Concord Edged by Charleston

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team was unable to hold onto a 34-28 halftime lead against the University of Charleston as they fell 71-68 in Mountain East Conference play Thursday night at the Carter Center.

The Mountain Lions (6-17, 6-12 MEC) led at halftime as they shot 46.7 percent (15-of-32) from the field and also forced Charleston (19-5, 14-4 MEC) into 11 first half turnovers as senior forwards Rachel Artrip and Jacqueline Kestner each came away with three steals during the first 20 minutes.

UC scored the first 11 points of the second half to gain a 39-34 lead with 15:59 remaining. However, three successful foul shots from senior guard Melea Smith and a jumper from Kestner knotted the game at 39-39.

The remainder of the game stayed close as neither team led by more than seven points.

With the Mountain Lions down 62-55 and all the momentum on Charleston's side, CU outscored the Golden Eagles 10-2 from the 6:15 mark to the 2:34 mark of the second half to retake a 65-64 advantage.

In that time span, Concord was 8-for-8 at the free throw line with Kestner making six, Artrip converting the other two and junior forward Kylie Molisee making a layup.

But, CU was held scoreless until five seconds left in the game as UC took a 71-65 lead. Kestner's first three-pointer of the game gave CU one last chance after UC proceeded to miss two foul shots.

Down by three points, freshman guard Danielle Catron had her potential game-tying three-pointer fall short as CU fell 71-68.

In the loss, Kestner nearly tallied a triple-double finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. The eight assists for Kestner was a career-high as were her seven offensive rebounds.

Smith added 13 points and Molisee made six of her eight shots from the field to record 12 points.

CU outrebounded Charleston (37-30) and also had more second chance points (14-8).

UC's Nichole Perry led all scorers with 20 points while Kiara Johnson was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Concord will go for a regular season sweep of West Virginia State 2:00 p.m. Saturday at the Carter Center.