Concord Wins on Road at W.Va. Wesleyan

Box Score BUCKHANNON, W.Va. - With three players in double figures, the Concord University women's basketball team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 70-62 Saturday afternoon at Rockefeller Arena in Mountain East Conference play.

With the victory, the Mountain Lions improve to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the MEC. West Virginia Wesleyan falls to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in league play.

After both teams traded the lead seven times in the first half, the Mountain Lions found themselves down 29-27 at intermission. However, Concord used a 15-7 run to begin the second half to jump out to a 42-36 lead with 15:29 left to play in regulation.

The Bobcats battled back to take a two-point lead at 48-46, but the Mountain Lions rattled off six unanswered points to regain control of the lead for the final 10:20 of the second half en route to the eight-point victory.

CU shot 61.5 percent (16-for-26) in the second half as opposed to the Bobcats shooting  46.2 percent (12-of-26.)

Junior guard Melea Smith had a career-day for the Mountain Lions as she scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in 17 minutes of action. She bested her previous career-high of eight points by shooting 3-of-4 from three point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

The leading scorer for the Mountain Lions was junior guard Rachel Artrip, who tallied 15 points. After being held scoreless in the first 20 minutes, Artrip shot 5-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from the foul line in the second half.

To go along with her 15 points, Artrip grabbed six rebounds. Centers Alley Odell and Sammi Webster pulled down six and five rebounds apiece. 

Coming off her career night against Glenville State Thursday, junior forward Andrea Bertrand scored 10 points to round out the double digit scorers for CU.

The Mountain Lions forced WVWC into 25 turnovers, the most by the Concord defense since forcing 28 against Lincoln-Memorial in its season-opener.

In forcing West Virginia Wesleyan into 28 turnovers, the Mountain Lions came away with 12 steals. Freshman guard Olivia Morgan, who made her first career start, had four steals while Webster and junior guard Ashley Brown had three each. 

Concord held advantages over the Bobcats in points in the paint (26-8), points off turnovers (18-16), bench points (22-14) and rebounds (43-40)

The women won't return to the hardwood until after the New Year when they travel to West Liberty Jan. 4.