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WHEELING -- When Debbie Buff began the turnaround of the Wheeling Jesuit women's basketball program, she did so with a defense-first ideology. Glenville State can attest to how well that's coming along after Tuesday night's matchup at the Alma Grace McDonough Center.
Mariah Callen was masterful with 15 points, five assists, five steals and but two turnovers in 40 minutes of dealing with a vaunted Pioneers press. But the work she and her teammates did on the other end was the ultimate difference.
The Cardinals (12-2 overall, 7-1 Mountain East) limited Glenville (12-2, 6-2) to 34.7 percent shooting to hold it 34 points below its season scoring average in a 79-66 blowout. The Pioneers averaged 100 points a contest coming in, and had hit the century mark in four straight games.
''Our staff had a really good scout on them and we knew we had to put together our best game. But we also knew that we couldn't run with them,'' Buff said. ''They're a track team and we knew we had to slow them down and hope we made some shots at the 15-second mark (on the shot clock).
''I give credit to our kids for following the scouting. I feel like the press took them out of sync. We have never pressed a Glenville team.''
Wheeling Jesuit made its statement early by jumping to a 9-0 lead before Glenville knew what hit it. Julie Bishop stemmed the tide with a 3-pointer, but the Pioneers never led.
By the end of the first quarter it was 19-8 in favor of the Cardinals, behind eight of Jaana Motton's 19 points. She finished the double-double with 10 rebounds.
''We said that if we stayed disciplined we had a shot to win this,'' Buff said. ''We wanted to try to get it across half court and then pull it back.
''I thought Maria was huge and Jaana was great being a pressure release.''
WJU upped the margin to 16 on a pair of Kyle Frizell second-quarter free throws, before Bishop drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to 31-21. Erika Toney followed with two of her team-high 19 to get it to single digits, but Callen responded with a 3-pointer at the horn to send the Cardinals into the locker room ahead, 34-23.
With the Pioneers threatening to make it a game again early in the second half, Callen came through once more. She hit for three of her 15 points to make it a 10-point cushion. That was followed by Monica Burns getting lose in transition for two of her game-high 20.
''We practiced 5-on-7 the last two days to prepare for their pressure,'' Buff said. ''I do think getting off to a big start (was key), but they are a team that you can never put away because they hit 3s.
''We matched them when we had to and (Burns) hit some foul shots at the end.''
By the end of the third quarter Glenville found itself on the wrong end of a 54-38 score. Burns and Motton combined for 17 in the fourth as Jesuit remained in a first-place tie in the MEC with Virginia-Wise.
''We pride ourselves in defense and for the most part we've been leading the league in defense,'' Buff said. ''We talked about getting after it and being energetic.
''Our defense was phenomenal. We held them 30 points below their average.''
Courtney Davis and Bishop evenly divided 24 points for the Pioneers.