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WBB: WVSU beats Glenville 23
74
Glenville St. Glen 15-2,9-2 MEC
75
Winner West Virginia St. WVSt 14-2,9-2 MEC
Glenville St. Glen
15-2,9-2 MEC
74
Final
75
West Virginia St. WVSt
14-2,9-2 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Glenville St. Glen 15 21 21 17 74
West Virginia St. WVSt 24 22 17 12 75

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Bryan Shepherd, Assistant Sports Information Director

UPSET COMPLETE: WVSU stings No. 2 Glenville State, shuts down Pioneers in waning moments

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – With 83 seconds left in the game, Emyah Fortenberry gathered her 12th rebound and laid the ball off the backboard and in the basket, scoring her ninth, and arguably most important point in the game, to give WVSU a 75-74 lead. From there, WVSU (14-2, 9-2 MEC) played stifling defense, forcing a shot clock violation and a blocked shot on the final two possessions by the defending National Champions and No. 2 Glenville State Pioneers (15-2, 9-2 MEC) inside the Walker Convocation Center on Wednesday Night. A raucous crowd of 871 filled the seats to see the top two teams in the Mountain East dance on the Lester Raines Court.

"I just saw heart and determination and a will to win," WVSU Head Coach Charles Marshall said. "They really wanted it. I'm so proud of my girls — they took care of business at the end. It's a program-changer for us. It's a win that we needed. Our kids believed they could take care of business and get the job done today."

Destiny Fields gathered her second double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and gathering 12 boards, nine of them on the offensive glass. Fortenberry was one point shy of a double-double, scoring nine points, including the game winner, and getting 13 rebounds. She also gathered nine offensive boards. Shelby Harmeyer was the other double-digit scorer for State, scoring 12, all from long-distance.

WVSU dominated Glenville State on the boards, gathering 57 rebounds to GSU's 31. WVSU was -4 on turnover margin to GSU, only the fourth time this season that WVSU have posted a negative turnover margin. The Yellow Jackets did post their best free throw percentage of the season, hitting 15 of 17 shots at the charity stripe, good for 88.2 percent.

Breanna Campbell scored 22 for Glenville State. 

GSU took a 4-3 lead early in the first quarter, before both teams went on a drought that spanned almost two minutes. Fortenberry hit two foul shots to tie it up at 6-all. The two teams were tied again at 13-all with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. State went on an 11-2 run to close out the quarter with Fields contributing four, Harmeyer three, and ZZ Russell and Hannah Shriver each scoring two. State took a 24-15 lead after 10 minutes.

Glenville State scored the first six points of the quarter before Alana Kramer answered with a layup down the middle of the paint from Russell, starting a 7-0 run, capped by a Shriver trey. GSU answered with a trey and Latifat Olitunji hit a mid-range jumper just before the under-five media timeout. The rest of the quarter was back and forth and WVSU took a 10-point lead into the locker room against a stunned Glenville State squad, 46-36. 

State and GSU traded buckets to start the third quarter. Glenville went on a 8-3 run to close to within five points with 6:09 to play in the third. WVSU's free throw shooting and rebounding kept the Pioneers at bay, shooting 6-of-7 at the free throw line and holding an 18-8 rebounding advantage in the quarter, but GSU started to whittle down the State lead and WVSU went into the final 10 minutes clinging onto a 63-57 lead.

Glenville State managed to get the lead down to a single point with 5:28 to play in regulation forcing a frustrated Coach Marshall to call timeout, the first of the half. GSU were in the middle of a 12-4 run that would allow them to regain the lead at 72-71 with just over four minutes to go and extend it with a pull-up jumper with just shy of three minutes left. Shriver put home a layup on the next possession to close to within one of Glenville State and then on the final scoring possession of the game, Russell jacked a three that was offline, Fields rebounded and kicked to Harmeyer whose pullup was just off, allowing Fortenberry to rebound and layup the final points of the game. 

GSU called a timeout with five seconds left on the shot clock, but couldn't get a shot to the rim through the stifling defense, giving State the ball with 51 seconds left. Russell was called for an offensive foul on the next possession, giving the Pioneers possession with 29 seconds left and only down by one. Olitunji blocked the final shot attempt and the red lights came on before a second attempt could be made, setting off pandemonium inside the Walker Center.

Up Next
WVSU returns to the Walker Convocation Center on Saturday, Jan. 21 for the Kanawha-River Classic against cross-town rivals Charleston. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 pm. UC took down the Concord Mountain Lions on Wednesday, 80-68.
 
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