The win was the eighth in the last nine games for the Rams, who improved to 21-8 overall and will advance to Saturday's semifinal round where they will face sixth-seeded Notre Dame College at 2:15 p.m. The Falcons (19-11) rallied in the second half to knock off third-seeded CharlestonThursday afternoon, 65-55.

Shepherd seniors Gabby Flinchum and Briana Vaden combined for over half of the Rams' points in the victory. Flinchum posted her second double-double performance of the season finishing with a team-high 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Vaden turned in a career-high 25-point effort, which included an 11-of-12 performance from the foul line. She also handed out a game-high seven assists.

"I wanted to win so bad," said Flinchum, the Rams' 6-3 center. "We didn't get a chance to come here last year. This year we've had a huge turnaround and we all wanted to win down here so bad.

"I just wanted to do my part and contribute the best way I knew how. We knew they were going to trap outside and I was open and my teammates got me the ball. When I was covered I had no trouble kicking it back out because our guards can shoot."

The Rams connected on 49.3 percent (34-of-69) of their shots from the field in the win, including a 7-of-11 showing (63.6 percent) from 3-point range. Shepherd was also solid at the foul line where it made 25-of-30 attempts (83.3 percent).

"We knew Glenville was a tough draw for us coming in with the way they press and the way they can shoot the ball, but I really thought the best thing we did today was stop their runs," said first-year Shepherd coach Jenna Eckleberry. "It seemed like every time they started to make a run we were able to answer it. As a team we showed a lot of poise and confidence handling their pressure and stopping their runs."

Glenville State, which finished the season with a 15-13 record, never led in the contest. The Pioneers, led by senior Keyanna Tate's game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds, made numerous attempts to execute one of their game-changing spurts, but on this day Shepherd was equal to the task.

"It was one of those games where it just wasn't our day," said GSC coach Charles Marshall. "We gave great effort today. Our kids played their butts off. We were down 17 there at one point and fought back and made it a game, but we just couldn't get all the way back.

"Give Shepherd credit. They made shots every time we attempted to come back and made big plays when they had to."

Tate, who recorded her team-leading seventh double-double performance of the season, agrees.

"It was frustrating because every time we made a run they were knocking down shots," said Tate. "It wasn't our best performance on defense. They were knocking down shots that we wanted them to take and they did a good job of getting and making shots that we didn't want them to take."

Shepherd also got 17 points and eight rebounds from senior guard Rachel Johnson and 11 points and eight boards from senior guard Alex Weakland.

The Rams' second-leading scorer for the season, sophomore guard Cara Mason, only played 11 total minutes and finished with six points before leaving in the opening half with an ankle injury which will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.

"Cara is a go-to player and scorer for us and when she went down we knew someone had to step up and I felt why not me," said Vaden.

The only other Glenville State player to reach double digits in scoring besides Tate was senior guard Katrina Salinas, who finished with 10 points. The Pioneers also got nine points apiece from Kayla Tibbs and Kristin DesRocher.

Notre Dame 65, Charleston 55
Final Stats | Postgame: Notre Dame | Charleston

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The third time was indeed a charm for Notre Dame College here Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The sixth-seeded Falcons used a 25-4 run over the course of a 9:24 span in the second half to wipe out a nine-point deficit and record their third win of the season over third-seeded Charleston, 65-55.

The victory improved Notre Dame to 19-11 on the year and sets up a meeting with second-seeded Shepherd University (21-8) in the tournament semifinals Saturday at 2:15 p.m. The Rams eliminated seventh-seeded Glenville in Thursday's first quarterfinal round game, 100-91.

"Obviously this game was a tale of two halves for us," said Notre Dame coach Katie Hine. "The first half was a combination of two things for us. We couldn't figure out how to score and when we did get good looks they weren't going in.

"In the second half we had to go to the drawing board and adjust some things mainly to open these two (Martha Nagbe and Lauren Langenderfer) up and to take advantage of some holes in their 1-3-1 defense. If they weren't going to adjust their defense we had to adjust our offense."

The adjustments worked and allowed Notre Dame to both press defensively and get into its up-and-down the court attack on offense which in turn changed the game.

"I thought we did a tremendous job in the first half of playing very hard and playing with a lot of energy and effort," said UC coach Adam Collins, whose squad fell to 22-7 with the loss. "That was something we lacked in our first two meetings with them.

"In the second half they (Notre Dame) picked up their energy and we didn't push back enough. We shot a higher percentage than they did, we made more field goals than they did and we out-rebounded them so the only two different categories there is they shot a lot more free throws than we did and we turned the ball over 23 times (20 of which came in the second half). That's a testament to how hard they played. They got in positions to get fouled and they were very active with their press."

Charleston led 30-19 at the half and held a 38-29 advantage with 14:09remaining when Notre Dame caught fire. Led by junior guards Langenderfer and Nagbe, who finished with 15 and 14 points respectively in the win, the Falcons exploded on their game-changing 25-4 run which turned their nine-point deficit into a 54-42 lead with 4:42 to play.

"They were trying to slow the game down, but once we started hitting some shots it allowed us to get into our press, turn up our defensive pressure and get going," said Langenderfer, who added a game-high 11 rebounds to post her first double-double performance of the season. "We like to play uptempo. We weren't doing that in the first half. The second half was a different story."

Nagbe, the conference's player of the year who was held scoreless in the game until the 16:49 mark of the second half, agrees.

"There was one play there around when that run started that we made on defense which sparked us," said Nagbe. "Usually that's all it takes to get us going.

