Women\u2019s<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nFROSTBURG STATE 78, Point Park 68: <\/b>Seventh-seeded Frostburg State used an impressive 26-0 run over the final three minutes of the second quarter and the first 3:30 of the third period to wipe out a six-point deficit and roll to a victory over 10th-seeded Point Park in the opening round of the annual Mountain East Conference Women\u2019s Basketball Tournament at WesBanco Arena.<\/p>\n
The win improved Frostburg to 15-14 overall and puts the Bobcats in Thursday\u2019s quarterfinals against second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan (18-6) at noon.<\/p>\n
Point Park finished its season at 8-19.<\/p>\n
Trailing 31-25 with 3:45 to play in the second quarter, the Bobcats went to work. Led by Sophie Nichols and Laekyn Flynn, Frostburg closed the first half with a 14-0 spurt to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room.<\/p>\n
Nichols finished the game with 16 points, while Flynn added 10. Together they combined for 10 of the Bobcats\u2019 14 points on the game-changing second-quarter burst.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking on the court that we needed to keep doing the little things like get every loose ball and every rebound,\u201d said Frostburg forward Jenna Muha, who finished with 10 rebounds and 16 points, 14 of which came in the first two quarters. \u201cOur game plan was to go after everything hard and saying that at that point settled us down and got us refocused. Once we did that we put our foot on the gas and didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the third quarter the Bobcats\u2019 Julie Spinelli drained a 3-pointer on her team\u2019s first possession to ignite a 12-0 run which pushed Frostburg\u2019s lead to 20 at 51-31. Spinelli, who shook off an early ankle injury in the game, scored seven of her team\u2019s 12 points during that span.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a team that never gives up whether we\u2019re up by nine or down by nine,\u201d said Spinelli, who scored 15 points, 13 of which came in the final two quarters. \u201cWe give it our all no matter what. We don\u2019t take any team lightly. At that point it was like Jenna said it was foot on the gas and keep going. This is the playoffs, the tournament and we knew we had to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
WEST LIBERTY 78, West Virginia State 72:<\/b> It certainly wasn\u2019t easy, but for the first time since 2022 West Liberty\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team garnered a victory in the annual Mountain East Conference Tournament.<\/p>\n
The ninth-seeded Hilltoppers held off a furious fourth-quarter rally by eighth-seeded West Virginia State to record a hard-fought 78-72 win.<\/p>\n
The victory improved West Liberty to 11-18 on the year and puts the Hilltoppers in Thursday\u2019s quarterfinals against top-seeded Glenville State at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really hard-fought win,\u201d West Liberty coach Kyle Cooper said. \u201cYou really have to give West Virginia State credit. I thought we kept getting control of the game at multiple times and they just kept coming back at us. Hats off to the fight they showed. They\u2019re a physical team, a tough out and they\u2019re talented.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlipping to us, I thought we showed tremendous resilience when they kept coming at us. The reality of it is there\u2019s been times this year when we haven\u2019t shown that resilience. So for us, it\u2019s an opportunity with a new season starting with the tournament to step up and show just what we\u2019re capable of. I\u2019m really proud of our group. People really don\u2019t understand the adversity this team has faced this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirty minutes into Wednesday\u2019s contest West Liberty appeared in control leading State by 13 with 10 minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets, however, had other plans. State opened the final quarter with a quick 10-0 run in a span of just 2:18 to close the Hilltoppers\u2019 lead to a mere three points at 56-53.<\/p>\n
On this day, though, West Liberty had the answers and those answers in the fourth quarter were mostly in the form of free throws. The Yellow Jackets put West Liberty at the foul line 26 times in the game\u2019s final 7:20 and the Hilltoppers made good on 18 of those 26 chances to help keep State at bay. West Liberty only made two field goals in the final quarter.<\/p>\n
