Nearly five weeks ago, the West Virginia Wesleyan women were run over by Glenville State University 100-71 in its biggest margin of defeat this season. Saturday, the tides turned and the Bobcats No. 3 Mountain East Conference defense throttled the No.1 MEC offense 89-76 in Buckhannon.
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Glenville's incessant five-on, five-off substitution strategy that scrambled the Bobcat defense earlier in the year, was managed by a learned defensive team that now is the conference's leader in combined opponent rebounds with 29.8 per game. When added to Wesleyan's newfound strategy against the full-court press, deep passes from the throw-in to players ready to score helped position the Bobcat offense for victory.
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As it was against West Liberty University in its last home game stand, the Bobcats faced two of the conference's top-10 scoring leaders in Hya Haywood and Lauren Calhoun and held each to their season average (16.8 and 14.9, respectively) or below.
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Leading the Bobcats and the game in scoring was
Desiree Roy who pounded the paint for 25 points and nine rebounds by going a blistering season high 10-of-11 from the field.
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The country's No. 1, NCAA Division II leading free throw shooter
Sydney Baird (.959), notched another perfect game from the charity stripe with 4-of-4 against Glenville. Overall, Baird added 22 points that included 4-of-6 from three-point land.
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Wesleyan's top scorer
Emma Witt added 18 points and eight rebounds and
Shelby Genes scored 10 points.
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The Bobcats face the conference's No. 2 defense, University of Charleston Wednesday, Feb. 21 at Rockefeller Center. Tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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