ATHENS, W.Va. – In a game that had nine lead changes and seven ties, the Concord University women's basketball team lost to Shepherd 64-59 in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center Monday night.
From the get go both teams played stifling defense. After 13 minutes of play, the score was deadlocked at 16-16. In the early going, senior forward
Jacqueline Kestner, sophomore center
Alley Odell and senior guard
Melea Smith combined for 13 of the 16 Mountain Lions points.
CU (3-10, 3-6 MEC) was able to separate themselves from Shepherd (11-4, 8-1 MEC) as they went on 13-5 run over four minutes to grab a 29-21 advantage with 1:03 left until halftime. Once against Kestner and Odell powered the Concord run by scoring five and four points respectively.
The Mountain Lions held a 30-25 lead at halftime.
Concord scored 13 of the 15 points of the second half to take a 43-27 lead, its largest of the game with 14:25 left in the contest.
CU maintained a double-digit lead until Shepherd cut the Mountain Lion lead to 51-43 with 7:26 remaining. Shepherd and Concord traded baskets over the next few possessions until Shepherd broke through to tie the game at 55-55 with 3:30 showing on the second half clock.
The Rams outscored Concord 9-4 over the final three minutes to win by five points.
Kestner finished with 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. The Blountville, Tennessee collected the third-most rebounds in the MEC this season while also coming away with her seventh double-double of the season.
Odell had the best game of her Concord career as she recorded 17 points and eight rebounds.
The Mountain Lions collected more rebounds than Shepherd (50-40) and also had more assists (18-12).
Shepherd was led by Morgan Arden who had 14 points and six rebounds.
Concord will play at Shepherd 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
