The Mountain East Conference has taken its toll on the Shepherd men’s basketball team. After winning its first three games to begin the season, the Rams moved into conference play with a road game at Glenville.

The Pioneers and Rams entertained the fans in Gilmer County with plenty of points, but it was Glenville winning, 96-91, although Marcus Adkison had 22 Shepherd points and Ryan McTavish scored another 17 points.

Returning home, where it had played its first three games, Shepherd fell to West Virginia Wesleyan, 78-71, despite 22 points from Steffen Davis and 15 from Skyler Roman.

After absorbing a 95-71 loss at the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, West Liberty, the Rams were beaten, 75-73, at Wheeling Jesuit.

All four losses were in conference games, so the Rams are at the bottom of the 12-school Mountain East.

McTavish had 18 points at West Liberty and Roman — newly inserted into the starting lineup — added 15 points. In the two-point loss to Wheeling Jesuit, Roman led the Rams with his 17 points and A.J. Carr scored 16 points.

Even with six players scoring in double figures, led by Davis’ 16.9 average, the Rams were 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

West Liberty led the MEC with a 4-0 conference record with five teams — Concord, Fairmont, Wheeling Jesuit, West Virginia Wesleyan and Charleston — all having 3-1 league marks.

After four consecutive losses to begin its season, the Shepherd women’s team posted wins over West Virginia Wesleyan and Gannon, but lost its next two games to West Liberty, 97-78, and then Wheeling Jesuit, 73-68, to dip to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the Mountain East.

In all eight of its games, the Rams have been outrebounded.

In the win over nationally-ranked Gannon, Kristen Nunn had 22 points for the Rams.

West Liberty leads the MEC with a 4-0 record and outrebounded Shepherd, 47-38, to move away to its 19-point win on its home court.

Morgan Arden paced Shepherd’s scorers with her 23 points and Nunn added another 18 points.

The close loss at Wheeling Jesuit showed Arden with 22 points and Nunn with 17, but the Cardinals enjoyed a telling 45-31 rebounding advantage.

Wheeling Jesuit and Glenville also have 4-0 records in their respective league games.

Both Shepherd teams return home to the Butcher Center on January 4 when they play Concord and then again on January 6 when Virginia-Wise is in Shepherdstown for more league games.