Charleston, W. Va – In their second meeting of the year, the Golden Eagles would face the Frostburg State Bobcats in the Wehrle Innovation Center. Charleston came into this game on fire, winning their last four matchups over teams that stand high in the rankings of the Mountain East Conference.
 
The Basics
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC 83, FSU 84
Records: UC 13-9 (9-6 MEC), FSU 13-9 (10-5 MEC)
 
How it Happened
The Bobcats came to the Capital City ready for action as they would take a quick 17-4 lead in the early going to force a timeout from head coach Tianni Kelly. The timeout would be used effectively as Charleston will rally back with a 14-5 run to get back in the game. Frostburg State, with their 71% rate from the floor, would take the 27-21 lead into the second quarter. Charleston would continue to cut down the lead and eventually knotted the game up at 36-36 after a fastbreak layup from Taylor Austin midway through the quarter. Both sides would shoot over 50% from inside the arc, but the factor that stuck out was Frostburg State's ability to hit shots from downtown. In the first half alone would make seven three pointers in 12 attempts, while Charleston found just three triples in 10 attempts. The Golden Eagles would take the 46-45 lead with just over a minute left in the half after Clarrissa Francis made a single shot from the charity stripe, but it would be the Bobcats with the final push going into the halftime break with the 50-48 after a high-scoring first half. 
 
In a back-and-forth third quarter battle, Charleston began to slow down the Bobcat attack and create a positive margin of their own. They would limit Frostburg State to 16 points in the quarter and matched their first quarter total of 21 points. Haley Moore gave Charleston the early spark with back-to-back layups to tie the game up at 52-52 in the opening stages of the half and the balanced attack would commence as six different Golden Eagles would score, giving Charleston the 69-66 lead heading into the final quarter of play. The team would maintain their small lead up until the 3:12 mark after Ciara Thomas had a successful trip to the line to take the 78-77 lead. After nearly four quarters of action-packed basketball, the game would simply come down to free throws. Frostburg State, down by three with 50 seconds remaining, would have two successful trips to the line, giving them the 84-83 lead. Taylor Austin would have the final shot of the game to win it for Charleston, but the shot would fall short of the rim and the Bobcats would escape with the 84-83 victory. 
 
Up Next
Charleston will be on the road for their first game of the week on Wednesday as they travel up to face the Notre Dame Falcons on February 14^th at 5:30 PM.