Glenville State 85, West Liberty 74
By Bryan Dillon
For MountainEast.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – Nwando Okigbo’s career night led the top-seeded Glenville State Pioneers over ninth-seeded West Liberty 85-74 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament Thursday night at WesBanco Arena.
Okigbo finished the game with her tenth double-double of the season, including a career high 25 rebounds and 17 points. The 25 rebounds tied for the most in MEC women’s tournament history with Lily Ritz of Wheeling University.
Glenville State’s offense was well-balanced with four players scoring in double-figures and seven players scoring at least seven points. In addition to Okigbo’s team-best 17 points, Nylah Davis scored 16, Khalia Bryant added 12, and Jayda Allie dropped in 10 points.
Reagan Vinskovich and Anna Lucarelli turned in big performances for West Liberty, with Vinskovich scoring a game-high 29 points and pulling down 13 rebounds for her tenth double-double of the season. While Vinskovich did her work in the lane, Lucarelli showed her multi-level scoring ability with a career-high 27 points in her final game for the Hilltoppers.
"It was a tough and gritty win from our team,” stated Glenville State Head Coach Emily Stoller. “We played them twice already this season, and it came down to the wire both games, so we knew we were going to be in a dog fight. We made some adjustments coming into the game, and I am proud of how the team applied the adjustments to the game today.”
The teams entered the halftime break with the score tied at 43-43. After the back-and-forth first half, which saw ten lead changes and four ties, the adjustments from the Pioneers, who averaged 86 points per game in the regular season, showed up as they turned to their defense to pull away from West Liberty. Glenville State held the Hilltoppers to only 31 points in the second half. GSU’s defense was particularly strong in the 3rd quarter, limiting WLU to just 16.7 percent shooting on 18 attempts and 11 points.
West Liberty jumped out to an early first quarter lead at 15-11 before Glenville State reeled off nine straight points to seize a 20-15 lead with 1:53 remaining in the quarter.
During the second quarter, neither team was able to gain more than a four-point lead at any point as the teams exchanged the lead seven times in the quarter. Vinskovich’s spinning layup on the fast break gave West Liberty a lead at 35-33, which they would maintain until the final 30 seconds of the half, when Jayda Allie dropped in one of her two three-pointers in the game to level the score at 43.
Glenville State started to pull away midway through the third quarter, thanks to a 10-2 scoring run capped by a Nylah Davis layup, which gave the Pioneers a 57-51 lead. Davis then closed out the quarter with a free throw and a layup to give her team an eight-point advantage heading into the final quarter.
Early in the 4th quarter, Okigbo scored six points to help stretch GSU’s lead to 12 points. Vinskovich and Lucarelli combined to score 15 points in the quarter, but it was not enough to cut into the Pioneers’ lead as they were able to find answers throughout the final period of play.
"I am unbelievably proud of my group,” said West Liberty Head Coach Kyle Cooper. “When you look at what we were able to do, we were able to get into the ring with a really good basketball team tonight and have our chances ... I thought we did generate some good looks at crucial times, but unfortunately some of the shots just didn’t fall.”
Glenville State will move on to the semifinal on Saturday, March 7, at Noon where they will face the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Concord and fifth-seeded Fairmont State at WesBanco Arena. This will mark the ninth time that the Pioneers have reached the semifinals of the MEC tournament.
Fairmont State 58, Concord 56
By Bryan Dillon
For Mountain East.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – Fairmont State’s record breaking defensive performance lifted the fifth-seeded Falcons over fourth-seeded Concord, 58-56, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament presented by The Health Plan on Thursday night at WesBanco Arena.
The Falcons' defense was the story of the night, utilizing stifling pressure throughout the game to force the Mountain Lions into 32 turnovers, which were converted into 26 points for Fairmont State. 21 of the 32 turnovers that were forced came from steals, which set a new Mountain East Conference tournament record for steals in a game, surpassing the previous record of 20 set by Glenville State on two occasions.
Forcing turnovers was critical for Fairmont State to overcome a difficult shooting performance. The Falcons shot 34.3 percent from the floor, making 24-of-70 shots and 38.9 percent at the foul line. Meanwhile, the Mountain Lions shot 47.8 percent from the field for the game. Their 32 turnovers allowed Fairmont State to attempt 24 more shots.
"I want to give credit to our opponents; it was a great game that could have gone either way,” commented Fairmont State Head Coach Stephanie Anderson. “Our identity is defense, and that is something that we preach every single day. We work on it every single day because it is controllable and we know that we control the effort that we give defensively.”
Gabby Reep led the Falcons in scoring, netting a game-high 18 points. Alanna Tate joined her in double-digits with 14 points. Haylen Cook was big on the boards for Fairmont State, grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds.
Three Mountain Lions shared the scoring load, Abbie Smith (17), the league’s player of the year, Olivia Ziolkowski (16), and Kenyah Stubbs (14) combining for 47 points. Smith and Ziolkowski both finished the games with double-doubles, pulling down 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.
Tied at 56-56 with under a minute remaining, Gabby Reep drove baseline and dropped off a pass to Alanna Tate, who scored the game-winning basket with 52 seconds remaining in the contest.
The game started with both teams trading baskets, before Gabby Reep gave the Falcons the largest lead of the first quarter on a driving layup with 14 seconds remaining to give Fairmont State a 19-15 lead. FSU set the tone for the game, forcing seven turnovers and snatching five steals in the quarter.
Both teams scored 11 points in a low scoring second quarter. After Concord’s Kiley Smich tied the score at 23-23, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run following baskets from Reep and Haylen Cook. Fairmont State ended the half with 14 steals and turned 18 turnovers into 14 points to give them a 30-26 lead at the break.
A pair of runs for each team highlighted the third quarter. With the score 34-32, the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to give them a 42-32 lead. The run was fueled by eight points from Alanna Tate. That run was quickly matched by a 9-0 run from the Mountain Lions to close the deficit to one to set up a dramatic 4th quarter.
Kenyah Stubbs gave Concord its first lead since the first quarter following a layup with 8:50 remaining in the final frame. After falling behind by a single point, Fairmont State strung together three consecutive baskets to recapture the lead.
Stubbs would once again give CU a one-point advantage with 3:20 left to play on a driving layup, which was answered by a three-pointer from Lalia Jones. Olivia Ziolkowski evened the game at 56-56 with 2:03 left to play on a short jump shot from inside the lane, before the decisive basket from Tate in the final minute of play. The Mountain Lions had an opportunity right at the end of regulation to force OT; however, a layup attempt from Stubbs just missed.
"If you stayed up this late, you got your money’s worth. You got to see two good teams really go at it,” said Concord Head Coach Tesla Southcott. “To be in that game after turning the ball over at that level, we have to count our blessings. I think credit goes to Fairmont for their defensive effort. I thought from a defensive effort standpoint that our team played as good as they could have. To give them 32 extra possessions, that is the difference in the game.”
Fairmont State will move on to the semifinal on Saturday, March 7, at Noon to face top-seeded Glenville State at WesBanco Arena in a rematch of last season’s championship game. This will be the seventh time that the Falcons have reached the semifinal of the MEC tournament.