GLENVILLE, W.VA. – Despite a career-high performance and four scorers in double-digits, West Virginia State Women's Basketball suffered defeat Wednesday, falling to Mountain East Conference foe Glenville State 97-77 at the Waco Center.
The Yellow Jackets slip to 9-4 on the season and 5-3 in MEC play, while the Pioneers remain perfect at 15-0 and 10-0.
Junior Shelby Harmeyer matched a career-best performance with 17 points, including going 5-for-7 in three pointers. Classmates Destiny Fields and Hannah Shriver each totaled 15 points. Fields added six boards and a pair of steals. Senior Alana Kramer added 13 points.
The Yellow Jackets finished the contest shooting nearly 50% from the arc at 47.8%.
A pair of layups in the opening minute from Kramer and Fields set the opening tone for WVSU, followed by four points from freshman Emyah Fortenberry and Fields put the Yellow Jackets in control, up 8-5 in the first two minutes of the quarter.
State continued to carry momentum, going on a 7-1 run over the next three and a half minutes in a sequence that featured a trey from Erin Whitehead, and nearly back-to-back layups, coming from Shriver and Fields, to give the Yellow Jackets a 15-8 lead.
The Pioneers surged in the final four minutes of the frame, going on a 16-3 scoring run, State's lone points coming on a three-pointer from Shriver. With Glenville taking the lead and adding some cushion, up 24-18, Fields fired off a jumper to narrow the gap for four points before a Pioneer trey as the clock hit zero left Glenville with a 27-20 lead as the first quarter concluded.
The duo of Fields and Harmeyer worked through the first five minutes of the second quarter to keep the Yellow Jackets within single digits of the Pioneers, including a pair of threes from Harmeyer.
Seven straight points for Glenville built their advantage to 46-32 with just under four minutes remaining in the half.
Back-to-back layups from Kramer presented some excitement for the Yellow Jackets as they looked to continue narrowing the gap, but a three from Russell in the final minute of the quarter wasn't enough, as State headed into halftime trailing 53-41.
A 7-3 scoring run opened up the third quarter for the Yellow Jackets, then followed by a pair of treys from Harmeyer as she trimmed the deficit to just six points at 60-54 with 6:45 left in the frame. The excitement stalled for State, as Glenville State registered 12 consecutive points to add cushion and build a 72-56 advantage to end the third quarter.
As with the trend of the contest, the Yellow Jackets started the fourth quarter with momentum, putting up a 9-4 scoring drive- including five points from Harmeyer- to climb to within 11 points of the Pioneers at 76-65.
Yet again, Glenville surged with hot shooting, putting up runs of seven and eight consecutive points, respectively, in a total 21-7 drive that lasted for nearly the entire final quarter, to put the Pioneers at 97-72.
State saw a jumper from Shriver and a three from Kramer in the final minute of play.
Fortenberry and Whitehead each finished with seven rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets defense.
UP NEXT
WVSU prepares for the county showdown, traveling a short ways up the road to face MEC foe Charleston Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m., with live stats and video available.
