BUCKHANNON, W. Va. – The Frostburg State Women's Basketball team earned a road victory over West Virginia Wesleyan 66-48 in Rockefeller Center on Wednesday evening. 

WVWC scored the first points of the game off a mid-range jumper, then junior Rhiana Hall was able to convert two free throws to put FSU on the board. It wasn't long until freshman Emilee Weakley began her afternoon, scoring seven out of her team's first 15 points on the way to a 15-8 lead. Wesleyan was able to pick up their offensive spark and connect from behind the arc to pull within two late in the quarter, but Weakley responded with a quick lay-in for her 11^th point of the period and a 19-15 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.   

FSU continued their offensive spark as senior Ciara Thomas converted a quick layup to start the second quarter. On the next possession, graduate Shelby Funchess set the defensive tone as she blocked her first shot of the night with force, leading to an easy layup on the opposite end of the court for Weakley. In continuing the defensive theme, Frostburg as a whole held WVWC scoreless for the first two minutes of the quarter. 

With 6:55 left in the half, Hall hit a three-pointer to increase FSU's lead to 10.  Two minutes later, Weakley missed from three, but was able to grab her third offensive rebound of the game and draw a foul. After she converted both of her free throws to get to 16 points, FSU called a timeout to up their energy on the defensive end and press Wesleyan out of the break. As a result, they were able to cause seven WVWC turnovers in the half, leading 33-23 at the halftime break. 

Frostburg shot 40% from the field as a team and was led by Weakley's 18 points, while Thomas grabbed seven first half rebounds to lead the team, followed by Weakley's five.

To start the third quarter, senior Arianna Briggs-Hall was able to convert on two easy layups, causing Wesleyan to sub out their entire squad just under two minutes into the second half.  Thomas continued the FSU energy on the defensive end, as she was able to block a shot that led to a transition triple from senior Maggie Sharp that put Frostburg up 40-23.  Another WVWC miss on the next possession led to a Weakley triple from the top of the key to balloon the lead to 20. Wesleyan was finally able to end their scoring drought at the 6:03 mark to make the score 43-26. FSU went a bit quiet on offense for a couple minutes, as WVWC was able to pull within 15 before Thomas hit back-to-back layups, followed by another Sharp three-pointer, taking the teams into the fourth with Frostburg leading 54-34. 

Junior MacKenzie Freeze started the final quarter for FSU with a mid-range jumper to give her team their largest lead of the night at 22, followed quickly by another bucket from Weakley. Defense took control throughout the quarter, as on two separate occasions, neither team scored for two minutes  WVWC outscored FSU 14-12 in the fourth quarter, but that wasn't enough to come back from Frostburg's strong third quarter, as they came out on top 66-48. 

Weakly finished with a game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds for her 13^th double-double of the season. Sharp added 16 points and Thomas finished with 10 boards, while Freeze dished out a game-high four assists in the effort. FSU's defense held Wesleyan without a double-digit scorer, as the 48 points allowed are the second-fewest for the team this season. 

With the victory, FSU is now 5-12 on the season while WVWC falls to 2-12. Frostburg will return to Bobcat Arena to face Fairmont State on Saturday, January 21, with tip-off set for 2 PM, where it will also be Girls In Sports day on campus. For more information and updates, please visit frostburgsports.com