Early Offense Leads Women's Basketball to First Win
Elkins, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Women's Basketball (1-5, 1-2), had the offense rolling early as they took down Davis & Elkins 82-54. The Cardinals scored 20 or more points in each of the first three-quarters of the game and built up a big enough lead to help give them their first Mountain East Conference (MEC) win of the season.
After the Senators got on the board with the first three of the night, the Cardinals got going by putting together an 11-0 run to take an 11-3 lead at the six minus mark in the first quarter. Haley Cox scored five of the eleven points during the run, including the three that pushed the score to 11-3. Davis & Elkins would get as close as 14-8 at the halfway point of the quarter, but the Cardinals added on with another 6-0 run that pushed their lead to 22-8. Alysa Edwards-Frickhad four points on the run, and Wheeling set a new season-high mark with 22 first-quarter points to lead 22-10 with 10 minutes gone.
In the second quarter, freshman Shamia Strathorn began to find her groove, hitting two threes to get her first six points of the night. Strayhorn finished with a 14-point effort and was one of the driving forces for the Cardinals in the second quarter. They built their lead throughout the quarter and matched their first-quarter production with 22 more points. They went into halftime with their biggest lead at the break this season, sitting at 44-24. The key to Wheeling's early success was their ability to consistently make shots. In the first quarter, they shot a tidy 50% from the floor and followed it up with a 47% mark in the second quarter.
As the game moved to the second half, Wheeling continued to get stronger and put up their biggest offensive output of the night. They set a new season-high with 23 third-quarter points, and once again shot 47% from the floor. The Cardinals were able to maintain their 20 point lead throughout the first four minutes of that third quarter, and the score sat at 55-35. That 20-point advantage stood tall until the final two minutes of the half, with Wheeling up 60-40. The Cardinals scored the final seven points of the quarter and went into the fourth leading 67-40. The offense slowed over the final 10 minutes of the game, with Wheeling scoring 15 and Davis & Elkins scoring 14, but the damage was already done as Wheeling got their first conference win of the year.
Strayhorn and junior Lauren Calhoun led the offensive effort with 14 points each and were two of the four Cardinals to finish the night in double digits. Stanley Woods (13) and Maura Castellucci(10) were the other two as Wheeling put together their second-best offensive performance of the season. However, for as good as Wheeling was shooting early, they put together their best effort from the floor in that fourth quarter. The Cardinals shot 63% from the floor over those final 10 minutes, and take that momentum with them into their next game back at home.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns home on Saturday, December 4thwhen they host West Virginia Wesleyan at 12 pm.