Bobcats struggle to shoot in 71-65 loss to Davis & Elkins

Feb. 23—FROSTBURG — Frostburg State struggled to shoot throughout the game in its 71-65 home loss to Davis and Elkins on Wednesday night at Bobcat Arena.

"We lost the battle of the little things today," Frostburg head coach Jenna Eckleberry said. "They scored eight points on the baseline out of bounds and we knew exactly what they were doing. We were just in the wrong spot. We don't make free throws and we shoot 3 for 23 from the 3-point line. When the shots aren't falling, we're not supposed to keep shooting them."

FSU seniors Arianna Briggs-Hall and Shelby Funchess were recognized before the game on Senior Night.

"Coming in my first year, I didn't know what to expect," Eckleberry said. "Some rumblings those two might give me some trouble. That's the exact opposite, I have so much respect for Shelby and Ari. They mean a lot for me to come into a program. They welcomed me, I'll always think of them as family."

The Senators (6-19, 6-15 Mountain East Conference) also struggled to shoot, only hitting 39% of their shots from the field and 2 of 25 3-pointers. The Bobcats (8-19, 6-15 MEC) hit 30% of their shots from the field and 3 of 22 long balls.

Frostburg opened the game on a 10-2 run before D&E responded with a 10-4 run to cut it to 14-12. The Senators ended the quarter outscoring FSU 6-5, but the Bobcats led 19-18.

"I was trying to get them to move the ball more, but we kept settling for 3s," Eckleberry said. "That's how they beat teams, they sit in a matchup zone. They live and die by the three, that's what we did today and we died by it."

With 8:40 left in the second quarter, D&E took their first lead since it was 2-0. The Senators went on a 8-2 run to push their lead to 30-23.

Frostburg cut it to one on a 3-pointer by Maggie Sharp, but D&E led 35-32 at halftime.

The story of the game was the lackluster shooting by both teams. In the first half, the Senators shot 13 for 36 from the field (36%) and 2 for 13 from deep (15%). The Bobcats shot 13 for 35 (37%) from the field and 2 for 9 from beyond the arc (22%).

"When we watch film, we're gonna see the same shots and they're wide open," Eckleberry said. "We just couldn't get through the net. We just needed one to go through and I think it would've been contagious. When the shots aren't falling, we gotta find another way to get open looks."

While Frostburg's offense struggled for most of the game, the defense seemed to keep them in it. The Bobcats kept it a one possession game for most of the third quarter. Down 45-39, Frostburg went on a 7-2 run to cut it to six points.

"Our defense was good, we just had lack of judgement," Eckleberry said. "We let their two top scorers beat us, that was the whole game plan for them not to beat us. That's what they did."

While the Bobcats struggled for most of the first half, they made two key plays late in the half. Sharp hit a 3-pointer to give Frostburg a 31-30 lead. A few seconds later, Funchess came up with a steal and Ciara Thomas hit a layup.

"Cici came off the bench and sparked us for a couple fastbreak points," Eckleberry said. "We just gotta do a better job converting on momentum in the third quarter."

D&E led 51-50 after three quarters. The Senators led by four most of the fourth quarter before Briggs-Hall hit a layup to make it a one-score game.

Emilee Weakley hit a transition layup with 19.6 seconds left to make it a three-point game. Rhiana Hall missed a late 3-pointer and D&E drew a foul to seal the win.

Both teams struggled at times with turnovers with D&E committing 17 and Frostburg committing 16. However, the Senators outscored the Bobcats 19-7 in points off turnovers.

"We were pretty even with the turnovers, they just scored more off turnovers," Eckleberry said. "That's one thing we need to do, we need to create easy offense for us on turnovers."

Weakley and Briggs-Hall both had double-doubles for Frostburg. Weakley scored 17 points with 13 rebounds and shot 11 for 14 at the line. Briggs-Hall scored 13 points with 16 boards. Maggie Sharp scored 10 points with three rebounds.

"Ari played one heck of a game," Eckleberry said of Briggs-Hall. "Em (Weakley)'s always gonna battle. When they both have a double-double, we usually win."

Ellie Wilkerson led the Senators with 22 points and also had four rebounds. Taylor Smith had 17 points and four assists. Jackie Wright also had a double-double with 10 points and 15 boards. LaChazity Shaver scored 10 points with three rebounds.

Earlier this week, Frostburg clinched the program's first appearance in the MEC tournament.

"It's a big deal here to make the conference tournament," Eckleberry said. "I'm not happy with where we're at in the standings, I think we could've won a couple more games. We made it, and anyone can win when we get into conference play."

The Bobcats conclude the regular season at Fairmont State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.