INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University women's basketball team played host to Glenville State on Wednesday night. The Pioneers proved to be too strong as they edged out WVSU, 125-91.
West Virginia State drops to 7-10 overall and 5-6 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) following the loss. Meanwhile, Glenville State moves up to 13-4 on the season, 9-2 in the MEC after the victory.
Freshman guard
Alexis Hall recorded a team-high 19 points for the Yellow Jackets. Sophomore guards
Destiny Fields and
Payton Shears each posted 16 points. Freshman forward
Erin Whitehead grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Glenville State jumped out to a 17-5 lead early in the first period thanks to a 14-2 run. After that, the Yellow Jackets played them even for the rest of the opening period. WVSU trailed by ten points, 33-23, at the end of the first quarter.
The Pioneers were slightly better in the second quarter, outscoring the Yellow Jackets by five points, 28-23. The Yellow Jackets were faced with a tough task ahead going into halftime with a 15-point deficit, 61-46.
WVSU came out of the break in a slump while Glenville State came out firing. The Pioneers put together a 21-5 run that was finally ended by a pair of layups from
Destiny Fields and
Alexis Hall with three and a half minutes left in the third period. GSC took a 30-point lead, 95-65, into the final period.
West Virginia State was able to hang with Glenville State in the fourth quarter, but was still outscored by four points.
Charity Shears drained a wide-open shot from behind the arc in the closing seconds of the game to get WVSU over the 90-point mark.
Rebounding was the major factor in the contest. Glenville State outrebounded West Virginia State, 63-32. The Yellow Jackets actually connected on a higher percentage of shots than the Pioneers. WVSU shot 51 percent from the field compared to 48 percent by GSC.
The Yellow Jackets will return to Institute on Sunday, Jan. 26 for another conference matchup against crosstown foes Charleston. Tip-off was moved up to 1:05 p.m. to accommodate AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh's live coverage of the men's game at 4:05 p.m.
