Wheeling, W. Va – The Golden Eagles would face the Wheeling Cardinals in the Quarterfinal Round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament on Thursday night. Charleston had defeated the Cardinals twice during the regular season, with their first victory over Wheeling snapping their eight-game win streak to start the year. 
 
The Basics
Location: WesBanco Arena
Score: UC 62, WU 60 
Records: UC 19-10 (13-7 MEC), WU 18-11, (12-8 MEC)
 
How It Happened
The Cardinals would get off to a great start in the opening period as Shamia Strayhorn scored five of Wheeling's initial ten points. After a slow start offensively, the Golden Eagles would find eight points from four different Charleston players in the opening six minutes of play. With a drought ensuing the media timeout, it would be flourished by a pair of layups from Paris Stokes and Taylor Austin with time winding down in the quarter, with Austin's knotting the game up at 12-12 with a minute left in the period. Charleston took their first lead of the game after a great dish from Clarrissa Francis from the timeline to Nia Vanzant underneath the basket. With a conversion rate of 38% from the floor, the Golden Eagles took the 14-12 lead into the second quarter of play. 
 
Charleston would find their first bucket of the quarter in the corner with Ksenija Mitric's three pointer to take a 17-13 lead, but would be answered by a Colebank triple from Wheeling to keep the Cardinals within one. Charleston would convert on an unconventional three-point play after a 1-2 trip to the line from Kiley Graham would be cleaned up by Vanzant from underneath. The team would hold a 26-21 lead heading into the media timeout after Taylor Austin's jumper at the 4:50 mark. Wheeling would knot the game up at 27-27 after another Colebank layup working on Francis, but Vanzant would give Charleston the 29-27 lead heading into the locker room with a hard-earned bucked underneath. 
 
The first point of the second half would come at the 8:12 mark in the third period after a 1-2 trip to the charity strip from Haley Moore. It would quickly be answered by a Wheeling layup, getting the Cardinals to within one. Francis would display her repertoire with a deep three pointer to take the 33-29 advantage, which she would then answer with a jumper from close range. The Cardinals would remain persistent and would take the lead with Fairman's corner three that was followed with two more points from Rachel Wilson. Both teams found three close-range buckets after the media timeout keeping the game level at 43-43. Mitric broke the tie with her second triple of the game from the corner with 57 second left to play in the third. It would be a 46-43 game heading into the fourth quarter. 
 
Charleston's defense would set the tone in the fourth after forcing a five-second violation from the Cardinals on their first possession, ensued by a floater from Francis to extend their lead to five. Mitric found a nice touch off the glass at the 8:40 mark for her third bucket of the game and the 50-43 advantage. The Cardinals would find two consecutive corner three-pointers and a tough layup from Strayhorn, forcing a timeout out of Tianni Kelly and taking the 55-54 lead over Charleston. Jamia Nesmith created a big play for the Golden Eagles after the timeout, getting an offensive board and putting up a layup for the one-point advantage. After a clutch layup from Francis to take a three-point lead, Paris Stokes made a game-changing play by taking a charge, taking a possession away from Wheeling. Graci Fairman would add a layup for Wheeling on their next possession to get back to within one of Charleston, but Taylor Austin made an incredible effort to give her team a three-point lead with 3.8 seconds left after her spinning layup off the glass. Jacquie Hinesmon would have a trip to the line after being fouled by Nesmith with two seconds remaining. Hinesmon would hit just one from the line, making it a two-point game. After a quick inbound to Francis, the Golden Eagles held on for the 62-60 victory. 
 
Up Next
Charleston will face #1 Fairmont State this Saturday in the Semifinal round on March 9^th at 12:00 PM.