and extended the record to 10-3 in favor of the Cardinals. Dalton led the floor with 25 points followed by 17 points from Emma Reynolds and 15 for Fairman. Spinelli dropped 21 points for The Bobcats and Hileman recorded 19.
The Details
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team hosts the Frostburg State Bobcats tomorrow, February 14th, 2026, for a 2 pm tip-off. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain East Digital Network HERE and Live Stats will be available HERE.
