INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan (2-10, 1-9) women’s basketball team dropped a 79-45 conference road game at West Virginia State (4-11, 1-9) on Monday night at the Walker Convocation Center.
 
WVWC Leaders
Cierra Tolbert secured a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, five coming from the offensive end. Symphonie Bryant-Brown dished out four assists. Malaika Kimmons forced two steals. Courtney Wilfong swished two three-point buckets.
 
West Virginia State Leaders
Four Yellow Jackets reached double figures, led by Shelby Harmeyer with 18 points. Emyah Fortenberry pulled down seven boards. Hannah Shriver and Kaila Cunningham passed five assists each. Harmeyer and Caroline Scott both accumulated three steals.
 
Inside the First Half
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Wesleyan answered with a 12-2 run and claimed a 12-11 lead with 5:30 to go in the first quarter. Tolbert scored seven points in WVWC’s largest run of the evening. WVSU regained the lead following a 5-0 run. The home team led 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Wesleyan hit two three-pointers late in the second quarter. Wilfong sunk a shot from beyond the arc that pulled WVWC within 10 points at the 2:29 mark. Bryant-Brown converted a three with 34 seconds to go that put the score at 34-24 in favor of WVSU.
 
Inside the Second Half
The Lady Bobcats scored four of the first six points of the second half. Kimmons swished a jump shot to open the third quarter and Tolbert made a layup for her 11th point of the evening. The two forwards contributed four consecutive points midway through the quarter and trimmed the WVSU lead to nine. The Yellow Jackets closed the third quarter with a 12-1 run and took a 53-33 advantage into the final quarter. In the final quarter, Wesleyan posted a 7-2 run, capped off by a Kimmons jump shot. WVSU responded with a 17-point scoring run. The home team secured a 79-45 win.
 
Up Next
The Lady ‘Cats return home for a matchup versus Wheeling on Wednesday (Jan. 26) at 5:30 p.m.