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By Rich Stevens for MountainEast.org

In the most efficient of basketball performances, timeouts remain a staple for maintaining level heads.

Knowing when to call a timeout also plays a significant role.

Enter Wheeling Jesuit women’s basketball coach Debbie Buff.

Buff opted not to stop play when her team went through a particularly rough patch of Sunday’s 80-61 Mountain East Conference Tournament semifinal victory over Fairmont State (19-12).

Wheeling Jesuit led 16-4, making seven of its first eight shots and then missed six in a row in combined possession time of 1:12.

“If we call a timeout there, they’ll get more hyper,” said Buff, who is in her sixth season with the Cardinals. “We felt like we still had a lot of momentum. Sometimes when you call a timeout they think you don’t have confidence in them.”

The Cardinals (25-6) received at least 13 points from four of five starters and had six double-figure scorers to become the first team in the four-year MEC history to win consecutive tournament titles.

Wheeling Jesuit, eighth in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings, awaits the tournament selection show to find out where and when it plays next. The MEC tournament champion receives an automatic bid. The top eight teams earn spots in the regional, which will be hosted by the No. 1 team in the region. Four regions of the country make up the 64-team field.
The Cardinals didn’t see any sense in leaving their bid to chance, so they shot 51 percent from the field and assisted on 23 of their 26 baskets – nine of which were 3-pointers. The MEC’s best foul-shooting team also shot 86.4 percent from the foul line (19-22), where it was hitting 77 percent entering the postseason.

Buff was confident, no matter the result, that her team’s season would continue after Sunday.

“I think winning two games at the tournament we would’ve been fine,” she said. “Let’s just win and we don’t have to worry about it.”

The lead was seven after one quarter, but made it to 13 by halftime and a 6-0 run from the second to the third pushed the lead to 19.

“I thought our team was really relaxed before the game, which meant we were going to be really good, or really bad,” Buff said. “We got out of the gate really fast.”

Kylie Frizell had 19 points to lead Wheeling Jesuit and guards Mariah Callen and Monica Burns had 17 apiece. Jaana Motton, the tournament MVP, had 13 and her backup – Lydia Hyburg – had 12.

“Jaana told me I had to make my shots,” Frizell said. “We were talking last night and we didn’t shoot well against UVa-Wise. We needed to buckle down, limit our turnovers and stay relaxed.”

As sharp as the Cardinals were on offense, they were more so on defense, limiting driving lanes for senior Makenzie White, challenging virtually every attempt by sharpshooter Emily Puskarich and disallowing any Fairmont starter to make more than half her attempts.

White had five assists, but contributed only eight points and two rebounds with five turnovers.

“Wheeling Jesuit played great,” said Deidra Combs, one of four Fairmont seniors with 1,000 career points. “When I caught it in the middle, I felt like people were there.”

McDonald agreed, but added that his team didn’t play with the same intensity as it did in defeating No. 4 seed Notre Dame 75-59 in the quarterfinals and No. 8 Charleston 72-57 in the semifinals. Top-seeded Glenville State was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

“For us to have a chance to win this game we had to force at least 20 turnovers,” said McDonald, whose team forced a combined 51 turnovers in two regular-season losses to Wheeling Jesuit this season.

Fairmont State made only 18 of its 46 attempts and was 8-of-18 from 3-point range. The Falcons were 4-of-10 in the second half when they were battling back.

“They played harder than we did,” White said. “Period.”

A White 3-pointer cut the lead to 58-45 with 9:15 left, but Monica Burns hit a 3 to extend the lead to 16. The game was all but over when Frizell hit a 3-pointer with 3:50 left to push the advantage back to 22 points.

Chelsea Richardson was the only Wheeling Jesuit starter to not score in double figures, but she added eight rebounds and six assists with no turnovers. Callen had six rebounds.

MEC All-Tournament Team
Jordyn Peck (Charleston)
Mackenzie Cluesman (UVa-Wise) 
Deidra Combs (Fairmont St.)
Emily Puskarich (Fairmont St.)  
Mackenzie White (Fairmont St.)
Monica Burns (Wheeling Jesuit)
Kylie Frizell (Wheeling Jesuit) 
Jaana Motton (Wheeling Jesuit (MVP)

Highest Scoring Average- Kayla Carey (UVa-Wise) 
Sportsmanship Award - Makenzie Cluesman (UVa-Wise)
Commissioner's Heart & Hustle Award - Mackenzie White (Fairmont St.)