Davenport Beats Wheeling in Penalty-Strewn, Cross-Divisional Clash

09.08.2025College Women

Davenport took on Wheeling Saturday in a meeting of the 2024-25 NIRA DII runners-up and the NCR D1 winners.

Hosts Davenport won the game 42-12 led by two tries from Kara Higgins and some strong goalkicking from Leilani Lepe.

The game took a while to get some points as both teams looked to test each other out and deal with some hard-hitting defenses. Finally, as the first half approached its midway point, Wheeling got a yellow card for not rolling. The Panthers exacted a price for that immediately, with Higgins at No, 8 going over for her first try.

Davenport's scrums were very strong and that allowed Higgins and scrumhalf Sasha Fernandez-Ricci to work together effectively. Higgins added another try that, with Lepe's second conversion, made it 14-0.

As halftime approached Wheeling battled back to score. Tamzin Boyce broke down the sideline to touch down and Marissa Hudson added the conversion to make it 14-7 at the break.

In the second half Davenport responded with a try early in the second half and Wheeling's Marlee Garrison scored the Cardinals' second try to make it 21-12.

From there, however, Davenport had the run of play. They received a couple of yellow cards for repeated offside, but defensively they held strong and scored three tries. This was helped along by two red cards against Wheeling in the closing minutes.

Davenport got tries from Higgins (two), Lepe (who ended up with 17 points), Alexandria Ma'ae, Cece Stowers, and Sasha Fernandez-Ricci.

This was, unfortunately, a penalty-laden game. Almost 50 penalties (!) were called during the match, with eight cards. The two red cards were both for verbal outbursts, not foul play, and one wonders if that's the sort of thing that would be handled with a stern talking-to. The 14-7 scoreline at halftime seemed to be perhaps more representative of where the teams stand, or maybe the 21-12 scoreline after 60, than the final scoreline when Wheeling leaked tries while down to 13 players.

The result could have been an intriguing comparison between a top NIRA DII side and a top D1-level team outside NIRA.

Instead, it became a curiosity, and only served to show that if you crack open the door an inch for Davenport, they will bust the door down.