WHEELING — Classes let out for the Thanksgiving break on Tuesday at Wheeling University, but the women’s basketball team kept rolling along.

The Cardinals entered Tuesday night’s game with visiting Salem International ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA Division II College Sports Communicators Atlantic Regional rankings.

The high-flying Cardinals (5-0) did nothing to tarnish that ranking with a lopsided, 85-56, victory over the Tigers in a non-conference game inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. They haven’t been 5-0 since the 2016-17 season and are now a sparkling 12-0 at home all-time against Salem International, and 21-1 overall.

However, second-year Cardinals’ head coach Anna Kowalska knows there’s still work to do.

“Overall, it was a great team win. I was a little worried about Thursday, but I told the girls to not worry about Thanksgiving and finish this game and go 5-0. They did it.”

“Honestly, it’s too early to start thinking about rankings,” she admitted. “We played some tough teams to get to 5-0, but we have a lot of things that we still need to work on. The key is we need to keep getting better.”

Deadlocked at 13 in the latter stages of the first quarter, Wheeling University netted the final five points of the stanza and never looked back.

A three-point goal from junior Shamia Strayhorn made it 16-13 and senior Bryana Henderson made it 18-13 with a buzzer-beating layup.

Salem International cut the deficit to 20-17 but Wheeling University reeled off the next 14 points to blow the game wide open at 34-17 with 3:23 on the second-quarter clock. Half-a-dozen Cardinals contributed to the surge, with Graci Fairman scoring four of her career-high 20 during the stretch.

“We like to share the ball. That’s our main goal this season,” Kowalska said. “Another goal is to keep the momentum going.”

Strayhorn, a returning all-Mountain East Conference honorable mention selection, tallied 17 of her game-best 23 in the first half as the Cardinals held a commanding, 44-24, advantage at the half.

Keying the 20-point lead was a 16-1 margin in points scored off turnovers; a 28-8 advantage in the paint and a 17-3 edge in bench scoring, with Fairman doing most of that

“She is very capable of that. She is a returner who played a lot of minutes last year for us,” Kowalska noted. “Honestly, I’m not surprised by her effort tonight.”

For the game, Wheeling enjoyed a 48-16 advantage in points scored in the paint; 26-3 in points scored off of turnovers; 19-2 in fastbreak points and 36-9 in bench scoring.

In addition to Strayhorn and Fairman, three other Cardinals reached double figures as junior Briarley Rogers and grad student Jacqui Hinesmon each had 11, while Henderson added 10.

Wheeling held a 41-37 edge off the glass as Fort Frye product Kenzie Dalton claimed six and also charted half-a-dozen assists. Rogers had five boards, as did Tucker County freshman Kadie Colebank, who also scored six points.

Teodora Popovic led Salem International with 13 points and seven rebounds. Elena Pericic and Cassandra Smith evenly divided 16. Emerson Wells finished with nine.

Wheeling is back in action on Wed., Nov. 29 when Davis & Elkins visits the Friendly City for a 5:30 p.m. start.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Wheeling 75, Salem 62

WHEELING — The Cardinals turned a 35-34 halftime deficit into a double-digit win Tuesday against the Salem Tigers, fueled by 25 points and eight rebounds from Marcus Johnson.

Wheeling shot just 35.5% from the field but earned plenty of trips to the foul line, going 25-31 (80.6%) from the stripe compared to Salem’s 10-21 (47.6%) showing.

Salem was paced by Khemanni Davis who scored 16 points for the Tigers.