Wheeling Jesuit won its second consecutive Mountain East Conference tournament championship with a 80-61 victory over Fairmont State.
Much like it had done for the majority of this week's tournament, the Cardinals (25-6, 17-5 Mountain East) were able to find their success thanks to a balanced team effort with several different players stepping up at key points to help them pull away for the victory.
"We had to come out and get off to a really quick start, and we did that. Our captains really put the team on their backs," Wheeling Jesuit coach Debbie Buff said. "We were prepared and we executed the game plan. We were very poised throughout the game."
On Sunday afternoon, it was a mix of getting big plays from everyone in the rotation that led to an efficient offensive showing as well as a fierce defensive performance that made life difficult for a Fairmont State team that wasn't able to consistently make shots the way it had in its first two games in Charleston.
The Falcons (19-12, 14-9 Mountain East) made just 2 of their 9 shots in the first quarter to help Wheeling Jesuit get out to a seven-point lead early and then had a stretch from the end of the second quarter into the start of the second half in which they missed 11 out of 12 shots.
Between that and forcing a season-low 10 turnovers against Wheeling Jesuit, Fairmont State found itself facing a steep uphill climb in order to rally back into the game.
"When we played them at home, we forced 28 turnovers and tonight we forced 10," Fairmont State coach Steve McDonald said. "In order for us to win this game, we needed to force 20 or more turnovers.
"We looked like we were a step behind every time and they were a step ahead."
The Cardinals were able to take control of the game in the second quarter despite two of its top three scorers, Monica Burns and MEC tournament MVP Jaana Motton, remaining on the bench after picking up two fouls in the first quarter.
With those two on the bench, Wheeling Jesuit was able to turn to players like Kylie Frizell, who finished the game with 19 points on 6 of 8 shooting with four 3-pointers. They also got a big performance off the bench from Lydia Hyburg as she made an impact in the frontcourt with Motton limited for much of the first half - scoring 12 points for WJU.
"Lydia was huge for us. She's a very good finisher around the rim," Buff said. "To know we could still keep that lead with two of our starters on the bench was great."
Mariah Callen and Burns both finished with 17 points while Motton finished the day with 13 points.
Amanda Ruffner led Fairmont State with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Makenzie White and Deidra Combs both scored 10 points.
After the game, Motton, Burns and Frizell represented Wheeling Jesuit on the all-tournament team. They were joined by White, Combs and Emily Puskarich from Fairmont State as well as UVa.-Wise's Makenzie Cluesman and Charleston's Jordyn Peck.