Concord Heads to MEC-CIAA Challenge

2013-14 Concord Stats - Live Stats (Shaw) - Live State (Fayetteville State)

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team  will start its season at the MEC-CIAA Challenge hosted by Fairmont State Friday. The Mountain Lions will play Shaw University 4:00 p.m. Friday before taking on Fayetteville State 2:00 p.m. Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Fairmont State University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics for both games involving Concord. To access the live stats, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

COACHES
• Kenny Osborne begins his 14^th season on the sidelines. Osborne has guided the Mountain Lions to a 200-197 record in his time at CU.

• Jacques Curtis starts his 10^th season at Shawn where he has compiled a record of 235-104.

• Eva Patterson-Heath is the head coach of Fayetteville State.

RECORDS
• Concord finished last year with a 10-17 record. The Mountain Lions were selected to finish ninth in the Mountain East Conference coaches preseason poll.

• Shaw recorded a 21-9 mark as they made the NCAA Division II Tournament before falling to Gannon in the first round.

• Fayetteville State won 21 games as they went 21-7 and lost in the CIAA Tournament to Shaw.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• Senior forwards Rachel Artrip and Jacqueline Kestner are the Mountain Lions top two returning players from a season ago.
• Artrip averaged 11.4 points per game while connecting on a team-high 38 three-pointers.

• Meanwhile, Kestner averaged 9.5 points per game in addition to averaging 6.3 rebounds per game. The Blountville, Tennessee native also had a team-best 39 steals to go along with three double-doubles.

• Sophomore guard Olivia Morgan will step into the starting point guard after appearing in 19 games last season and starting the last four contests of the season.

• Senior guard Melea Smith shot a team-best 40 percent from three-point range and was key reserve as she saw action in 26 of 27 games during the 2013-14 season.

• Last year to open the season, Kestner was one of four Mountain Lions to post 10 or more points as Concord fell to Lincoln Memorial 79-65. Kestner finished with 11 points.

• This year's Mountain Lions are one of the more diverse squads Osborne has coached in his tenure at CU. Seven states along with two countries are represented on this year's squad.

• Freshman guard Marta Moix attended high school in Maryland for two seasons, but Moix was born in Spain. Fellow freshman guard Pornnutcha Sawatong is from Thailand.

• This will be the first meeting between Shaw and Concord dating back to the 1994-95 season while the Mountain Lions are 0-1 all-time versus Fayetteville State.

SCOUTING SHAW
• Shaw and Fayetteville State tied for the CIAA South regular season crown going 12-4 last season.

• The Bears led the CIAA in scoring as they averaged 73.5 points per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the field , second best in the league.

• SU was 10^th out of 12 teams in the CIAA in scoring defense as they gave up 65.9 points per game.

SCOUTING FAYETTEVILLE STATE
• FSU lost its top scorer, Ashle Freeman (20.5 points per game), and top rebounder , Deja Middleton (11.9 rebounds per game) from last season.

• Freeman was league's second-leading scorer while Middleton was the best rebounder in the CIAA.

• Fayetteville State had the fifth-best rebounding margin in the CIAA at 2.0.

UP NEXT
Concord will jump into MEC play Nov. 22 on the road versus Notre Dame at 2:00 p.m.