FROSTBURG — Several miscues, especially on offense through the first three quarters, came back to cost Frostburg State in a 55-52 loss to West Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday at Bobcat Arena.
The Wesleyan Bobcats (3-11, 1-9 Mountain East Conference) proved to be the better team despite the discrepancy in record with Frostburg now at (9-7, 6-4 MEC).
“I thought we came out flat,” Frostburg head coach Jenna Eckleberry said. “They took it to us. Both teams struggled offensively. When you’re in a game like that and you’re struggling offensively, the one thing you don’t want to do is start one passing and playing one on one and that’s what we did.”
Neither team shot the ball well, especially in the first half.
Both teams shot 30% from the field in the first quarter as Wesleyan held a 9-8 advantage.
“I felt we were rushing our shots,” Eckleberry said. “There was no ball movement to get the ball moving and the defense shifting.”
Early in the second quarter, Wesleyan was called for a traveling violation.
Jasmine Johnson set up Jenna Muha for a fadeaway with 8:22 left in the first half to give the host Bobcats a 10-9 lead.
Frostburg led the rest of the first half taking a 19-16 halftime lead. However, the visiting Bobcats kept it a two-possession game.
Frostburg led for 12:32 of the first half compared to 4:56 for Wesleyan. However, Wesleyan continued to keep it competitive.
One big factor was points off turnovers. The host Bobcats forced 10 turnovers in the first half, but only turned them into five points.
“I thought we had some fastbreak opportunities off of them,” Eckleberry said. “We kept throwing the ball over their heads and weren’t converting off of it.”
Another factor was Frostburg’s offensive struggles. The Bobcats shot 7 of 25 (28%) from the field in the first half and had countless looks inside of five feet, but were unable to consistently take advantage.
The host Bobcats also committed nine turnovers. Several came off full court passes that landed directly out of bounds.
While the home Bobcats struggled offensively, the defense kept them in the game. The visiting Bobcats shot 7 of 27 (26%) from the field and only made 1 of 8 shots from deep.
“I thought our defense wasn’t the problem tonight,” Eckleberry said. “We had been struggling defensively and our offense has been carrying us. Tonight, it just flip flopped.”
Wesleyan opened the second half on a 10-5 run and took the lead at 26-24 with 5:58 left in the third quarter.
Caitlyn Sullivan set up Daveona Hatchell who converted a tough layup through contact.
The visiting Bobcats extended the lead at 34-26 on a 8-2 run. Emma Wilt recorded a steal and Desiree Roy scored on a putback.
Late in the quarter, Wesleyan missed four shots at the rim. However, several offensive rebounds led to a fifth shot and a putback from Hatchell to go up 36-26 after three quarters.
Wesleyan led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter. Trailing 43-28 with 7:56 remaining, the host Bobcats went on an 18-5 run spanning about six minutes.
“The intensity, picking up full court on defense,” Eckleberry said of what changed.
Frostburg’s Emilee Weakley scored eight points and hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 48-46 with 1:14 to go.
Weakley led Frostburg with 16 points, scoring 11 in the second half. She also had a pair of rebounds and an assist.
Alanna Tate and MacKenzie Freeze recorded back-to-back steals during the run, Freeze’s steal set up a 3-pointer by Grace Middleton that cut the deficit to 46-42.
Up two points with 50 seconds left, Wesleyan was called for traveling.
Freeze drew a foul and split a pair of free throws to make it 48-47 with about 31 seconds left.
Frostburg tried to foul, but Wesleyan was able to drain the clock down to 8.3 seconds.
“We were trying to foul and it was just poor time management,” Eckleberry said.
Witt went to the free-throw line up 51-49 with 4.4 seconds remaining. She made both to push the lead up to four points.
On Frostburg’s final shot, Weakley hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point margin.
A foul was called with 0.2 seconds left, allowing Sydney Baird to hit a pair of free throws to make the final margin three points.
Baird led Wesleyan with 11 points and four rebounds.
Frostburg hosts No. 10 Fairmont State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“We gotta be ready to go, I think we’ll be up for the challenge,” Eckleberry said. “It excites me we have one of the best teams in the country coming to play.”