Box Score
ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team dropped a close 65-61 decision to the University of Charleston Thursday night in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center. For the second consecutive game, Concord fell behind by double digits in the second half only to mount a comeback, but came up just short.
After a 5-0 run by Charleston to start the game, Concord (4-6, 2-5 MEC)Â rebounded to go on a 18-7 run over the next seven minutes to take a 18-12 lead over UC with 11 minutes to play in the half. The Mountain Lions' run was sparked by junior forward
Andrea Bertrand, who scored eight of her game-high 25 points during the spurt.
However, the Golden Eagles (8-3, 4-3 MEC) would regroup to close out the half on a 21-10 run of their own to take a 33-28 lead into the locker rooms.
The Mountain Lions came out of the break and quickly retook the lead at 38-36 with 15:23 thanks in no small part to six points to start the second half by senior center
Sammi Webster. However, five minutes later UC managed to tie the game at 38-38 and proceeded push its lead to a seemingly commanding 11 points (55-44) with six minutes left to play.
Concord continued to battle and near the end of the contest a layup by Bertrand capped off a 17-11 run and cut the Golden Eagles' lead to three points with under a minute to play at 64-61. But that would be as close as the Mountain Lions would get as Charleston sunk 3-of-4 free throws in the game's final seconds en route to their four-point victory.
Bertrand continued her hot stretch of play, shooting 64.7 percent from the field (11-of-17). Over her last five contests, Bertrand is averaging 22.4 points per game while shooting a phenomenal 58.5 percent from the floor (48-of-82). Bertrand also pulled down a team-high six rebounds against the Golden Eagles.
Webster was Concord's second player in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Webster also had the lone block of the game for CU, giving her 10 on the year which is already just seven shy of her career-high. She has scored at least 10 points in five of her last eight games.
Just missing out on double-digit points were the junior trio of guards
Rachel Artrip,
Sissy Wagner and forward
Jacqueline Kestner.
Artrip and Kestner each scored nine points and had two steals with Kestner also grabbing five rebounds. Meanwhile, Wagner scored seven points and dished out six assists while not turning the ball over in a game for the first time this year. The six assists were two off of her season-high.
Wagner also made both free throws she attempted in the contest. Since CU's game against Notre Dame College on Nov. 23, she has only missed two free throws going 21-of-23 from the charity stripe over the stretch, good enough for 91.3 percent.
For the game, Concord bested Charleston in points in the paint (34-20), forced turnovers (18-6) and steals (8-6). CU has now outscored their opponents in paint in eight of 10 games this season.
The Mountain Lions shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the floor and 3-of-10 from the three-point range Thursday night.
Charleston was led by Chyress Lockhart, who scored a team-high with 14 points.
Next up for the Mountain Lions will be a neutral-site game in Logan, W.Va. against Fairmont State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
