Box Score
Wheeling Jesuit Postgame | Shepherd Postgame
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By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A healthy Chenelle Moore and an opportunistic defense helped second-seeded Wheeling Jesuit eliminate seventh-seeded Shepherd 78-49 here Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The victory improved Wheeling Jesuit to 23-6 on the year and puts the Cardinals in Saturday's semifinals. Shepherd, on the other hand, finished its season at 15-17.

A hot start by the Rams helped them open a 26-21 lead with 3:43 to play in the second quarter. Wheeling, though, regrouped and went on an 11-0 run in the final 3:22 of the quarter to take a 32-26 lead at the break. The contest remained close until the Cardinals closed the final three minutes of the third quarter with a 9-0 spurt to open a 14-point, 51-37, advantage. After that Shepherd never recovered as WJU, which outscored the Rams 57-23 in the last 23:43 of the game, cruised to the 29-point victory.

“In the first half I didn't think we came out with the energy that we needed to have, but I think some of that was our first-game jitters,” WJU coach Debbie Buff said. “I credit the team for not losing focus. I just thought we were slow on our cuts.

“At halftime we talked about having more energy and driving the ball more because they were denying Mariah (Callen) and Mo (Monica Burns) the ball on the perimeter. Mo is leading the nation in free throw shooting so we felt if we could get to the line with her and Mariah we could take advantage of that.”

Callen and Burns combined to go 13-of-14 at the foul line in the victory for Wheeling, including an 11-of-12 showing in the final two quarters. The Cardinals also scored 15 points off of turnovers in the second half and got a solid game from Moore, who has battled an ankle injury this season and missed eight games. She finished with a team-high 19 points, 13 of which came in the final 20 minutes, and nine rebounds.

“It all came down to defense for us,” Moore said. “When we play hard on defense we get stops and it gives us energy and then that energy translates into good offense for us. It produces shots.”

Wheeling connected on 26-of-55 field goal attempts (47.3 percent) in the win and 21-of-24 free throws (87.5 percent). In the second half the Cardinals were 14-of-26 from the floor (53.8 percent) and 15-of-18 at the line.

Shepherd, on the other hand, struggled the whole game to find its shooting touch. The Rams connected on just 18-of-62 field goals (29.0 percent).

“I thought our players came out ready to go, but at the end of the day it just wasn't our day,” Shepherd coach Jenna Eckleberry said. “When we only make 18 field goals and shoot 29 percent against a very good Wheeling Jesuit team it's going to be hard to win.

“It got away from us a little there in the third quarter and second half in general because we kept putting them at the free throw line. We were playing pretty good defense and keeping them from scoring, but we'd foul and put them at the line and they're a very good free throw shooting team. Then they'd score without having to do anything.”

Burns finished with 13 points for Wheeling, eight of which came at the foul line. The Cardinals also got 10 points and seven rebounds from Kylie Frizell and nine points from both Callen and Jaana Motton. Motton also grabbed eight rebounds.

Shepherd, which finished its season having won 10 of its last 16 games, was led by senior Liz Myers' 16 points and game-high 17 rebounds. Her 17 boards tied her for the second-highest single-game rebounds in MEC Tournament history. The Rams also got 11 points from Morgan Arden and 10 from Kayla Tibbs.


Box Score
UVa-Wise Postgame | West Virginia State Postgame
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By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Third-seeded Virginia-Wise held off a late furious fourth-quarter rally by sixth-seeded West Virginia State to record a hard-fought 72-70 victory in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center here Wednesday afternoon.

The win improved the Cavaliers to 21-10 and earns them a berth inSaturday's semifinals against second-seeded Wheeling Jesuit (23-6) at 2:15 p.m. WJU eliminated seventh-seeded Shepherd inWednesday's quarterfinals, 78-49.

State finished the season with a 14-15 record.

Trailing by 11 with 3:42 to play State, which never led in the contest, went on a 12-2 run spearheaded by Jasmine Davis during a span of3:02 to pull within one at 69-68. Davis, who finished with a team-high 22 points, scored eight of the Yellow Jackets' 12 points on the run.

“We were determined to fight,” Davis said. “Coach (Charles Marshall) kept telling us from the beginning that this was our win, so we weren't going to give up easy. We were going to fight until the end.”

