#1 Glenville State def. #9 Frostburg State, 103-66
WHEELING – It didn’t take long for top-seeded and fourth-ranked Glenville State to exert its dominance over ninth-seeded Frostburg State here Thursday evening in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at WesBanco Arena.
Less than five minutes into the contest the Pioneers had doubled up the Bobcats 18-9 and the game was never close again as GSU rolled to a 103-66 victory.
“I’m really happy,” Glenville coach Kim Stephens said. “That’s a very well-coached team with one of the best coaches in the country and one of the best players in the country. I was nervous about this game, so I feel good to get this one checked off the box.”
Glenville, which is first in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Rankings, will play in the semifinals of the league tournament Saturday at noon.
Led by first-team All-MEC selections Mickayla Perdue and Breanna Campbell, Glenville connected on 18 of its 37 first-half field goals attempts (48.6 percent), including an impressive 11-of-20 showing (55 percent) from behind the 3-point arc as it built a 24-point, 53-29, halftime advantage. Perdue got 18 of her team-high 22 points in the first half, while Campbell tallied 16 of her 21 points in the initial 20 minutes. Together they combined to go 11-of-21 from the field by halftime, including 7-of-12 from long range.
Campbell, who also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds for the Pioneers, posted her third double-double of the season.
“We all knew what was at stake and what we wanted to do from the beginning,” said Campbell. “We really wanted to come in here and win, so we all had that fire. We were on the same page. We played hard, played well and I think that’s important going into the next game.”
Perdue agrees.
“I think tonight everybody had that dog in them,” Perdue said. “We needed everyone to step up and I feel like everyone did that. Like she said we had that fire in us. We gave great effort and played hard. That’s a big part of who we are and what we do.”
Glenville ended the game making 19 of its 38 3-point field goal attempts. That 50 percent shooting performance tied the conference tournament record for shooting percentage with a minimum of 10 makes in a game which was set by West Liberty (14-of-28) in a win over Virginia-Wise in 2014. GSU was just one made 3-pointer away from tying its own mark of 20 made threes which was set in a win over West Virginia State during the 2020 tournament.
“Tonight didn’t go the way we wanted or expected,” first-year Frostburg State coach Jenna Eckleberry said. “This may sound crazy but on the first possession for Glenville No. 0 (Perdue) hit that three. I’m not saying if she missed it that we would’ve won or anything like that, but I think it might have been a bit of a different game. It just seemed like her hitting that shot was contagious. Glenville shot the crap out of the ball. I don’t know if they set any records or not, but it seemed like every three they shot went in.
“They’re the defending national champions. They’re the regular-season conference champions. They drive the ball extremely well and you have to stop that and then defend their threes. They made them tonight and when they do that they’re tough to beat.
“We never gave up though. We had great fight and I’m proud of that.”
Glenville, which had 12 different players score in the victory, also got 15 points and a game-high four steals from Cabria Lewis.
The biggest bright spot for Frostburg Thursday was the play of standout freshman Emilee Weakley, who posted her 19th double-double of the season finishing with a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds. Weakley, the nation’s leading scorer in D-II and the MEC’s Freshman of the Year, set the single-season Mountain East Conference record for points in a season in the loss. She finished the year with 766 points breaking the old mark of 755 set by West Liberty’s Marissa Brown during the 2018-19 season.
“This will tell you how good she is,” Stephens said of Weakley. “We held her to 27 and 15 and I’m happy with it. That tells you how much of a stud she is. I honestly can look, tell you that we held her to 27 and I think we did a good job.”
Weakley says she was obviously disappointed with the loss, but proud of what she accomplished this season for the Bobcats.
“I just want to win and my parents always told me ‘Emilee play every game as if God was watching in the stands’ and that’s what I try to do,” Weakley said. “He’s who I play for. I also play for my family, my coaches and my teammates. I want to give them everything I have. No matter what, the end goal is to win, but I want them to know I love them and I’m going to give them the best effort I can every time.
“I wasn’t expected to do something like this, but I’m very grateful.”
The Bobcats, who finished the season at 9-21, also got 10 points from both Shelby Funchess and Maggie Sharp.