FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg Women's Basketball team hosted the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons for a Saturday afternoon match-up at Bobcat Arena, with the visitors winning by a final score of 76-66.
It would be freshman Emilee Weakley to get the scoring going early in the first quarter for the Bobcats, driving to the basket to score the first points of the game. Senior Arianna Briggs-Hall would follow, driving to the basket for an early layup, along with pulling up for a routine jumper. Weakley and junior Rhiana Hall combined to go a perfect 4-4 at the line, then senior Maggie Sharp got a layup in the lane to push Frostburg to a 12-7 lead. Fairmont locked in defensively as the teams would exchange turnovers, then made a trio of layups and a three to re-take the lead by a point. The first quarter would end in a tie after junior MacKenzie Freeze split a pair at the charity stripe, with the score at 16-16 as the teams also tied at seven rebounds apiece.
The Bobcats came out fighting early in the second quarter, quickly taking a six-point lead thanks to a Briggs-Hall layup and back-to-back Weakley buckets. Senior Maggie Sharp showed off her range, knocking down her first shot from behind the arc, giving her seven points on the afternoon. Again, Fairmont used their defense to work back into the contest, as Frostburg went through a scoring drought midway through the quarter, giving the visitors a 30-25 lead. Weakley got the offensive momentum back on track, finding her way through traffic for a layup, but the Fighting Falcons responded with five unanswered points to go up by seven. After Weakley converted another two from the line, Sharp hit a much-needed triple inside the final 30 seconds to go into halftime trailing just 36-32.
Weakley led the first half offense with 13 points, followed closely behind by Sharp's 10. Halfway through the game, Sophomore Jasmine Johnson and Weakley led the rebounding effort with five each.
Frostburg opened up the second half with Weakley knocking down back-to-back shots to keep the Bobcats within four points of the Falcons and score of 41-37. Briggs-Hall found her way to the basket, dropping in a layup after a Weakley steal. The Bobcats would go on to finish the third quarter on a pair of jump shots from Weakley, bringing her to 26 points on the afternoon, but Fairmont had found their range from deep, knocking down a trio of treys in the quarter to keep Frostburg down 59-53 going into the final frame.
Freeze stepped up to knock down her first jump shot of the afternoon, as well as knocking down a basket from behind the arc to keep the Bobcats within seven. Graduate Shelby Funchess got on the board in the fourth, finding the basket for a layup to cut the Fairmont lead to four. The Bobcats struggled to find their offensive rhythm late on, as foul trouble allowed Fairmont to extend their lead to 10, which would also be the final margin of defeat for Frostburg, falling 76-66.
Weakley led the charge for the Bobcats with a team high 26 points, followed by Sharp's 12 and Briggs-Hall's 10. Frostburg out-rebounded the Falcons 38-30, with both Weakley and Briggs-Hall collecting nine boards, as the former saw her eight-game double-double streak snapped.
With the loss, the Bobcats fall to 5-13 on the season, while the Fighting Falcons move to 13-6 overall. Make sure to catch Frostburg back in action on Wednesday, January 25 as they host Charleston in Bobcat Arena for a 5:30 PM tip-off. For more information and updates, please visit frostburgsports.com.
