FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg Women's Basketball team hosted the Wheeling Cardinals for a Saturday afternoon game at Bobcat Arena, falling in a close-fought effort by a final score of 74-69.
It would be freshman Emilee Weakley to get the scoring going early in the first quarter for the Bobcats, knocking down an early three-pointer. Both teams would battle back-and-forth early on, struggling to get into a steady offensive rhythm with the score sitting tied at seven midway through the quarter. Weakley would look to get the FSU offense rolling late on, driving to drop in a layup, along with showing her range to add two more threes. Graduate Shelby Funchess converted a last-second layup to end the first quarter with the score of 20-18 in favor of Frostburg.
Weakley continued to show her scoring talent early in the second period, knocking down two routine jump shots from the paint. Junior MacKenzie Freeze got her offensive game going by showing her range from three to keep the Bobcats within one point of the Cardinals. Weakley added her fourth three of the game to tie the score at 30-30 halfway through the quarter. Funchess showed up to play on the defensive end for FSU, tallying four blocks in the frame to keep Frostburg in the game after some of the offense slowed, as the halftime score would be 37-36 in favor of Wheeling.
Senior Ciara Thomas opened the second half on a fastbreak layup for the Bobcats, followed by a Weakley bucket to give FSU a 40-39 lead. Thomas went on to add a three, once again followed by Weakley adding back-to-back jumpers, but WU found their shooting touch to head into the fourth up 55-52.
Senior Arianna Briggs-Hall opened the final quarter of Saturday's game with a fastbreak layup to make the score 58-54. Weakley continued her tremendous offensive performance by adding two jumpers to keep the Bobcats within two and a score of 62-60 halfway through the period. Senior Maggie Sharp showed her ability to knock down the three-point shot, putting down two triples in the final three minutes of the game. The score would sit at 68-66 in favor of the Cardinals with 35 seconds to go, which turned into a nail-biter,with Freeze keeping the Bobcats within one possession on a smooth lay-in. Unfortunately for FSU, depsite the late resistance WU were able to knock down a majority of their free throws to take the hard-earned 74-69 victory.
Weakley led the Bobcats with a game-high 33 points to go with 11 rebounds for her league-leading 12th double-double of the season. Briggs-Hall led the team in boards, grabbing 14 on the afternoon and adding 11 points. Funchess and Freeze both had career days, with the former blocking four shots and the latter dishing out four assists as both led the team in their respective categories.
With the close loss, Frostburg falls to 4-12 on the season, while the Cardinals move to 9-7 overall. Make sure to catch the Bobcats back in action on Wednesday, January 18 as they travel to take on West Virginia Wesleyan for a 5:30PM tip-off. For more information and updates, please visit frostburgsports.com.
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