FAIRMONT — It’s tournament time tonight at the Joe Retton Arena.
Fairmont State’s Lady Falcons open West Virginia Conference Tournament play this evening at 7:30 p.m. when they host West Virginia State University in a first-round game.
Fairmont’s women finished sixth in the 16-team WVC during the regular season. The Lady Falcons come into tonight’s game 18-9 overall and 15-7 in league play.
West Virginia State, on the other hand, ended up 12th in the league with a 16-11 overall record and a 12-10 conference mark.
Tickets for tonight’s game which will feature open seating are $8 for adults and $4 for students and senior citizens. Fairmont State student, faculty and staff IDs will be recognized; however WVC Tournament games are not included in season ticket packages.
Fairmont State has made seven straight trips to the league tournament quarterfinals which are held at the Charleston Civic Center beginning Wednesday. The Lady Falcons have won six straight league tournament first-round games. The 2004-05 team, which won the regular-season WVC Championship, had a first-round bye.
A victory tonight, however, against the athletic and dangerous Lady Yellow Jackets won’t be easy. State and Fairmont met just one time during the regular season back on Feb. 4 in Fairmont and the Lady Yellow Jackets emerged with an 84-76 victory.
In that game FSU jumped ahead early, but couldn’t hold the lead as State rallied to take a 38-29 advantage at the break. In the second half the Lady Yellow Jackets got off to a hot start and extended their advantage to 16 points at 47-31 with 17:50 remaining.
Fairmont, though, refused to fold. The Lady Falcons used a 40-22 run to re-take the lead at 71-69 with 4:20 to play, but ran out of gas down the stretch as State closed the game on a 15-5 spurt to win by eight.
Senior standout Alixandria Barnette, a transfer from Marshall University, led State in that victory with 24 points and nine rebounds. The Lady Yellow Jackets also got a double-double performance from Melissa Ford, who finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Danielle Davis chipped in 14 points and Tonesha Members finished with 11. All four of those players are currently averaging double figures for State.
“State is a very athletic team led by Alixandria Barnette,” said FSU coach Steve McDonald. “She’s a one-year player for them who has definitely helped to take them to a different level this year. They also have a couple of kids who can shoot threes pretty well and they’ll get after you on the boards.”
Fairmont got 28 points from Ashley Vavrek in that loss to State and 18 from Kaitlin Snyder. The Lady Falcons also got 16 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots from Rachel Murray.
Two keys to that win for State were the fact that it outrebounded FSU 49-36 and that the Lady Yellow Jackets forced 19 Lady Falcon turnovers and committed just 13 themselves. No less than 23 of State’s 49 rebounds in the victory came on the offensive glass.
“We’re certainly happy we've got an opportunity to play at home Monday night and I hope the fans will come out and really support us so we can feel that true home-court advantage,” said McDonald. “I think the matchup with West Virginia State is intriguing. They have things which present problems for us and we have things which present problems for them.
“It’s our job Monday to accentuate our positives and to figure out how to negate their positives.”
State enters tonight’s game on a two-game losing streak. The Lady Yellow Jackets, however, have not lost three games in a row this season.
The winner of tonight’s contest between the Lady Falcons and Lady Yellow Jackets will face the No. 3 University of Charleston (19-8, 16-6)-No. 14 Ohio Valley (4-23, 2-20) winner Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the tournament quarterfinals at the Charleston Civic Center.
