Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team dropped a, 94-77, contest to West Liberty Saturday at the Carter Center in West Virginia Intercollegiate Conference competition.
This loss drops the Mountain Lions record to 4-12 overall and 3-7 in the WVIAC. West Liberty improves 10-5 overall and 8-3 in conference play.
Four players scored in double figures for Concord with 15-point efforts from sophomore forward
Rachel Artrip and sophomore guard Stephanie Wagner leading the way. Artrip also racked up three rebounds, a block, and an assist while Wagner dished out a team-high five assists in addition to collecting three rebounds, and three steals.
CU sophomore forward
Jacqueline Kestner recorded the first double-double of her career with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kestner has now scored at least 10 points in Concord's last four games after not having scored in double figures the previous 12 contests. Her 10 rebounds were a game-high.
Junior guard
Amanda Smith rounded out Concord's top performers with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
The Mountain Lions went 26-for-70 (37.1 percent) from the field, 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) at the three-point line and 20-for-30 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. Defensively, CU was able to force 15 West Liberty turnovers thanks in part to seven steals. West Liberty connected on 50.8 percent (30-for-59) of its field goal attempts while forcing 14 Concord turnovers.
The first half was a back-and-forth contest that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties. Concord shot 50 percent from the floor and 8-for-11 from the foul line, but West Liberty countered by draining eight three-pointers and forcing 12 turnovers to propel the Hilltoppers to a 47-39 halftime lead. WLU closed out the period on a 14-4 run. Wagner led CU had a team-high nine points with Smith and Artrip both chipping in eight points each in the opening period.
West Liberty was responsible for 18 of the first 21 points scored in the second half to extend its halftime lead to a commanding 23 points, 65-42, with 14:14 to play. Concord managed to trim 10 points off the deficit to make it an 87-74 game with two minutes remaining, but WLU converted 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch to preserve the 94-77 win.
Junior guard Hillary Southworth made five three-pointers and finished 14-for-20 from the field to score 37 points for West Liberty.
Concord will be back in action 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26 at Seton Hill in a WVIAC match-up.
