FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan women’s basketball team fell on the road at Fairmont State on Wednesday night 59-46. The Lady Bobcats held the Falcons to 3-17 shooting from three (18%) but turned the ball over 20 times, allowing Fairmont State to turn that into 20 points.
Fairmont State’s Madeline Huffman hit a three to put the Falcons up on the board first. Shelby Genes connected on a floater through the lane for the Lady Bobcats a couple of possessions later. FSU’s early 9-2 lead forced head coach Brett Vincent to call a timeout. The Lady Bobcats reacted well, cutting it to 11-10 before Fairmont State found the scoring column again. Wesleyan went scoreless in the last 4:22 of the first quarter to allow the Falcons to take a 17-10 lead at the end of one.
Daveona Hatchell knocked down a jumper from 10-feet to end an almost seven-minute field goal drought for the Lady Bobcats. Fairmont State had been struggling as well but a 9-0 run in under a minute and a half put them up 26-13, making Vincent call another timeout to regroup the Lady Bobcats. An Imani Jackson layup put WVWC back within single-digits but Fairmont converted on a layup of their own on the other end, holding onto a 29-19 advantage going into the locker room.
Jackson had a steal and a layup just seconds into the new half. Fairmont State grew their biggest lead of the game at that point at 15 until Genes and Emma Witt went back-to-back to trim the deficit to 11 at the under-5 media timeout. The Lady Bobcats cut the Falcons lead to single-digits multiple times but struggled to stop Fairmont from scoring underneath, giving up back-to-back and-ones and trailing 46-30 after three quarters of play.
Both offenses were hot to start the fourth quarter, hitting from deep and getting out in transition for easy layups. Consecutive layups by Courtney Wilfong made it 55-42 Fairmont State at the final media timeout of the game. The Falcons kept Wesleyan at a distance to close the game out, not allowing any type of comeback in the final minutes of the game.
Jalen Gibbs had a double-double to lead the Falcons, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Jertaya Hall finished with 12 points and Alyssa DeAngelo had 10 points to aid the Fairmont offense. Gibbs also had three blocks in the win.
The Lady Bobcats were led by Jackson’s 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Hatchell closed the night with 11 points and eight rebounds. Witt was held to just six points after having four straight games with 20 or more points.
Wesleyan closes out the regular season on Saturday at Davis & Elkins for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