The catalyst for the Hilltoppers in the fourth quarter was senior guard Anna Lucarelli who scored 10 of the her team\u2019s final 22 points, including an 8-of-10 showing at the line in the fourth quarter. Lucarelli finished with 20 points and eight rebounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling knowing I\u2019m confident going to the line in those situations,\u201d Lucarelli said. \u201cI struggled a little bit at the line earlier in the season so I just went back to the basics. We have a little shooting court in our backyard at home and just visualizing myself out there with my mom or dad rebounding for me helps. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done since I was old enough to touch a basketball. Having that mindset there\u2019s no pressure. It\u2019s just muscle memory and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss marks the first time since 2021 that West Virginia State has not made it to the tournament quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\nFROSTBURG STATE 93, West Virginia State 85<\/b>: MEC Player of the Year Trey Simmons helped Frostburg State earn its first tournament victory with a win over West Virginia State at WesBanco Arena.<\/p>\n
Frostburg State, the seven seed, improves to 15-14 on the year, while West Virginia State\u2019s season ends with a record of 8-21.\u00a0 The Bobcats will return to action on Friday at noon when they take on the second-seeded Falcons of Fairmont State at WesBanco Arena.<\/p>\n
Simmons, who scored a game-high 36 points (the seventh most points in a game in MEC tournament history) was part of trio that included Kyle Whippen (25) and DJ Daniel (20) that accounted for 81 points on the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we started out slow, then had a nice run through the middle part of the first half,\u201d remarked Frostburg State head coach Zach Thomsen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe Bobcats opened the scoring with a three-point field goal from Simmons, before a 10-3 run by the Hornets gave them a 10-6 advantage with 16:04 remaining in the first half.<\/p>\n
From that point, Frostburg State went on a 36-14 run over the next 12:02 to give FSU a 42-24 lead with 4:13 remaining in the first half.\u00a0 The run to open their largest lead of the night at 18 points included individual runs of 14-0 and 14-4.<\/p>\n
“I am proud of our guys for battling back,\u201d said West Virginia State Head Coach Bryan Poore.\u00a0\u201cFrostburg got going in the first half, and it looked bleak, but our guys stuck with it and battled back to give us a chance down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
DAVIS & ELKINS 75, Point Park 73:<\/b> Davis & Elkins advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mountain East tournament on Vegas Evans\u2019 turnaround jump shot with 27 seconds remaining to give the Senators a victory over Point Park.<\/p>\n
The final game of the opening night of the Mountain East Conference Tournament presented by The Health plan came down to the wire in a contest that had 15 lead changes and 13 ties, with neither team leading by more than eight points.<\/p>\n
With the victory, Davis & Elkins improves to 10-19 on the season and will advance to face the top-seeded West Liberty Hilltoppers on Friday at 6 p.m. at WesBanco Arena.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>“I thought it was a gritty victory,\u201d said D&E head coach Daniel Harris. \u201cI thought our guys stayed the course, especially with them starting out hot and getting up early. I am proud of this group. If you look at our season, we had a lot of games like that which didn\u2019t go our way. It was a team effort. I am happy, and we are going to celebrate tonight and then get ready for [West Liberty on] Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senators had four players score in double digits, led by Dontrell Jenkins\u2019 19 points.\u00a0 He was joined in double-figures by Matthew Gray (17), Vegas Evans (12), and Nnadozie Okoroji (11).\u00a0 Malachi Hampton was key on the boards, leading all players with 13 rebounds.\u00a0 Point Park was led by Aiden Anderson, who notched his sixth double-double of the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Davis & Elkins finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field, hitting on 29-of-64 attempts and 41 percent from deep to make up for a difference of 12 fewer free throws than Point Park.\u00a0 The Pioneers shot well for most of the night, but only connected one of their final nine shots, allowing D&E to come-from-behind late to win a game that the Pioneers led for over 24 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four women’s quarterfinal matchups will be contested Thursday, starting with No. 2 seed West Virginia Wesleyan against Frostburg State. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":660926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mec","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n
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