WHEELING, W. V. – Sylvia Hudson scored 24 points and
Tyra James logged her fourth straight double-double as Urbana University women's basketball held on for a 72-66 road victory over Wheeling University.
Urbana improved to 5-2 on the year, marking the program's best start through seven games since the inaugural year of the MEC in 2013-14.
Hudson moved within two points of taking over sixth place on Urbana's all-time scoring chart, finishing the game 10 of 17 from the field. She added nine boards and five steals. James battled a tough shooting night (6-20) as the Cardinals often triple teamed her, but still managed 16 points and 11 boards. She's averaging 25.5 points and 12.8 rebounds in the past four games.
Bailey Draughn added 13 points and
Sa'Dera Johnson chipped in with eight points.
Weston Minnich grabbed eight boards with two points.
After a slow start, the Blue Knights led the entire way after Wheeling initially jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Urbana led by as much as eight in the second quarter and went into halftime up 37-30 with 14 points from Hudson and 11 from Draughn.
The shooting struggles continued for both sides during the third quarter, and Urbana increased its lead to 10 at the start of the fourth.
Lexie Wright, who made the only three on the night for Urbana, knocked down a baseline jumper to put the Blue Knights ahead 58-48 with under nine minutes remaining.
Urbana shot just 37 percent overall and made 1 of 11 from three-point range, but limited the host Wheeling squad to 33 percent from the field. The defensive effort helped the Blue Knights overcome a 51-41 deficit in rebounding.
The fourth quarter featured an entertaining finish as Wheeling would break out with an 11-2 run, which was capped by a steal and fastbreak layup to slice the deficit to one point, 60-59. The Cardinals never got a chance to take the lead though, as James stepped up by nailing a clutch jumper and Hudson converted a layup to put Urbana back ahead by five, 64-59, with 2:47 on the clock.
Wheeling gained momentum back with a minute left by grabbing three consecutive offensive boards, eventually leading to an old-fashioned three-point play to make it a one-possession game again with Urbana leading 66-64. And the Cardinals finally got their chance to take the lead following an Urbana turnover, but big time players make big time plays and James came up big again, this time on defense with a steal in the post with 14 seconds.
Then, head coach
Andrea McCloskey sent
Chloe Smith into the game for free-throw shooting and the plan worked as the freshman ended up at the line and drained both attempts.
Free-throw shooting would prove to be a crucial factor in the game as the Blue Knights finished 19 of 21 (90.5%) at the stripe.
The Cardinals weren't finished and extended the game as another layup with six seconds left made it 68-66, but this time it was
Sa'Dera Johnson who would come up with the huge free throws. The Blue Knights got a steal on the final in-bounds pass and added another layup to cap the victory.
Lilly Ritz led Wheeling (1-4, 0-2 MEC) with 17 points and 21 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards. Khira Burton added 15 points and five assists while Kelsi Chapman had 12 points.
UP NEXT: Urbana returns to action after Thanksgiving Break when it hosts Concord (4-2, 2-0 MEC) on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The Mountain Lions are coming off a wild 122-112 victory over West Virginia State.
