WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team extended its winning streak to seven games as it outlasted West Liberty, 94-84, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference clash at the ASRC.
Even though CU (12-3, 8-2 MEC) was unable to pull away until the late stages of the fourth quarter, Concord only surrendered the lead three times in the game. The Hilltoppers (9-7, 6-4 MEC) took a 7-6 lead at the 6:20 mark of the first quarter and hung onto the advantage until sophomore forward
Riley Fitzwater knocked in a pair of free throws to tie the game at 20-20 after the first quarter.
WLU was able to grab a 31-29 lead with just over five minutes left until halftime, but the Mountain Lions finished the second quarter on a 18-8 run to take a 47-39 advantage into the intermission. Senior guard
Emily Boothe, junior forward
Madison May and senior guard
Andreanna Pool combined for 16 of the 18 points.
Concord watched West Liberty trim its lead down to two, 53-51, but Fitzwater and May combined on back-to-back scores over a 50-second stretch as CU opened up a 57-51 lead with 3:38 left in the third quarter.
Up four points to start the fourth quarter, the Mountain Lions slowly pulled away from WLU as they took their largest lead of the day, a 15-point advantage, after a layup from Boothe at the 3:07 mark to go up 83-68.
Concord made enough foul shots down the stretch to hold off a potential late comeback from the Hilltoppers in the 10-point win.
May led the Mountain Lions with 29 points as she made a career-best 17 free throws, going 17-for-21 from the charity strip. The Athens, West Virginia just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Boothe played her best game of the year as she dropped in a season-high 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting.
Fitzwater tallied her eighth double-double of the season with 10 points and 17 rebounds to go along with five blocks. Pool added 17 points.
On Saturday, Fitzwater tallied her 500
th career rebound, becoming the 12
th player in program history to reach the milestone. Fitzwater now has 513 career rebounds in 43 games played.
CU heads to Charleston to the Golden Eagles 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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