— By Duane Cochran, For Mountain East.org
Frostburg State 77, West Virginia Wesleyan 71
WHEELING, W.Va. — Much of the talk entering this week’s annual Mountain East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament centered around the title being wide open for the taking by any number of teams.
Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals at WesBanco Arena seventh-seeded Frostburg State validated that conversation.
FSU erased a seven-point halftime lead late in the third quarter and then held off every challenge from second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in the fourth and final period to record a 77-71 victory.
The win, which improved Frostburg to 16-14, marks only the third time in the history of the tournament that a seventh seed has reached the semifinals and it put Frostburg back in the final four for the second consecutive season.
The Bobcats will face third-seeded University of Charleston (19-10) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the tournament.
Frostburg dropped both of its meetings with Wesleyan during the regular season so Wednesday after its opening-round win over Point Park and Thursday morning FSU head coach Jenna Eckleberry and her team chose to take a bit of a different approach.
“Wesleyan beat us twice so we didn’t expect them to make too many adjustments,” Eckleberry said. “The thing I want to say is how proud I am of our girls because we didn’t have practice and we opted not to shoot around this morning and instead rest.
“We met as a group in our film session and I was throwing a lot of different things out there as to what we were going to do against them. There were all these things and little adjustments without any practice and I’m so proud of our team for staying locked in, switching defenses and doing and executing all of those things today we asked them to do to try to keep them off balance. It was a lot for them to adapt to in a very short period of time.”
FSU’s Jenna Muha, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds, says Eckleberry’s tweeks made the difference against Wesleyan.
“Coach Eck said this morning this may be the worst game plan in the world or it may be the best, but if you all buy in I think good things will happen,” Muha said. “We did that. We trusted her as our leader and that’s what helped us win the game.”
Wesleyan controlled the contest for the first 27 minutes, but in the final 2:32 of the third quarter Frostburg went on an 11-2 run to wipe out a six-point deficit and take the lead for good at 56-53 heading to the final quarter.
Wesleyan did tie the score twice at 67 with 4:28 to play and again at 69 with 3:28 remaining, but could never re-take the lead.
FSU’s Julie Spinelli, who finished with 17 points, scored 12 of those points in the fourth quarter, including four in the final two minutes to help her team pull away and open a six-point lead with just 17 seconds left to play.
“Give Frostburg credit,” said Wesleyan coach Brett Vincent. “They played really well. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They played us tough at their place, they’re getting better and they deserved to win.
“We didn’t play bad. We shot the ball well, but maybe not a good as we could have and maybe that had something to do with the openness of this arena. We just made a couple of bad decisions with the ball at times in the second half and missed a few shots here or there that could have made the difference in a game like this.”
Sophie Nichols led Frostburg with a game-high 25 points, 14 of which came in the opening half.
“This morning coming into the game we were all motivated, locked in and ready to play,” Nichols said. “At halftime only being down seven we knew going back out there we had to give it our all, stay together and play together. We just kept chipping away, eventually took control of the game and once we got to the fourth quarter we felt we could win it.”
Frostburg also got 11 points from Ayla Hileman and a game-high six assists and four steals from Mandy Roman.
Wesleyan, which finished its season at 18-7, was led by Ana Young’s 22 points. Kilah Dandridge chipped in 18 points, Emma Witt added 15, nine of which came in the fourth quarter, and Sydney Baird contributed 10. The Bobcats also got a game-high 11 rebounds from Allie Daniels.
Charleston 69, Wheeling 55
Despite a pair of close meetings during the regular season third-seeded University of Charleston had little trouble handling sixth-seeded Wheeling here Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at WesBanco Arena.
The Golden Eagles took control of the contest early and never trailed en route to an impressive 69-55 win. The victory improved UC to 19-10 on the year and sets up a meeting Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the tournament semifinals with seventh-seeded Frostburg State (16-14).
“I’m really proud of our team,” UC coach Bubby Johnson said. “It’s tough to beat anyone three times in a year. That’s a really good Wheeling team which continues to fight and has a lot of talent.
“We really wanted it today. We’ve been talking about rebounding, offensive rebounds and how at this time of the year the game comes down to offensive rebounds and free throws. I thought in those two areas we did a really good job.”
That might be an understatement. Charleston actually did a phenomenal job on the glass in the game outrebounding the Cardinals 53-23 and was a perfect 7-of-7 at the foul line. UC actually had more offensive rebounds in the contest (25) than Wheeling did rebounds and the Golden Eagles turned those offensive boards into a 20-5 advantage in second-chance points.
“We do definitely try to emphasize rebounding and giving ourselves extra possessions in games,” said UC guard Paris Stokes, who finished with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. “That’s something coach emphasizes every single day no matter whether it’s a light day or a regular day.
