Wheeling, W. Va. - The Mountain East Conference (MEC) Quarterfinals came to WesBanco Arena on Thursday as the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team (17-12, 12-8) began their tournament run. It was a battle of the top two defenses in the conference as the Cardinals took on #3 seeded the University of Charleston as Wheeling looked to avenge a pair of postseason losses to the Golden Eagles over the last two seasons. However, Wheeling fell behind early, and it proved to be too much to overcome as the Cardinals fell 69-55.
Leading the way for one final time in her career was senior Kenzie Dalton, who scored a team-leading 20 points, while also leading the way with eight rebounds and five assists. She shot 8-18 (44.7%) from the floor, with two of those coming from three-point range and added a 2-4 mark from the charity stripe. The two-time MEC Defensive Player of the Year was ferocious on the defensive side of the ball, accounting for five of her team's nine steals in the effort, while seven of her eight rebounds came on the defensive side. It capped off what has been a historic career for the senior, who has amassed 1,000+ points, 500+ assists, 500+ rebounds, and 300+ steals across her four-year career with the Cardinals. She is one of only two players to go over the 300-career steal mark, and became the 30th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career point mark on February 21st when the team met with Glenville State inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center.
"There are multiple time this year where she was able to put this team on her back, and not just on the court she has been a huge help to the coaching staff, to the younger players outside of the court," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Ella Skeens. "She is going to be a doctor one day, saving lives. She is an incredible person and an incredible player here at Wheeling for all four years. I got to know her for three and she is one of a kind. I was fortunate in my first year to get to coach a kid like Kenzie Dalton."
Through the first three minutes of the game, the Golden Eagles would build a 9-2 lead before the Cardinal seniors got them going. Graci Fairman would break the run with a jumper, and Dalton drove into the paint off a Golden Eagle turnover to make it a 9-6 game. Wheeling's first three would come with 5:44 to go in the quarter, courtesy of Hillari Baker, and Wheeling cut what was a seven-point deficit into a two-point gap. Both defenses showed their colors over the final five minutes of the quarter, with the two teams coring just seven points. Emilia Sierra Lacosta would account for the two Cardinal tallies, and Charleston's Bridget Womber would get to the net with 51 seconds left for the final points of the quarter. Wheeling would trail 15-11 after the first quarter as the Cardinals would try to battle back before the half.
Charleston kept their run going into the second quarter, pushing the advantage to 19-11 before Dalton broke the run off a defensive rebound. She drove into the paint and got the Cardinals on the board to make it a 19-13 game with 7:51 to go before the half. However, the Golden Eagles offense was relentless, stockpiling a 10-2 run between the quarters as they opened the lead to 28-14 on the other side of the media timeout. Dalton broke the run with a fast break layup and, with 14 seconds to play, Emilia Sierra Lacosta hit a three that sent the game into halftime with Charleston leading 32-21. The Cardinals shot just 25% from the floor in the second quarter, including a 20% mark from three-point range, and they would look for more consistency in the second half.
Dalton would get things going coming out of the break, going 1-2 from the free throw line, and added a three that got the game back to 34-25. With 5:29 to go in the quarter, Fairman would drive in for a lay-up that kept the deficit at 11 points. Charleston would hit a 9-0 run over the next three minutes, and the deficit moved to 47-27 with 2:14 to play. A Fairman three would break the run, but by the end of the quarter the Cardinals were trailing 54-33. Emma Reynolds would hit a lay-up with 9:50 to go. Charleston continued to hold the advantage at 62-51 and the Cardinals would make one last push to try and move the game to overtime.
Reynolds would start things with a layup and Dalton followed with a layup of her own on the next possession to make it a 62-53 game. However, Charleston would end up closing things out with a 7-0 run and, despite a Hillari Baker layup to end the game, the Cardinals would fall by the final score of 69-55. The final quarter would see the Cardinals have their most efficient shooting performance, hitting 10-15 (66.7%) from the floor, including a 2-6 mark from three-point range. It was the only quarter in which the Cardinals outscored Charleston, putting up a game-high 22-points to round out a strong first season under Skeens.
Behind Dalton's 20-point effort, Emilia Sierra Lacosta finished with 13 points, and was Wheeling's most efficient shooter from the floor. She would put up 13 points in the effort, while shooting 5-9 (55.6%) from the floor and 2-3 from beyond the arc. Emma Reynolds would be the final Cardinal to reach the double-digit mark, putting up 10 points and grabbing three rebounds in the effort. Leading the bench on the day was sophomore Hillari Baker, who finished with five points, including one of her team's six three-pointers. Despite the loss, the Cardinals have a lot of talent returning to next year's program, and Skeens is excited to build a winning culture with the Cardinals.
"Believing in each other, trusting in each other, it didn't just come from our staff but it came from the players to," said Skeens. "We have a lot more to prove. It takes time to build a culture and that's what we want to do here at Wheeling."
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team now heads into the off-season as they look to grow towards the 2026-2027 season.
