\u2014 By Duane Cochran, For Mountain East.org<\/i><\/p>\n
WHEELING, W.VA.\u00a0\u2014 <\/b>The University of Charleston\u2019s second-ranked defense in the Mountain East Conference turned in a record-setting performance here Sunday afternoon to help the third-seeded Golden Eagles claim a hard-fought 48-43 victory over top-seeded Glenville State in the league\u2019s annual women\u2019s tournament championship game here at WesBanco Arena.<\/p>\n
The win improved UC to 21-10 on the year and earns the Golden Eagles an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women\u2019s Basketball Atlantic Regional Tournament which will get under way Friday at a site which will be announced Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Glenville, which fell to 24-6 with Sunday\u2019s loss, is also expected to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Atlantic Regional.<\/p>\n
The tournament championship is the first for UC since it won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022 and it\u2019s the Golden Eagles\u2019 third MEC tourney title overall. UC also became the first-ever three seed to win the tournament.<\/p>\n
The Pioneers, who have a record five MEC Tournament championships, lost for the second straight year in the title game.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys just got a really good game,\u201d said UC coach Bubby Johnson. \u201cI know people get upset in Super Bowls and whatnot when it\u2019s low scoring and they don\u2019t get a whole lot of points, but I\u2019m sorry to disappoint. I thought both teams played amazing defense. Everybody had to work for everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my girls for how hard they fought. They got 60 rebounds against a very good Glenville team so they have every right to be proud of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 60 rebounds were an MEC finals\u2019 game record. The Golden Eagles\u2019 defense also set championship game records for fewest points allowed (43), fewest points allowed in a quarter (7), lowest field goal percentage allowed (21 percent, 13-of-62) and lowest 3-point field goal percentage allowed (9.5 percent, 2-of-21).<\/p>\n
Glenville was 0-of-13 on field goals in the fourth and final quarter when it scored just seven points \u2013 all of which came at the line.<\/p>\n
The Pioneers, who shot 49 percent from the field and 52 percent from three in its semifinal win Saturday over Fairmont State, got some good looks Sunday but not much of anything would fall. The 43 total points were a season low for the Pioneers, who had scored 71 or more points in all but three games this season prior to Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously not the day we wanted,\u201d said GSU coach Emily Stoller. \u201cThere\u2019s a winner and loser in every championship game and everyone wants to be on the winning side. It just wasn\u2019t our day today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like us to score in the 40s. Shots just weren\u2019t falling for us. We had opportunities, but pretty much didn\u2019t make anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day we lost a basketball game. Props to Charleston. They got the job done and were the better team today. I\u2019m proud of my kids for fighting to the end. Hopefully we\u2019ll be playing more next week in the regional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charleston led by as many as 11 in the first 20 minutes before settling for a seven-point advantage at the break.<\/p>\n
In the third quarter GSU gave the Golden Eagles a dose of their own medicine in terms of staunch defense. Glenville held UC to just eight points on 2-of-15 shooting and closed to within two at 38-36 with 10 minutes to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just focused on keeping our composure,\u201d Charleston\u2019s Ksenija Mitric said. \u201cWe knew they were going to make a run because they\u2019re a really good offensive team. They\u2019re going to come after you and try to turn you over and get a quick run, so we just kept saying to one another that we had to play together and keep our composure no matter what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a four-quarter game no matter what and we knew we had to play all four quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite its struggles offensively, the Pioneers still had numerous chances to win the contest down the stretch and couldn\u2019t cash in on them. Trailing 46-43 GSU\u2019s Nylah Davis got a wide open look at a three with 26 seconds remaining which would have tied the game. The shot, though, was off the mark and UC\u2019s Bridget Womber cleared the rebound \u2013 her game-high 16th.<\/p>\n
At the other end Charleston\u2019s Mitric, who finished with seven points, seven rebounds and three assists, found a wide open Livia O\u2019dea under the basket on a side inbounds pass and O\u2019dea laid the ball in to give her team a 48-43 lead with 10 seconds to play.<\/p>\n
On the Pioneers\u2019 ensuing possession Jayda Allie attempted a three with six seconds to play and it too was off target and rebounded by UC\u2019s Mitric which sealed the victory for her team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a rough night for us,\u201d said Glenville\u2019s Carine Pinkey, who led her team with 16 points and four steals. \u201cIt got a little frustrating for us because we just couldn\u2019t find our shots or get them to fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll in all though I believe we stuck together and had our chances, but we just couldn\u2019t convert on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinkey and Nwando Okigbo were the lone players in the game to reach double figures in scoring. Together they accounted for 26 of GSU\u2019s 43 points with Okigbo getting 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n
UC had no one in double digits in the scoring column. Jordan Scully led the Golden Eagles with nine points, while tournament MVP Paris Stokes chipped in eight points, five rebounds and three assists.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing MVP is a credit to my teammates,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cThey put me in good positions to score or take advantage of mismatches all season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eight-member all-tournament team consisted of Charleston\u2019s Stokes, Scully and Mitric, Glenville\u2019s Okigbo and Wonder Nkoyock, Fairmont State\u2019s Gabby Reep, Frostburg State\u2019s Jenna Muha and West Liberty\u2019s Reagan Vinskovich, the tournament\u2019s scoring average leader (26.5).<\/p>\n
The Commissioner\u2019s Heart and Hustle Award went to GSU\u2019s Okigbo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tournament Awards<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Highest Scorer:\u00a0<\/b>Reagan Vinslovich, West Liberty<\/p>\n Commissioner’s Heart & Hustle:\u00a0<\/b>Nwando Okigbo, Glenville State<\/p>\n All-Tournament Team<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Jenna Muha, Frostburg State<\/p>\n Gabby Reep, Fairmont State<\/p>\n Reagan Vinskovich, West Liberty<\/p>\n Nwando Okigbo, Glenville State<\/p>\n Wonder Nkoyock, Glenville State<\/p>\n Jordan Scully, Charleston<\/p>\n Ksenija Mitric, Charleston<\/p>\n MVP \u2014 Paris Stokes, Charleston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Golden Eagles prevailed past the Pioneers, 48-43.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":661641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n