Wise, however, got two free throws from Taylor Sandidge with 19 seconds left and one with 2.4 seconds remaining from Makenzie Cluesman sandwiched around a 16-foot jumper by State's Damonique Patterson with 3.6 seconds to play to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay and record the two-point win.

“We knew this game was going to be a tough one,” Wise coach Kristin Kunzman said. “You never feel comfortable playing State because they're never out of a game. In three games this season the margins were three points, two points and now two points so we knew it was going to be a tough game and that it could very well come down to a last possession.”

It did, but Wise never surrendered the lead in the contest.

“We practice and practice and practice situations like being down two or up three with a certain amount of time left so practicing that, I think, helped a lot and as a result we never lost out composure,” said Wise senior center Kayla Carey, who finished with a game-high 23 points.

Fellow Cavalier senior Cluesman, who ended up with 15 points, a game-high eight assists and five rebounds, agrees.

“We found a way to win and never gave up,” Cluesman said. “We took care of the ball, moved the ball and had a lot of different people step up for us and make plays.”

Wise, which had 22 assists on its 26 field goals, also got nine points from Kayla Mullins and eight points, six rebounds and four assists from Sandidge.

The Yellow Jackets got 15 points and seven rebounds from Aurreshae Hines and nine points from Patterson.

“Give credit to Wise because they came out and played a great basketball game and we just came up short,” State coach Charles Marshall said. “I'll tell you one thing our girls never quit. They battled. We got down big and we fought until the end and gave ourselves a shot.

“No one expected us to be where we were this year. I'm proud of this group. I thought with the players we had that we had a chance to win this tournament this year. We just came up short.”

Wheeling Jesuit, the next opponent Saturday for Wise and the defending MEC Tournament champions, won both of its regular-season meetings with the Cavaliers. Saturday will be Virginia-Wise's first-ever appearance in the semifinals of the MEC Tournament.

Box Score
Charleston Postgame | Glenville State Postgame
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By Rich Stevens for MountainEast.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- One of the most unappreciated tenets of basketball’s full-court press is speeding up opponents.
Steals are valuable, baskets in transition beneficial and turnovers celebrated.

More importantly, making the opponent play faster than it wants typically results in demoralization and defeat.
Then there’s the University of Charleston women’s basketball team, which failed to succumb to Glenville’s relentless pressure.

The eighth-seeded Golden Eagles didn’t score during the game’s first 3:02 and overcame a 17-point deficit to upset No. 1 seed Glenville 65-57 in the Mountain East Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night at the Charleston Civic Center.

Coach Adam Collins’ team improved its MEC record against the Pioneers (24-5) to 3-7 and advances to Saturday’s noon semifinal against the winner of Thursday’s late game between No. 5 Fairmont State and No. 4 Notre Dame.

Additionally, the Golden Eagles (13-18) survived a Glenville first half that saw it lead 32-15 with 4:45 left in the second quarter.

“We started to crumble for a second, but they decided they wanted to be there and stick it out,” said Collins, whose first two MEC teams at UC finished in the top three of the league. “It wasn’t necessarily a great game, but just a gritty effort.”

The Pioneers sought to speed up UC, and it worked until the Golden Eagles responded in kind. Upon beating Glenville’s pressure off the hands of freshman point guard Octavia Loll, UC went on an 11-0 run to end the first half.

“Offensively, usually when we play Glenville, we play slower,” Collins said. “I went in and said let’s go right at them and attack. We got a little too aggressive and out of hand at times, but then we got settled down.”

The string of unanswered buckets was seemingly buoyed by a last-second basket, but ruled no good after officials checked the replay. Glenville’s scoring drought reached 5:50, but the Pioneers found themselves in a game.

“We scored 28 points in the first quarter and 29 the rest of the game,” said Glenville first-year coach Kim Stephens, whose team was 0-18 on 3-pointers in the second half. “It was hard to stand there and watch. Kudos to their defense, but a lot of it was us not being disciplined.”

Glenville continued its pressure throughout the second half, but UC followed an 18-turnover first half with only five in the third and fourth quarters. Freshman Octavia Loll, who shares her alma mater – Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary – with NBA star LeBron James, continually beat the press. She had 13 turnovers combined in two regular season defeats to Glenville.

