Wheeling, W. Va. - With the conclusion of the 2025-2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Women's Basketball regular season Saturday, the conference announced it's seedings and pairing for the 2026 MEC Women's Basketball tournament. The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team finished the year 17-11 overall and 12-8 in MEC play, earning a first round bye and the #6 seed in this year's tournament field. It is the second straight season in which the Cardinals have earned a first round bye, and they will match up with #3 seeded Charleston in the MEC Quarterfinals on Thursday, March 5th, with tip-off at noon.
With a new leader in Head Coach Ella Skeens and a young roster, the Cardinals embarked on the 2025-26 season looking to build off last year's success. They began the season with a grueling five-game conference schedule that saw the team run through some of the top talent across the Atlantic Region. Wheeling handled the challenge well, going 3-2 during the stretch, and started the conference schedule with a 67-53 win over Point Park. The Cardinals would end up splitting the first four conference games of the year, and a loss against Cedarville before the Christmas break put them at 6-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play. Coming off the break, the Cardinals faced adversity with two of the top five teams in this year's tournament and went 1-3 through the first four games of the 2026 portion of the schedule.
The turning point of the season would come on the road on January 17th, when they knocked off top seeded Glenville State 69-66. The win jumpstarted them on a three-game winning streak as they went 3-1 to round out January. After starting February 1-2, with losses to West Virginia Wesleyan and Fairmont State, Wheeling would play their best basketball of the season down the final two week stretch. They started things off with a 57-48 win over Frostburg State, and are currently riding a five-game winning streak into tournament play. They capped off the regular season in style with a 79-76 win against West Liberty in "The Battle for Wheeling" and they are hoping to keep that momentum going right into their conference tournament schedule.
Wheeling is led on both sides of the ball by senior Kenzie Dalton, who has been one of the most dynamic players in the conference. She has upped her scoring this season, sitting fourth in the conference with an average of 17.3 points per game, while leading the conference with 151 assists and sitting 10th with 7.4 rebounds/game. She also made history during the year, reaching milestone markers in all three categories, reaching both her 500th career rebound and 500th career assist, while also becoming the 30th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. Like the team, Dalton has been playing her best basketball down the stretch, scoring in double figures in nine straight games, averaging 22.4 points per game during that stretch.
She is surrounded by a strong cast of young players, including freshman Emma Reynolds and sophomore Emilia Sierra Lacosta. Sierra Lacosta has been the 1-2 compliment to Dalton this season, averaging a career-best 12.7 PPG. She has been the Cardinals strongest deep threat, hitting 30.7% (51-166) of her shots from beyond the arc. The only starter who sits in front of her is Emma Reynolds, who holds a team best 34.7% (33-95) mark from beyond the arc. The freshman has also played big in the rebounding game, sitting second on the team with 5.3 rebounds/game across 28 starts for the Cardinals. Reynolds and Sierra Lacosta will both play key roles in the team's tournament success this season.
The 2026 MEC Women's Basketball Tournament tips-off at WesBanco Arena on Wednesday, March 4th with first round action. The Cardinals will get a chance to watch #7 Frostburg State take on #10 Point Park, and #8 West Virginia State battle #9 West Liberty in first round action, before taking the court on Thursday. Wheeling will open their run in tournament play in the 2:30 PM game on Thursday, when they battle #3 seeded The University of Charleston. The Cardinals fell to the Golden Eagles in each of the two regular season meetings between the two teams, but lost by a combined eight points between the two games. Wheeling is looking to advance to the tournament semifinals for the first time since the 2021 MEC Tournament, when they battled this same Golden Eagles Team.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team begins their MEC Tournament run on Thursday, March 5th, when they take on the University of Charleston with tip-off at 2:30 PM.
