INSTITUTE, W.VA. – West Virginia State Women's Basketball registered their fifth-straight win Wednesday, downing visiting Davis & Elkins 92-70 in Walker Convocation.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 16-5 on the year and tally an impressive 12-4 ledger in Mountain East Conference action, while the Senators slip to 6-16 overall and 3-14 in the league.
Junior Ashley Davis carried the sharp-shooter torch for State Wednesday, tying for sixth in program history for single-game three pointers made with a 6-for-9 clip and 22 total points.
Senior Charity Shears was also impressive, finishing the contest with 20 points, surpassing 1,250 in her career. Sister Payton Shears added 11 points in the contest, while sophomore ZZ Russell added 12. Russell also hauled in six boards, right behind team leader Emyah Fortenberry's seven.
The first quarter began as a back-and-forth affair; both sides traded points and leads until a trey from junior Hannah Shriver lifted State to a three-point cushion at 11-8 with just around five minutes to go in the frame.
Back-to-back threes from Davis delivered some momentum late in the quarter, getting the Yellow Jackets to a 17-12 advantage. The Senators pressured, going on an 8-0 run to regain control of the contest at 20-19.
After a Destiny Fields three-pointer once again flipped the lead back to State, Charity Shears added cushion with seven points in the final minute of play, ending the first quarter with WVSU ahead 30-22.
State was dynamic from the arc during the frame, going 8-for-14. Davis led the way with nine, all by way of three pointer, while C. Shears and Russell each added seven in the quarter.
The second quarter featured multiple runs for both squads. State continued its hot shooting at the three-point line, building a 10-point lead on back-to-back treys from sophomore Caroline Scott and Davis to go up 40-30.
A 7-1 scoring drive for the Senators narrowed the Yellow Jackets' lead to 41-37 and then made the gap even tighter at 42-40 with just over a minute remaining in the half. D&E went hot from the arc themselves in the final minute, hauling in a pair of threes to steal the lead 46-42 heading into halftime.
Davis led all State scorers at the half with 12 points.
The Yellow Jackets returned from the locker room for the third quarter with force, limiting the Senators to just four points through the first four minutes of the frame, while using a pair of 5-0 runs and a 6-2 scoring drive to regain the lead and build some cushion, up 58-52 with 5:45 on the clock.
That 6-2 run turned into 12 straight points for State, highlighted by a steal and immediate put back on the layup from Fortenberry, pushing State to a double-digit advantage once more at 64-52.
The Yellow Jackets stayed hot in the final three minutes of the frame, hauling in 15 points to end the quarter, including seven from C. Shears and a pair of treys from Davis, to enter the fourth quarter with a commanding 18-point advantage at 79-61. State was impressive, shooting 52% from the floor with 37 points.
After a jumper in the first minute of the fourth quarter from Payton Shears, the scoring stalled for State, if only briefly, until 5:43 when P. Shears and Russell launched back-to-back threes to continue to add cushion at 87-63.
The Yellow Jackets finished the contest in commanding fashion at 92-70.
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets travel to Buckhannon for a 2 p.m. tip with West Virginia Wesleyan Saturday. Live stats and video will be available. State dominated in the pair's last meeting, downing the Bobcats 79-45 in late January.
