WHEELING — Much of the talk entering this week’s annual Mountain East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament centered around the title being wide open for the taking by any number of teams.

Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals at WesBanco Arena seventh-seeded Frostburg State validated that conversation.

FSU erased a seven-point halftime lead late in the third quarter and then held off every challenge from second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in the fourth and final period to record a 77-71 victory.

The win, which improved Frostburg to 16-14, marks only the third time in the history of the tournament that a seventh seed has reached the semifinals and it put Frostburg back in the final four for the second consecutive season.

Frostburg State will face third-seeded University of Charleston (19-10) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the tournament.

Frostburg dropped both of its meetings with Wesleyan during the regular season so Wednesday after its opening-round win over Point Park and Thursday morning FSU head coach Jenna Eckleberry and her team chose to take a bit of a different approach.

FSU’s Jenna Muha finished with 17 points and six rebounds,

Wesleyan controlled the contest for the first 27 minutes, but in the final 2:32 of the third quarter Frostburg went on an 11-2 run to wipe out a six-point deficit and take the lead for good at 56-53 heading to the final quarter.

Wesleyan did tie the score twice at 67 with 4:28 to play and again at 69 with 3:28 remaining, but could never re-take the lead.

FSU’s Julie Spinelli, who finished with 17 points, scored 12 of those points in the fourth quarter, including four in the final two minutes to help her team pull away and open a six-point lead with just 17 seconds left to play.

“Give Frostburg credit,” said Wesleyan coach Brett Vincent. “They played really well. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They played us tough at their place, they’re getting better and they deserved to win.”

Sophie Nichols led Frostburg with a game-high 25 points, 14 of which came in the opening half.

Frostburg also got 11 points from Ayla Hileman and a game-high six assists and four steals from Mandy Roman.

Wesleyan, which finished its season at 18-7, was led by Ana Young’s 22 points. Kilah Dandridge chipped in 18 points, Emma Witt added 15, nine of which came in the fourth quarter, and Sydney Baird contributed 10.

The Bobcats also got a game-high 11 rebounds from Allie Daniels.