With the regular season dwindling and the conference tournament looming, this is the time of the season that teams want to begin to raise their level of play.
The 2009-2010 season has been a frustrating one for the Concord Women's Basketball team, but the Lady Lions may have shown a sign of good things to come in their come-from-behind 80-74 WVIAC victory over West Virginia State Saturday afternoon at the Carter Center.
The visiting Yellow Jackets took the lead at 8-7 with 16:25 left in the first half. They led by as many as 14 points and were ahead 72-68 with 3:31 to go in the game. Which is when Concord began a game-winning 12-2 rally.
Jolysa Brown started the run with layup. The Lions got a stop, followed by a three-pointer from Kristin Kidd (just her 8th of the season) to go ahead 73-72. Danielle Davis would answer with a layup to put WVSU in front, 73-72.
Then came four straight points from CU's leading scorer, Camisha Alexander, and the Lady Lions were ahead to stay. Alexander hit a jumper with 1:21 left, then two free throws at the :37 mark.
Brown made a free throw with :14 left to make it 78-74, and would provide the game's clinching points nine seconds later. Kidd missed a free throw, but Emily Blevins tipped the ball away from the Jackets and over to Brown, who stepped up for a layup and an insurmountable six-point lead with :02 to go.
Alexander once again led the Lady Lions with 36 points, including 20 of CU's 45 in the second half. She shot 11-15 from the field and a sharp 6-9 from three-point range. Alexander has scored 116 points in the last four games (29.0 ppg), shooting .576 (38-66) in the process.
Brown contributed another double-double, with 18 points (12 in the second half) and 11 rebounds.
Tonesha Members topped the Jackets with 15 points. Alexandria Barnette, the WVIAC's leading scorer, and Sharena Atkinson each finished with 13 points. Daniel Davis and Melissa Ford added 10 apiece.
The Lady Lions recovered from .313 (10-32) shooting in the first half to shoot a robust .680 (17-25) in the second half. Concord was .500 (10-20) from three-point range.
Saturday's win snapped Concord's three-game losing streak, improved their record to 13-11, 10-9 in the WVIAC, and kept alive their hopes for a top-eight finish. WVSU is 16-10, 12-9, and also hoping to end up in the top half of the league.
BOXSCORE: www.wviac.org/custompages/wbball/10wbkbHTML/cu220.htm
The Lady Lions get Sunday off, then visit second-place Charleston on Monday, February 22nd. The game, part of a doubleheader with the men's team, tips off at 6:00 pm EST at Eddie King Gymnasium.
Classic Rock 102 The River (102.3 FM WMTD) will broadcast both games, beginning at 5:30, with streaming audio at www.theriver102.com.
