An injured ankle hampered Wheeling Jesuit sophomore Chenelle Moore most of the season, but she was able to shake off the nagging pain to tally 19 points and nine rebounds to pace the Cardinals to a 78-49 victory over Shepherd in the Mountain East Conference women's tournament Thursday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.
No. 2-seeded Wheeling Jesuit (23-6) advances to the semifinals at 2:15 p.m. Saturday to play No. 3 seed UVa-Wise (21-10), a 72-70 quarterfinal winner over No. 6 West Virginia State Thursday.
The boost of adrenaline provided by a hot shooting hand may have helped Moore deal with the bum leg. The ankle injury kept her out of eight games and she returned for the final two weeks of the regular season.
Moore connected on 9 of 11 field goal attempts and was 1 for 1 at the free-throw line in the quarterfinal win.
"It's wonderful to have Chenelle back," said Wheeling Jesuit head coach Debbie Buff. "[Shepherd] didn't have a good matchup for her. We recognized that and went inside to her.
Moore wanted the ball, Buff added.
"We tend to go with what's working," Buff said. "She's a great athlete."
Monica Burns contributed 13 points for the Cardinals, with Kylie Frizell adding 10.
Shepherd (15-17) was led by senior forward Liz Myers, who scored 16 points while pulling down 17 rebounds, adding three blocks and three steals.
Morgan Arden and Kayla Tibbs added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Rams.
Wheeling Jesuit keeps its NCAA tournament opportunity alive with the win. But outside winning the MEC tournament this weekend, the Cardinals would likely need some help in gaining a spot in regionals.
The Cardinals entered the week ranked No. 8 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region. The regional tournament takes eight teams, but rewards automatic berths to its three conference tournament champions - the MEC, CIAA and PSAC - making receiving an at-large bid difficult.
The MEC tournament's top seed, Glenville State, is ranked No. 3 in the region, behind top ranked California (Pa.) and second-ranked Virginia Union.
"We aren't looking ahead," Buff insisted. "We don't even look at our next opponent. We break it down to about five minutes [of game time] ahead. That helps us focus on what we need to do.
"The MEC is so balanced, anyone can win [the tournament]."