“I had to play for my coaches, my team, the people in the stands,” Loll said. “I just had to believe.”

Loll had 16 points, finishing 9-of-12 from the foul line. Jordyn Peck led UC with 21 points, hitting all of her 14 free throw attempts. Peck, an 84.3-percent foul shooter, has made her last 19 free throw attempts. Peck’s last miss came on Feb. 23 with 3:12 left in a 54-36 win over Concord.

Glenville received 17 points from Paris McLeod, who had seven rebounds, but was only 5-of-24 from the field. Courtney Davis had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Pioneers. Starters Davis, McLeod, Julie Bishop, Brittany Jackson, and Kaelynn Wilson combined to go 4-of-25 on 3-pointers.

“We were shooting too early in the offense,” Stephens said. “We wanted to work the ball sideline to sideline and get great shots if we wanted them and we didn’t do that. We settled for average shots.”

The Pioneers were third in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings and are expected to receive a bid to the regional tournament. The MEC Tournament champion receives an automatic bid.



Box Score
Fairmont State Postgame | Notre Dame Postgame
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By Rich Stevens for MountainEast.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- There’s nothing like a losing streak, a neutral site, and a game in March to bring out the best in a basketball team.

The fifth-seeded Fairmont State University women received a record-setting performance from senior wing Emily Puskarich and a tenacious half-court defense to smother No. 4 Notre Dame 75-59 and advance to the Mountain East Conference Tournament semifinals.

Fairmont State (18-11), which had not beaten the Eagles (15-13) since the 2014-15 season, will face the University of Charleston in Saturday’s noon semifinal.

“We were dialed in tonight,” Fairmont State coach Steve McDonald said. “We were connected tonight and we played extremely hard.”
The Falcons were led by Puskarich. Originally a recruit of Division I Robert Morris, Puskarich set a single-game tournament record with seven 3-pointers – all in the first half. The record was shared by Glenville State’s Kenyell Goodson, who had six against West Virginia State in 2014; and Shepherd’s Morgan Arden, whose six were against Charleston in 2016.

Puskarich tied a personal best with 26 points – all but two on her 8-of-15 performance from 3-point range. That also was a season high in points and Puskarich twice had six 3-pointers in a game this season.

“I just shot with confidence,” said Puskarich, who is 245-of-716 for her career from 3-point range. “My teammates kept telling me to shoot it and they kept finding me. We just played really, really well.”

Notre Dame coach Katie Hine said she didn’t expect Puskarich to struggle from long range like she did in their first two meetings this season when she was a combined 3-of-20.

“We knew she was a dead ringer,” Hine said. “We were lucky the first two times we played. Eventually she was going to hit, and tonight she did.”
Fairmont is making its second consecutive MEC Tournament semifinals, failing to get past the quarterfinals the first two years of the league’s existence.

This time, the Falcons have four 1,000-point scorers with seniors Puskarich, Amanda Ruffner, Makenzie White and Diedra Combs.

Also, the four hit in double figures against the Eagles, had 17 of the team’s 19 assists and 21 of its 29 rebounds. White finished with 18 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and seven steals. Combs had 15 points and Ruffner added 11.

“I just do what I do. I can’t explain it,” White said. “Coach challenged me at the beginning of the year to get more rebounds.

“With Emily, I don’t know what it is between us. It’s like telepathy or something. I find her a lot.”

Fairmont was on pace for its first 90-point game since a Jan. 6 meeting with Concord, scoring 30 of its first-half points on 3-pointers to take a 46-31 lead. Notre Dame, which owned a commanding 48-29 lead on the boards, used it to get back in the game, outscoring Fairmont by 10 in the paint – many of which came on putbacks.

The Eagles cut the lead to a manageable 10 points on a Seina Adachi basket with 4:38 left, but Puskarich drained her eighth 3-pointer after a Fairmont timeout and Notre Dame didn’t get it to 10 again.

“We had to keep short possessions with Fairmont taking quick shots,” Hine said. “A lot of them they missed so we were able to push up. They did a great job of scouting us. Until the very end of the game, we weren’t hitting very good shots.”

Kim Cook had 16 points and seven rebounds for Notre Dame and Adachi finished with 10 points off the bench. Notre Dame’s dominating rebounding edge was spearheaded by Jessie Stout and Kelsey Miller with 12 each.