Wheeling, W.Va. – For the second consecutive year under Head Coach Kim Stephens the Glenville State Lady Pioneers have claimed the Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon from the WesBanco Arena defeating the University of Charleston Golden Eagles 78-69.

Glenville State (29-2) had three players combined for 61 points in the victory between Re'Shawna Stone, Emily Stoller, and Ty Armstrong. Charleston (25-6) shot 50 percent in the game while Raziyah Farrington scored a game-high 28 points.

"This is special…not many coaches get to enjoy a tournament championship and I've have been able to enjoy two of them and do it back-to-back is unbelievable," stated Head Coach Kim Stephens.

Ty Armstrong helped the Lady Pioneers race out to a 13-2 lead early in the contest as she drilled back-to-back three-pointers to start the contest. UC then made a small run outscoring GSC 8-5 as they cut the lead to eight, 18-10.

However, the Lady Pioneers answered as they stretched their lead to 13, largest in the contest thus far, at 23-10. Again Charleston made a run scoring the last seven points of the quarter as they cut the Lady Pioneers lead to seven 26-19 after one.

In the midst of a 9-6 run by GSC they managed to stretch their lead again to 13 points at the 6:14 minute mark 34-21. Glenville State went on to outscore the Golden Eagles 17-14 in the second as they took a 10 point into halftime, 43-33.

Re'Shawna Stone led all scorers at the break with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Glenville State got off to another hot start in the third as they went on a 7-2 run and took their largest lead of the game at 15 as Ty Armstrong netted a three with 7:37 to play in the quarter, 50-35. The Golden Eagles came storming back as they went on 14-2 run over a 4:41 second span, cutting the Lady Pioneers lead to two points, 54-52, with under a minute left in the quarter.

Again Ty Armstrong had the answer for GSC as she connected on another three-pointer from the corner with 15 seconds left in the third as the Lady Pioneers took a four point lead into the fourth, 57-53.

The Golden Eagles started the fourth by cutting the Lady Pioneers lead to two but Taychaun Hubbard finally got the first points of the quarter on a layup at the 7:30 minute mark as GSC led 59-55. Charleston then cut GSC's lead to just one with 4:56 to play at 62-61. But the Stoller sisters Abby and Emily drilled back-to-back three's as the Lady Pioneers went up by six 68-62 with 2:52 to play.

The Lady Pioneers were then able to extend their lead back up to eight on two huge three-pointers by Emily Stoller with under a minute to play, 74-67.  Glenville State proceeded to  do enough down the stretch as they outlasted the Golden Eagles, 78-69.

"It's all heart…I live for those shots," said Emily Stoller.

Glenville State never trailed in the contest and their largest lead of the game was by 15 points.

The Lady Pioneers shot 43 percent from the floor and 44 percent from deep while Emily Stoller and Ty Armstrong combined for 10 made three's. Charleston finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field but went just 1-for-7 from deep for 14 percent.

Glenville State's defense forced the University of Charleston into 22 turnovers and converted them into 18 points. UC held the advantage on the boards winning the rebounding battle 38-30 while also outscoring GSC in the paint 48-22.

Ty Armstrong, who was named to the MEC All-Tournament Team, paced the Lady Pioneers with 23 points as she went 5-of-11 from behind the arc. Emily Stoller finished with 21 points while hitting 5-of-10 from three.

Re'Shawna Stone, the Tournament MVP, totaled 17 points on the day while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out four assists. Courtney Davis and Donasja led GSC on the glass as they each had five rebounds apiece.

Charleston had two players score over 20 points with Raziyah Farrington scoring a game-high 28 points and seven rebounds. Dionna Sanders finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds as she posted a double-double.  

"This team is very special, we can do a lot with this team and I hope we have a lot more basketball left to play," stated Kim Stephens

Glenville State (29-2) will now wait and see what seed and who will host the NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Tournament. The NCAA DII Tournament Selection show will air tonight at 10 p.m. tune in at www.NCAA.com .