“Lately we’ve only been having one or two people crashing the boards hard. Today, I felt like everyone or at least three or four of us crashed hard and it made a difference.”
Wheeling, which saw its five-game winning streak halted with the loss, closes out the 2025-26 season with a 17-12 mark. It’s the fourth straight year the Cardinals have lost in their opening round game in the MEC Tournament. Three of those losses have now come against the Golden Eagles.
“To win in a tournament you’ve got to put four quarters together and today we didn’t do that,” Wheeling coach Ella Skeens said. “I thought we finished strong in the third and fourth, but you’ve gotta put four together, especially against a strong team like Charleston.
“The difference today? Rebounding. That’s no secret. It’s also no secret that we’re not that big on the court so we needed to make it an emphasis to get into them, get low and push them out. We didn’t do that. As a result they scored a lot on second and third chances today and I thought that was more our fault. We’re going to have to get better in the years to come in that area.
“Our free throws weren’t good either. We made just 5-of-12 and that’s nowhere near good enough.”
The contest was a battle of the top two scoring defenses in the MEC. Wheeling came into the game tops in league in scoring defense only allowing 58.9 points per game. UC, on the other hand, is second and gives up just 63.3.
Thursday Charleston’s defense won the war, holding the Cardinals to just 21 points in the first half and just 33 through three quarters.
“We not only emphasize rebounds, we emphasize defense,” UC’s Jordan Scully, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, said. “We’re all about getting stops. We always say see a stop, get a stop. We definitely play off of our defense a lot.”
After falling behind by 21 heading into the final quarter, Wheeling rallied and outscored the Golden Eagles 22-15 in the final 10 minutes. The Cardinals got within nine of UC at 62-53 with 2:08 to play on a layup by Kenzie Dalton, but could get no closer.
“This year we had a new coach and a new system but we had the same fundamentals,” said Dalton, who led Wheeling with 20 points, eight rebounds, five steals and five assists. “Our philosophy is defense wins games, but we’ve also got to be able to score more.”
Wheeling also got 13 points from Emilia Sierra Lacosta and 10 from Emma Reynolds.
UC and Frostburg, who will square off in Saturday’s semifinals, split their regular-season series this year with each team winning on its home court.
Glenville State 85, West Liberty 74
By Bryan Dillon
For MountainEast.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – Nwando Okigbo’s career night led the top-seeded Glenville State Pioneers over ninth-seeded West Liberty 85-74 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament Thursday night at WesBanco Arena.
Okigbo finished the game with her tenth double-double of the season, including a career high 25 rebounds and 17 points. The 25 rebounds tied for the most in MEC women’s tournament history with Lily Ritz of Wheeling University.
Glenville State’s offense was well-balanced with four players scoring in double-figures and seven players scoring at least seven points. In addition to Okigbo’s team-best 17 points, Nylah Davis scored 16, Khalia Bryant added 12, and Jayda Allie dropped in 10 points.
Reagan Vinskovich and Anna Lucarelli turned in big performances for West Liberty, with Vinskovich scoring a game-high 29 points and pulling down 13 rebounds for her tenth double-double of the season. While Vinskovich did her work in the lane, Lucarelli showed her multi-level scoring ability with a career-high 27 points in her final game for the Hilltoppers.
“It was a tough and gritty win from our team,” stated Glenville State Head Coach Emily Stoller. “We played them twice already this season, and it came down to the wire both games, so we knew we were going to be in a dog fight. We made some adjustments coming into the game, and I am proud of how the team applied the adjustments to the game today.”
The teams entered the halftime break with the score tied at 43-43. After the back-and-forth first half, which saw ten lead changes and four ties, the adjustments from the Pioneers, who averaged 86 points per game in the regular season, showed up as they turned to their defense to pull away from West Liberty. Glenville State held the Hilltoppers to only 31 points in the second half. GSU’s defense was particularly strong in the 3rd quarter, limiting WLU to just 16.7 percent shooting on 18 attempts and 11 points.
West Liberty jumped out to an early first quarter lead at 15-11 before Glenville State reeled off nine straight points to seize a 20-15 lead with 1:53 remaining in the quarter.
During the second quarter, neither team was able to gain more than a four-point lead at any point as the teams exchanged the lead seven times in the quarter. Vinskovich’s spinning layup on the fast break gave West Liberty a lead at 35-33, which they would maintain until the final 30 seconds of the half, when Jayda Allie dropped in one of her two three-pointers in the game to level the score at 43.
Glenville State started to pull away midway through the third quarter, thanks to a 10-2 scoring run capped by a Nylah Davis layup, which gave the Pioneers a 57-51 lead. Davis then closed out the quarter with a free throw and a layup to give her team an eight-point advantage heading into the final quarter.
