Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – Junior guard
Amanda Smith scored a career-high 30 points and the Concord University women's basketball team withstood a late comeback attempt by West Virginia Tech University to earn its first victory of the season with an 86-81 overtime-win over the Golden Bears Wednesday night at the Carter Center.
As a team, Concord shot a season-best 44.7 percent (34-for-76) from the field, committed a season-low 10 turnovers while forcing 14 West Virginia Tech giveaways and holding a 20-5 edge over the Golden Bears (4-2) in points off of turnovers. The Mountain Lions also held advantages in points in the paint (44-36) and second chance points (21-13).
Smith, who also grabbed seven rebounds, went 14-for-21 from the field and 2-for-3 from the foul line in the victory. She was a consistent force for CU throughout the game, scoring 12 points in the first half, 14 in the second half and four in overtime.
Sophomore guard Stephanie Wagner and senior guard
Tanisha Williams both added 15 points while junior center
Sammi Webster tallied 10 points and one block. In addition to her second straight double-digit scoring effort, Wagner also passed out a team-high five assists. Junior forward
Rachel Artrip provided a solid complimentary stat line with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block.
Despite being taken to overtime, Concord only trailed the Golden Bears for 1:27 the entire game.
Concord held an 11-9 lead through the first media timeout before going on an 11-2 run to open up a 22-11 lead with 4:22 to play in the first half. The Mountain Lions maintained their 11-point advantage and headed into halftime leading 29-18.
CU came out of the locker room hot and quickly expanded its lead to a game-high 20 points (48-28) with 13:55 to play in regulation. But WV Tech fought back to trim the Mountain Lion lead down to just 10 points (63-53) with five minutes to play. The Golden Bears continued on the attack, narrowing the lead to three points with four seconds to play and in possession of the ball. Amy Gardner's desperation heave from just past half court proceeded to find its way in the hoop as time expired to send the contest into overtime with the score tied at 73-73.
However, Concord was able to regroup heading into the extra five-minute period by scoring the first seven points of the period thanks to four points by Smith and three-pointer from Artrip, giving Concord an 80-73 lead that the Mountain Lions were able to hang onto thanks to Wagner's four clutch free throws in the game's final 30 seconds that preserved the 86-81 victory.
CU is now 18-10 vs. West Virginia Tech since the 1993-94 season and is 5-1 in home openers dating back to the 2007-08 season.
Gardner led WV Tech with a team-high 26 points.
Concord begins West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play 3:00 p.m. Saturday vs. Pitt-Johnstown at the Carter Center.
