The West Virginia Wesleyan College women's basketball team showed a balanced approach against Salem University on Wednesday and took down the Tigers 77-51 in Salem to remain third in the Mountain East Conference with ten games left in the season.
 
From three-pointers to free throws and field goal percentage to rebounds, Wesleyan outplayed Salem on both ends of the court. Except for the first bucket of the night scored by the Tigers, the Bobcats held the lead for the entire 40 minutes of play, going up by as much as 29 in the fourth quarter.
 
Wesleyan came out in the first quarter, blistering the bottom of the net from deep shots by Shelby Genes, Lojain Elfatairy and Sydney Baird. The Bobcats hit 6-of-8 early on then cooled a bit but walked away with a 42 percent average from beyond the stripe. Salem hit 28 percent.
 
The Bobcats were 45 percent from the field, 78 percent from the free throw line and snagged 40 rebounds. Salem was 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively and had 25 rebounds.
 
Emma Witt went 8-of-14 to lead all Bobcats with 21 points and added two assists and five rebounds. Baird and Elfatairy contributed 16 points each. Baird had five assists and two rebounds and was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Elfatairy had one assist and six rebounds. Genes added 15 points, three assists and four rebounds.
 
For the Tigers, Cassandra Smith scored a game-high 25 points while adding two assists and four rebounds. Liliani Krause had 16 points, one assist and four rebounds.
 
The Bobcats return to the Rockefeller Center Saturday, Feb. 1 for a 2 p.m. tipoff with Point Park University (Pa.). Admission is free.