BUCKHANNON — West Virginia Wesleyan women’s basketball continued its winning streak Saturday against Salem University with a 69-54 home victory, but the final score did not describe a tentative Lady Bobcat offense that had head coach Brett Vincent yelling at his team during timeouts.
With the Lady Bobcats shooting just 37 percent in the first two quarters, and finding that a lid remained over the basketball rim early in the third quarter, Salem scratched into Wesleyan’s 10-point halftime lead, pulling even at 33 with just under six minutes remaining in the quarter then going ahead 41-40 with 1:44 left before the fourth.
Wesleyan’s defense finally came alive in the second half as a strong countermeasure to its struggling offense. For the game, the Mountain East Conference’s best defense logged another 37 rebounds to Salem’s 21, stole the ball nine times and had four blocked shots, including two by the game’s leading scorer Sydney Baird.
Baird had 20 points that included 4-of-9 three-pointers and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. She added two rebounds and four assists. The Lady Bobcats’ leader Emma Witt finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points while ripping down 13 boards. Lojain Elfatairy added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Salem’s Carine Pinkney led the Tigers with 16 points, two rebounds and one assist. Liliani Krause contributed 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Lady Bobcats remain idle until after the holiday break when the team hosts Warren Wilson College (N.C.) on Sunday, Jan. 5 for a 2 p.m. start.
