Wheeling, W. Va – After their narrow victory over the Cardinals of Wheeling University, Charleston would face Fairmont State in the Semifinal Round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament. Fairmont State, the number one seed coming into this bracket, handled their first-round game over West Virginia Wesleyan with great poise after a close second and third quarter contest from the Bobcats. The Golden Eagles had split the regular season matchups with the Falcons, making this one out to be a good 40 minutes of ball. 
 
The Basics
Location: WesBanco Arena
Score: UC 68, FSU 72
Records: UC 19-11 (13-7 MEC), FSU 25-5, (16-4 MEC)
 
How It Happened
After the Falcons won the opening tip and turned their first possession into two points, Clarrissa Francis would knot the game square after a perfect trip to the charity stripe within the opening minute of play. Charleston's first lead would come off a Ksenija Mitric layup following a forced turnover on defense. The Golden Eagles hit the glass hard in the opening stages as two of their opening buckets would come off second chance efforts. Within the first two minutes, Charleston forced three turnovers from the Falcons. It would be Leslie Huffman of Fairmont State that gave her team back the lead and took the 17-14 lead into the second quarter after seven unanswered points. 
 
After back-and-forth play to begin the quarter, Charleston would take the lead back after Nia Vanzant, followed by an Alyssa Deangelo three-pointer to retake their advantage. The Golden Eagles displayed their ability to shoot the ball as the lead would shift in favor of the visiting team after Nia Vanzant's corner triple. It would be a 27-24 lead for Charleston heading into the media break with 4:14 left to play in the half. Kiley Graham would immediately be fouled on a close-range shot following the break and would extend the lead with a successful trip to the line. It would be a battle of free throws in the later stages of the quarter; with a minute remaining, Charleston was 7-8 from the line compared to Fairmont State's 3-4 rate from the stripe. Francis would find six consecutive points to round out the scoring for Charleston in the half, giving her squad the 36-27 lead heading into the halftime break. It'd be the All-MEC First Teamer in Francis leading the way at the break with 12 points. 

The biggest takeaway from the first half was that Charleston won the turnover margin 11-7. Tremendous defense led to more opportunities on the other end of the court. 
 
At the start of the second half, the Falcons began to close the gap after costly turnovers from Charleston, but the Golden Eagles remained poised and held a five-point advantage with five minutes remaining in the quarter. Following the media timeout, Fairmont State had clawed their way back to within one of Charleston after yet another Deangelo basket at the 3:12 mark. They had played great defense from outside the perimeter and would hold Charleston to just 11 points and put up 18 of their own on the other end. It would be a 47-45 ballgame heading into the fourth quarter with Charleston holding the slight advantage. 
 
Fairmont State tied the game immediately into the quarter at 47-47 after an Aaliyah Brunny layup from underneath, but Francis would replicate her shot on the other end to take the advantage back. The Falcons would grab a hold of the momentum and take a three-point lead after yet another turnover from Charleston, making it their 16^th of the game. Fairmont State would work their way to a 10-point lead, but would be chopped down by four points after two consecutive baskets from the Golden Eagles. At the 3:33 mark Jamia Nesmith would convert on an and-one opportunity to bring her squad within six with time winding down. After a timeout called from Tianni Kelly, Taylor Austin would find Charleston's third three-pointer of the game that would be instantly matched with Huffman's triple for Fairmont State. Despite the effort given from Charleston, 19 turnovers would haunt the Golden Eagles as they would fall in the Semifinal Round to #1 Fairmont State 72-68.