Elkins, W. Va- Following their tough overtime loss to West Virginia Wesleyan at home in their last outing, the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (12-10), (7-7) took to the road to face-off against the Davis & Elkins Senators. The Cardinals were not expecting to play back-to-back overtime games, but that was the case today as the Sens played with resiliency and grit. Fortunately, Wheeling was able to take care of business and come away with a 68-63 win lead by senior guard Kenzie Dalton, who recorded 28 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cardinals started the contest making their first three field goals when Elena Marin Dawid and Emma Reynolds dropped in the opening buckets and then Reynolds connected from range to pull Wheeling ahead 7-2just two minutes into the first quarter. The Senators worked their way back to a tie eventually, but Emilia Sierra Lacosta kept the Cards ahead with a quick jumper for a 10-8 lead with four and a half left. D&E took their first lead shortly after, but Wheeling would close out the quarter on a 10-2 run as Dalton sank four of four shots from the field and tacked on a free throw to give her squad the 20-14 advantage.
The Davis & Elkins offense came alive in the second quarter, out pacing the Cardinals 15-6, and it started with the Senators slowly chipping away at the margin across 4:23 to put themselves down by just two, 22-20. The Sens tied it at 22 at the 3:14 mark, which forced Wheeling to call a timeout to regroup. The quick stop seemed to help the Cardinals as Dalton laid a shot off the backboard, but the Senators responded immediately with a layup of their own. D&E hit two free throws to give them the lead with 1:45 remaining in the half. Dawid tied the game again on the next possession, however, the Senators sank a three-pointer with under a minute left,and they would take a 29-26 lead into the locker rooms.
Lacosta got the Cardinals off the ground with back-to-back layups followed by a splash attack by Reynolds for a 33-31 lead with 8:04 to play. Then, the Senators went on an 11-3 tear until the media stoppage to push themselves ahead 42-36. Hillari Baker and Graci Fairman picked up two points each after the break, but the D&E did a good job of responding in a timely fashion to keep their lead intact, 45-40. With the final 2:27 of the third quarter, Wheeling ended strong with a 7-4 run as a jump shot from Amyah Maxwell closed the margin to two, but D&E remained on top 49-47.
The teams traded field goals in the opening two minutes of the fourth. However, the defense from each school prevented the other from hitting their shots until Lacosta broke the drought after coming down with the bucket and the foul to put the Cards back on top 54-53 with 6:10 remaining. Even though that play could have been enough to turn the tides, the Sens still had gas in the tank and showed it off with a 7-0 in the span of three minutes to stretch their lead out by six, 60-54, with under two minutes left. Despite being down, Dalton willed Wheeling back into it, scoring the next five points in a span of 26 seconds. Only down by one, Baker remained composed after grabbing the defensive rebound and worked herself down low for a layup off the glass to go up by one with 53 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, the Senators drew a foul, made one of two shots from the free throw line, which tied the contest at 61and forced overtime.
The Cardinals did not allow the transition from regulation to extra time to cool them off because they picked up right where they left off, conceding only two points in five minutes. Baker kicked it off with a trip to the line and making both shots. After the only field goal from the Senators in OT tied up the game at 63, Dalton swooped in and took the ball away from them, shoveled it over to Dawid, and she put Wheeling back in front. The Cardinals waited out the remaining 1:30 seconds and only shot when necessary. Wheeling did an excellent job of retrieving the offensive rebounds, which led to Dalton drawing two fouls. She made three of the final four shots at the line to give Wheeling the overtime victory over Davis & Elkins by a final score of 68-63.
Dalton tied her season-high of 28 points that she had previously set against Edinboro on November 15th. Her 10 rebounds marked her third double-double of the season. Emilia Sierra Lacosta finished with nine points while Elena Marin Dawid and Emma Reynolds finished with eight. Hillari Baker and Graci Fairman ended the afternoon with six points each.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team will continue their road trip on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, when they take on the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