"It was a bit frustrating for me in the first half. Being named the player of the year I felt like I needed to come out and play well, but I wasn't hitting shots so I just tried to do like coach tells me to do when I'm not hitting shots and that's just to keep playing hard on defense. It worked."

Nagbe scored 12 of her 14 points in the game's last 13 minutes.

Charleston turned the basketball over nine times in a span of just 6:26during the stretch when the Falcons took control of the contest.

"They did a good job of speeding the game up in the second half and it just changed the whole flow of it," said Charleston sophomore forward Monet Saunders, who finished with six points and four rebounds. "That led to us having a lot of turnovers. Instead of staying calm and continuing to play our game we felt like we had to score in a hurry in the second half."

The Falcons also got 13 points from sophomore forward Kelsey Miller in the victory, eight points from junior guard Jessica Garcia and seven points from senior forward Molly Ritz.

Charleston was led by junior center Kiara Johnson's 16 points and seven rebounds. The Golden Eagles also got 10 points and six boards from junior guard Deja Gibson and nine points from senior guard LeAnne Ross.

West Liberty 73, UVa-Wise 68 (2OT)
Final Stats | Postgame: UVa-Wise | West Liberty

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – It took West Liberty an extra 10 minutes but the top-seeded Hilltoppers advanced to Saturday's semifinal round of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament by virtue of a hard-fought 73-68 double overtime victory in the quarterfinals over ninth-seeded UVa.-Wise here at the Charleston Civic Center Thursday evening.

The victory improved West Liberty to 21-8 and puts them in the tournament semifinals Saturday at noon for the second straight year.

"I'll give our kids credit because they understand, like we all do, that tonight we did not bring our 'A' game," said veteran West Liberty coach Lynn Ullom. "That happens. We're all victims of that at times. We just did not play well tonight, but like I told them as we left the locker room we made just enough plays and the most important thing is we're still alive.

"My heart goes out to UVa-Wise. We've played three games against them and they could've beaten us in all three. That team won't quit. They try unbelievably hard, but at the end of the day we made plays when we absolutely had to make them tonight and for that I'll give my team credit."

The contest was close throughout just like the two regular-season meetings between the teams which were decided by six points and three points. Thursday neither team led by more than five points at any juncture of the game.

"We played our guts out tonight," said Cavaliers' coach Kristin Kunzman. "We've played them close three times. We lost by a couple of buckets at our place, by three up there and then almost had them in double overtime in the conference tournament. We played really, really hard and so did they.

"They're a phenomenal team. They've got depth, great shooters and (Kailee) Howe who I think is one of the best guards in the league. One thing I think which hurt us is we gave them too many second chances on offense tonight."

A Hillary Southworth free throw with 1:27 left in regulation knotted the score at 56. Both teams then had opportunities to win the contest, but neither could take advantage of them.

In the first overtime the Cavaliers' Blair Harding drained a 3-pointer with 10.5 seconds left to give her team a two-point lead, but on the other end Howe got a scoop shot to fall with 3.8 seconds left to tie it at 64. Howe then stole the inbounds pass and launched a desperation 3-pointer for the win at the buzzer that wasn't close.

In the second overtime an eight-foot jumper by Howe gave West Liberty the lead for good at 66-64 with 3:50 to play. Trailing 71-68 in the final 30 seconds the Cavaliers' Harding got two good looks at potential game-tying 3-pointers but neither would fall and Southworth sealed the 73-68 victory for the Hilltoppers with a pair of free throws with 3.3 seconds left.

"Like coach Ullom said today was not one of our better games defensively or offensively," said West Liberty junior guard Liz Flowers, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. "There at the end we came together and got some huge plays from both Kailee Howe and Kierra Simpson. It wasn't pretty, but we got it to overtime and then to double overtime and we won it so we're happy."

Southworth, a senior guard, led West Liberty with 17 points, 10 of which came after halftime. Simpson, a junior forward, finished with her 10thdouble-double outing of the season. She scored 15 points and grabbed 11 boards. Eleven of her points came in the final 6:49 of regulation and in the overtime periods. Howe, a junior point guard, chipped in 12 points, eight of which came in the two overtimes. She, however, also suffered 12 turnovers.

Wise got 17 points and eight rebounds from sophomore point guard Taylor Sandidge. She scored eight of the Cavaliers' 12 points in the two overtime periods

"It was frustrating for us at the end of the game because we did have chances to put them away and we didn't," said Sandidge. "One the positive side, though, I think we sent a message with our play that as a team we're never going to quit."

The Cavaliers, who finished the season with a 10-20 record, also got 16 points and seven rebounds from sophomore center Kayla Carey and 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists from Harding, a junior guard.

Wheeling Jesuit 85, Fairmont State 76
Final Stats
Postgame: Wheeling Jesuit | Fairmont State

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Wheeling Jesuit shot 58 percent from the field and scored 50 points in the paint to help it defeat Fairmont State, 85-76, on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament.

With the win, Wheeling Jesuit improves to 19-8 and advances to take on rival West Liberty on Saturday at noon.

Jaila Bryant led the way for the Cardinals with 23 points to go with seven rebounds and and seven assists. Lydia Hyburg hit 8-of-12 from field for 19 points and tallied six rebounds. Mariah Callen scored 12 and Jaana Motton had 10 points for WJU.

Fairmont State (22-8) was led by 27 points from Hallie Gunnoe. Hailey Garrett scored 15 points before fouling out, and Emily Lohr contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists.