Wheeling, W. Va- Being under a half hour from one another, there was bound to be a rivalry formed between West Liberty and the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (17-11), (12-8). The McDonough Center was packed, loud, and intense as fans from both sides cheered their respective teams on passionately. Despite the noise, the Cardinals defended their home court, picking up a 79-76 win over the Hilltoppers, and their fifth straight win to close out the regular season on a roll. With it being the final home game, the program honored its three seniors: Aluel Tong, Graci Fairman, and Kenzie Dalton before the opening tip-off. Dalton treated the fans to something special by dropping a career-high 33 points against the Hilltoppers in the shootout win.  

Wheeling and West Liberty did not let much time pass off the clock before answering the other, which would become a common theme throughout the entirety of the contest. Dalton kicked off the game with a quick jumper to draw first blood. With the Hilltoppers basket, the score was evened, until Emma Reynolds dropped in the game's first three-pointer to go up 5-2. A basket on the other end put West Lib down one, and then Emilia Sierra Lacosta drove inside the paint to put three points in between the two schools, 7-4 with 6:07 left in the first quarter. The Toppers made back-to-back field goals to take their first lead of the game, but after the media timeout, Dalton snatched the lead back for the Cardinals with a triple. West Liberty, again, made baskets on consecutive possessions, but Wheeling tied it at 12 with a layup by Graci Fairman. Amyah Maxwell came off the bench and immediately had an impact as she completed a three-point play to take a 15-12 lead with under two minutes remaining. Lacosta's layup stretched the lead to four, the largest lead of the game to this point, 17-13. However, the Hilltoppers made two free throws at the end of the quarter to make it a 17-15 Wheeling advantage. 

Elena Marin Dawid opened the second quarter with a driving layup, but the Hilltoppers were up to the task. They picked up the following six points without a response from the red and black to go up by two, 21-19. Yet it was short lived as Dalton knotted it back up in the paint, 21-21, with seven and a half left in the second. Maxwell snatched the ball away from West Liberty, which set up a three-pointer by Dalton to take the lead. A three-ball from West Lib put it back to a tie. However, a two-for-two trip at the line and a nice shot from beyond the arc by Maxwell gave the Cards a five-point lead, 29-24 with four minutes left. Two free throws and a tip-in by the Toppers got them to within one, but Fairman made a free throw to take a 30-28 lead into the locker room for her squad. 

This time, it was West Liberty that got the ball rolling out of the half with a three-point play to take a small lead. Reynolds made one of two shots at the line, and Dalton added two more points to go up 33-31. Then, a 5-0 run by the Toppers gave them a three-point lead with a little over seven minutes left to play in the third. Consecutive possessions by the Cardinals allowed them to regain the lead, but a deep shot by West Liberty put them up 39-37. Hillari Baker tied it at 39, and then after about a minute of no scoring, Dalton connected from deep to take a 42-39 lead with five minutes to play in the third. After the media timeout, the scoring picked up, and it got started with the Hilltoppers making back-to-back baskets to go up 43-42. Then, the teams took turns with the lead for about a minute straight, resulting in another five lead swaps. In that stretch, Reynolds was responsible for four points, and Fairman made a three-pointer. With under a minute left now, Dalton and Baker made their free throws, and now Wheeling was up by three with only 10 minutes left, 53-50.  

Once again, it was West Liberty who opened the scoring for the final quarter with a loud triple to even the score at 53. Dalton was feeling herself all game long, and it carried over to the fourth as she picked up the next six points for the Cardinals. The Hilltoppers were able to keep pace and eventually brought the game back to even after trailing by as many as four, 59-59. Dalton added three points, making one of two shots at the line and a jumper right before the media timeout to go up 62-61 with roughly 5:45 left to play. Lacosta tipped in a shot from the paint to go up three, but after the Hilltoppers got fouled and made both free throws, it was a one-point game in favor of the Cardinals, 64-63. It was here that the Cardinals caught fire and were about to blow the roof off the McDonough Center; Reynolds kicked off a soon-to-be 7-0 run with a good shot off the glass. Next, Dalton came up with a steal and made the Toppers pay by knocking down a triple to go up 69-63. Then, a steal from Reynolds got the ball back to Dalton in the paint to take the largest lead of the night of eight points, 71-63, with about three minutes remaining. 

Lacosta restored the eight-point lead with two free throws as West Liberty had made their two shots at the line right before that. All of a sudden, the Hilltoppers sprung themselves back into the game with a 7-0 run, and there were under two minutes left to go, down by just one, 73-72. Reynolds put the Cards up by three twice after a West Lib basket cut it to one in between her shots. After timeouts from both teams, Reynolds made it a two-possession game with a one-for-two trip at the line with nine seconds left. The Toppers were able to pick up a jumper to cut the lead to two, but Fairman iced the game with a shot at the free throw line to give Wheeling their 79-76 win over West Liberty, and to pick up their fifth straight win to close out the regular season. 

Kenzie Dalton dominated, as usual, but even more so this afternoon. On senior day, she recorded a career-high 33 points and made 13 of 16 shots from the field, including all four of her three-point attempts. The senior also tallied seven rebounds, five steals, and three assists. Emma Reynolds recorded 15 points after making six of nine shots. Emilia Sierra Lacosta put up 10 points and Amayah Maxwell came off the bench to record a career-high eight points. Graci Fairman finished with seven points, while Hillari Baker ended with four, and Elena Marin Dawid finished with two.  

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team has officially clinched the sixth seed in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament and will take on third seeded Charleston in the quarterfinals inside WesBanco Arena on March 5th. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.