Early in the 4th quarter, Okigbo scored six points to help stretch GSU’s lead to 12 points. Vinskovich and Lucarelli combined to score 15 points in the quarter, but it was not enough to cut into the Pioneers’ lead as they were able to find answers throughout the final period of play.
“I am unbelievably proud of my group,” said West Liberty Head Coach Kyle Cooper. “When you look at what we were able to do, we were able to get into the ring with a really good basketball team tonight and have our chances … I thought we did generate some good looks at crucial times, but unfortunately some of the shots just didn’t fall.”
Glenville State will move on to the semifinal on Saturday, March 7, at Noon where they will face the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Concord and fifth-seeded Fairmont State at WesBanco Arena. This will mark the ninth time that the Pioneers have reached the semifinals of the MEC tournament.
Fairmont State 58, Concord 56
By Bryan Dillon
For Mountain East.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – Fairmont State’s record breaking defensive performance lifted the fifth-seeded Falcons over fourth-seeded Concord, 58-56, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament presented by The Health Plan on Thursday night at WesBanco Arena.
The Falcons’ defense was the story of the night, utilizing stifling pressure throughout the game to force the Mountain Lions into 32 turnovers, which were converted into 26 points for Fairmont State. 21 of the 32 turnovers that were forced came from steals, which set a new Mountain East Conference tournament record for steals in a game, surpassing the previous record of 20 set by Glenville State on two occasions.
Forcing turnovers was critical for Fairmont State to overcome a difficult shooting performance. The Falcons shot 34.3 percent from the floor, making 24-of-70 shots and 38.9 percent at the foul line. Meanwhile, the Mountain Lions shot 47.8 percent from the field for the game. Their 32 turnovers allowed Fairmont State to attempt 24 more shots.
“I want to give credit to our opponents; it was a great game that could have gone either way,” commented Fairmont State Head Coach Stephanie Anderson. “Our identity is defense, and that is something that we preach every single day. We work on it every single day because it is controllable and we know that we control the effort that we give defensively.”
Gabby Reep led the Falcons in scoring, netting a game-high 18 points. Alanna Tate joined her in double-digits with 14 points. Haylen Cook was big on the boards for Fairmont State, grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds.
Three Mountain Lions shared the scoring load, Abbie Smith (17), the league’s player of the year, Olivia Ziolkowski (16), and Kenyah Stubbs (14) combining for 47 points. Smith and Ziolkowski both finished the games with double-doubles, pulling down 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.
Tied at 56-56 with under a minute remaining, Gabby Reep drove baseline and dropped off a pass to Alanna Tate, who scored the game-winning basket with 52 seconds remaining in the contest.
The game started with both teams trading baskets, before Gabby Reep gave the Falcons the largest lead of the first quarter on a driving layup with 14 seconds remaining to give Fairmont State a 19-15 lead. FSU set the tone for the game, forcing seven turnovers and snatching five steals in the quarter.
Both teams scored 11 points in a low scoring second quarter. After Concord’s Kiley Smich tied the score at 23-23, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run following baskets from Reep and Haylen Cook. Fairmont State ended the half with 14 steals and turned 18 turnovers into 14 points to give them a 30-26 lead at the break.
A pair of runs for each team highlighted the third quarter. With the score 34-32, the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to give them a 42-32 lead. The run was fueled by eight points from Alanna Tate. That run was quickly matched by a 9-0 run from the Mountain Lions to close the deficit to one to set up a dramatic 4th quarter.
Kenyah Stubbs gave Concord its first lead since the first quarter following a layup with 8:50 remaining in the final frame. After falling behind by a single point, Fairmont State strung together three consecutive baskets to recapture the lead.
Stubbs would once again give CU a one-point advantage with 3:20 left to play on a driving layup, which was answered by a three-pointer from Lalia Jones. Olivia Ziolkowski evened the game at 56-56 with 2:03 left to play on a short jump shot from inside the lane, before the decisive basket from Tate in the final minute of play. The Mountain Lions had an opportunity right at the end of regulation to force OT; however, a layup attempt from Stubbs just missed.
“If you stayed up this late, you got your money’s worth. You got to see two good teams really go at it,” said Concord Head Coach Tesla Southcott. “To be in that game after turning the ball over at that level, we have to count our blessings. I think credit goes to Fairmont for their defensive effort. I thought from a defensive effort standpoint that our team played as good as they could have. To give them 32 extra possessions, that is the difference in the game.”
Fairmont State will move on to the semifinal on Saturday, March 7, at Noon to face top-seeded Glenville State at WesBanco Arena in a rematch of last season’s championship game. This will be the seventh time that the Falcons have reached the semifinal of the MEC tournament.