WHEELING, W.Va. – The Davis & Elkins College women's basketball team battled West Virginia State Wednesday in the opening round of the Mountain East Conference tournament.  WVSU utilized a third quarter run outscoring the Senators 28-13 in the frame to secure a 79-70 win.

Allie Taylor and Dream Cherry connected on back to back three-point field goals to give D&E an early 6-0 lead.  Taylor had 13 points in the opening quarter and the Senators led 22-15.    The second period was a battle of runs.  Davis & Elkins led 30-20 with 7:24 left, but State would go on a quick 8-0 run to make it 30-28 with five minutes left in the half.  D&E would jump up eight (36-28) only to see the Jackets end the half on a 7-2 run to make it 38-35 Senators at the break.  Davis & Elkins lead 49-48 with 6:07 to play in the third quarter, that would be the Senators last lead of the game as WV State would go on a 15-2 run the last 5:59 of the period to take a 63-51 into the final quarter.  D&E could get no closer than eight in the final 10 minutes as the Jackets would take the win and move on to the MEC quarterfinals tomorrow where they will take on the second seeded University of Charleston.

Playing her last game in the Senator uniform, Taylor led the team with 19 points.  Taylor shot an impressive 78% in the contest and was 5-7 from three.  Marissa Berlin backed Taylor with 16 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.  Peyton Mohler finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds.  Cherry scored nine followed by Amiah Banks and Kaylee with eight a piece. 

The Jackets were led by Shelby Harmeyer's 20 points followed by Charity Shears 12.

D&E finishes the season 8-20 overall, State improves to 18-10.