INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State's women's basketball team grabbed a 14 point lead after the first quarter, and then rode that out to a 76-71 win over the upset-minded West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats. The Yellow Jackets led wire-to-wire and scored 37 points off of 30 Bobcat turnovers while only allowing 19 points on 20 WVSU miscues.

The Yellow Jackets improve to 17-9, 12-6 in the Mountain East. The Bobcats fall to 8-15, 5-13 in MEC play. 

Destiny Fields led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Fields also grabbed four boards. Hallie Bailey was the other Yellow Jacket in double-figures, scoring 10 points, grabbing seven rebounds, three steals, and two assists. State grabbed 23 offensive rebounds of their 41 total rebounds. 

Sydney Baird scored 21 points for the Bobcats. 

Wesleyan came within two points of the Yellow Jackets with a trey at the 5:57 mark, but smothering State defense only allowed one field goal during a 18-4 run that lasted over five-and-a-half minutes. Wesleyan hit a jumper in the waning seconds of the quarter to give WVSU a 25-11 lead.

State extended their lead to 19 points when Anysa Jordan went 1-of-2 from the free throw line. Wesleyan then put together a 12-2 run to trim the lead to nine points with just over three minutes to play in the half, 33-24. State recovered and re-extended the lead to double figures with a late Shanley Woods trey, 44-33.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second half on a 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 56-36 with 6:36 to play in the third. WVWC however, regrouped and went on several mini-runs, including an 8-2 run and a 5-0 run to gain 14 points on the Yellow Jackets at the end of the quarter, 64-58.

State turned up the pressure in the final frame, forcing turnovers and bad shots that resulted in the Bobcats taking nearly five minutes to score their first field goal of the quarter. The Yellow Jackets weren't able to score for lengthy stretches in the quarter, but were also able to keep the Bobcats off the scoreboard, resulting in a span of over two-and-a-half minutes after the final media timeout where neither team scored. Wesleyan closed the gap to two points with 35 seconds left, but State held off the Bobcats and iced the game with three more foul shots.

State heads to Concord for an important road matchup against the Mountain Lions on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 pm.