Box Score BUCKHANNON – The West Virginia Wesleyan Lady Bobcats saved their best for last as they upset Glenville State by a 94-82 score today in a Mountain East Conference contest at Rockefeller Center.
On a day when Wesleyan recognized their three senior players (Allie Browne, Adrian Cunningham and Brooke Richard) before their regular-season finale, it was a sophomore who led the way for the Lady Bobcats.
Sophomore forward Mari Stewart (pictured) had a career game as she scored 44 points on a 19 of 24 shooting night from the floor.
She also added 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The 44 points and 19 made field goals are both MEC season highs for the 2015-16 basketball campaign.
The 92 points was also the second best output for the Lady Bobcat offense on the season.
Glenville State entered the game as the top scoring offense in the nation at 92 points per game, but the Wesleyan defense held them 10 points under their season average.
The win ended a four-game losing streak for the Lady Bobcats as they ended the regular-season with a 7-19 overall mark and a 5-17 ledger in the MEC.
Wesleyan finished as the 11th seed in the conference and will face the sixth seed Urbana Blue Knights Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the MEC Tournament.
Urbana ended the year with a 12-14 record overall and a 10-10 mark in the conference.
Wesleyan was down early by a 6-2 score, but Richard hit a three-pointer, Cunningham made a lay-up and Stewart flipped in a foul shot to give Wesleyan their first lead, at 8-6.
With Wesleyan still leading by a 20-19 score, Browne uncorked a three-pointer and Stewart hit a 10-footer to close the first quarter treating the Lady Bobcats to a 25-19 advantage.
Glenville State narrowed the Wesleyan lead down to two again, at 29-27, but Kambrie Bosley unleased a three-pointer, and Stewart and Cunningham each made jumpers to extend the Wesleyan advantage to 36-27 with 4:06 left in the opening half.
With the Lady Bobcats holding a three-point lead with a minute remaining at 41-38, Stewart single-handily made it a 48-38 game and she scored the final seven points of the half hitting a three-point and a pair of jumpers.
Richard turned in an old-fashioned three-pointer to give Wesleyan a five-point advantage, at 62-57, but Glenville State scored the next six points to take the lead at 63-62.
Stewart canned a jumper to return the lead to Wesleyan and Stacy Remer sank two foul shots as Wesleyan took at 66-63 advantage heading into the final quarter.
Glenville State outscored Wesleyan by a 10-2 margin over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to grab a 73-68 lead, which was the Pioneers' biggest lead of the game.
Wesleyan responded with a jumper by Stewart and a three-pointer by Browne as the Lady Bobcats tied the game, at 73-73, with 5:58 left in the contest.
After a three-pointer by Glenville State made it a 76-73 game, Wesleyan used a 14-0 run to take control of the contest.
Cunningham made consecutive jumpers, Browne connected on a three-pointer, Stewart hit a jumper, Richard went underneath for a lay-up and Stewart made two free throws and Remer added a free throw during the run.
That put Wesleyan ahead by an 87-76 score with 2:32 remaining.
Wesleyan outscored Glenville State by a 7-6 margin in the final two minutes for their 12-point win.
Cunningham had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Richard scored 12 points to go along with six assists and Browne contributed with 11 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Wesleyan and Glenville State each had 43 rebounds during the game.
Wesleyan shot the ball at a 53.5 clip hitting on 38 of their 71 field goals.
Glenville State ended their regular season as the fourth seed with a 17-11 record overall and a 13-9 MEC mark.
(Photograph courtesy of Peter Galarneau Jr.)
