A fierce rally in the closing minutes fell short for the West Virginia State women's basketball team on Thursday afternoon as the Yellow Jackets lost 72-70 to UVa-Wise in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament at the Civic Center.
The No. 6-seeded Yellow Jackets (14-15) trailed by 11 points with less than four minutes to play, but hit four consecutive shots - including three 3-pointers - and made it a one-point game in the closing seconds. But UVa.-Wise (21-10, seeded No. 3) made a few free throws down the stretch to close out the win.
"That's been this team all year," West Virginia State coach Charles Marshall said. "They don't quit. That's one thing I like about this team is that they want to be coached and get better as players and do the right things."
Damonique Patterson's jumper with a couple of seconds left cut the deficit to 71-70 before Makenzie Cluesman made one of two free throws. State wasn't able to get its last-second shot off before the buzzer.
It was the third time the two teams had played a closely contested game. The first two meetings in the regular season were decided by a combined five points with the most recent coming in the form of West Virginia State's two-point victory last week.
Because of that, the Cavaliers knew they would be in for an extremely difficult test if they wanted to reach the semifinals.
"We knew it very well could have come down to the final possession," UVa-Wise coach Kristin Kunzman said. "We kind of focused on making adjustments [after playing them last week]. It was good because we had just played them so we knew what we were going to see and had three days to prepare and make those adjustments."
The Cavaliers will face No. 2 seed Wheeling Jesuit (23-6) in the semifinals at 2:15 p.m. Saturday. WJ advanced with a 78-49 quarterfinal win over Shepherd Thursday.
UVa-Wise was able to get out to an early lead against WVSU and never fell behind. That was thanks, in part, to a slow start for the Yellow Jackets. West Virginia State didn't score its first points of the game until there was just 4:51 to play in the opening quarter.
That tough start shooting the ball, plus forward Shealyn Shafer going to the bench with a couple of early fouls, made it a little easier for the Cavaliers and post player Kayla Carey to extend that lead with efficient play close to the rim.
"It changed the chemistry and the dynamics of the game because we had to adjust," Marshall said. "With that said, it goes to show how much heart we had. We had players that stepped in and pushed and clawed and fought and gave us a shot to win. But it did hurt us."
The Cavaliers were able to beat the Yellow Jackets' pressure at times - getting down the floor and finding open players for high-percentage shots.
For the game, UVa-Wise made 26 shots from the field, and 22 of those were assisted.
"When we can find the extra person and we're moving the ball around, we're getting good looks," Kunzman said. "Looking for a good shot versus a great shot, that's the important thing in transition. You're going to get good shots, but can we find a better one?"
But every time it seemed like the game nearly was out of reach, West Virginia State found a run to make it closer. The Yellow Jackets just weren't quite able to get over the hump and fully seize momentum and a lead.
"We showed fight, and most of the fight was for our seniors, of course," WVSU guard Shae Hines said. "This isn't how we wanted to go out, we wanted to go out with a ring. But we weren't just going to lay down - we've never been that team."
Carey led UVa-Wise with 23 points while Cluesman added 15 points to go with eight assists.
Jasmine Davis scored 22 points to lead the way in the loss for West Virginia State. Hines added 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.