Concord Stats -
West Liberty Stats -
Wheeling Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University women's basketball team resumes Mountain East Conference play when it welcomes West Liberty to the Carter Center 5:30 p.m. Wednesday before traveling to Wheeling 2:00 p.m. Saturday in a pair of league games.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: Both the Concord and Wheeling University Sports Information Departments will provide live in-game statistics for both contests.
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for the games this week.
RECORDS
CU begins the new year having won six of its last seven games to run its record to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the MEC.
West Liberty stopped a brief three-game losing streak with a non-conference win over Malone before Christmas to improve to 6-6 overall while sporting a 2-4 conference mark.
Wheeling is also 2-4 in the MEC, but is just 3-8 overall in 2019-20.
LESS IS MORE
In its 73-62 win at Salem on December 18, the Mountain Lions shot 7-for-16 from three-point range. Sophomore guard
Maggie Guynn led the way as she hit 3-of-4 three-point attempts on her way to a game-best 21 points. Meanwhile, freshman guard
Jazz Blankenship knocked in three three-pointers on six attempts. After shooting 30 percent or below in five straight games, the Mountain Lions enter the week 15-for-31 in their last two games from three-point distance. Against Frostburg State, CU was 8-for-15 with Guynn hitting all three of her three-point attempts. Junior guard
Keely Lundy was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc against FSU. When attempting 15 or less three-pointers, Concord is 5-0 this season.
ADDED PRODUCTION
The Mountain Lions finished the game at Salem with 23 bench points—one point off their season high. All 23 points came from either freshman guard
Nakaila Gray or junior forward
Tamra Scott. Gray tallied a career-best 11 points as she also recorded her first double-digit scoring game in the Maroon and Gray. Scott posted her fourth career double-double, and first of the season, by pulling down 11 rebounds to go with her 12 points. Six of Scott's rebounds were on the offensive end. It marked the first time since January 12, 2019 that Concord had two players come off the bench and score double figures when Guynn and Scott did so versus Fairmont State.
FOR CHARITY
The foul line was kind to CU at Salem as the Mountain Lions shot a season-best 81.5 percent (22-for-27) at the free throw line. Gray paced Concord by scoring seven of her 11 points at the foul line with a 7-for-8 showing. Guynn hit on 6-of-7 attempts the charity stripe while sophomore guard
Gracie Robinson knocked down all four of her attempts. It was the first time since a home win over Urbana in February 2018 that the Maroon and Gray shot 80 percent or better from the free throw line. While senior forward
Madison May (93) and Guynn (64) are first and second in the MEC in free throw attempts, Concord shoots just 67.6 percent at the foul line as a team.
HITTING THE MARK
Concord starts the week tied for ninth in Division II in points per game at 83.9 while posting the eighth best field goal percentage of 49.1 percent. Over the last four games with West Liberty, Concord is averaging 85.5 points per game while scoring 90 or more twice, including 94 in a 94-84 road win last season. In those four games, May averaged 23 points per game while Fitzwater added 10.7 points per contest. Included in May's production was a career-high 17 made free throws in 21 attempts at WLU last season.
HELPING HAND
CU and West Liberty are in the top half of the MEC in assists per game. Concord is 24
th in Division II with 17.0 assists per game. The Hilltoppers are fifth with 14.6 per game, but are traditionally one of the best passing teams in Division II. Guard Audrey Tingle (5.08) is just ahead of May (5.00) in assists per game in the MEC. Tingle is among the top 10 active players in Division II in assists with 435 in just 68 career games. Along with May, Robinson is averaging 3.0 per game which is outside the top 10 in the MEC, but the Wytheville, Virginia native has 13 assists in her last three games.
POST PRESENCE
Saturday's game will pit not only two of the best post players in the MEC, but in all of Division II in Concord's junior forward
Riley Fitzwater and Wheeling's Lilly Ritz. Fitzwater is averaging 16.5 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game to go with a field-goal percentage of 72.5. The Glenville, West Virginia is ranked second nationally in both blocks and field-goal percentage, and is 15
th in rebounds. For Ritz, she is averaging 18.0 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks per contest to go with a 54.5 percent field goal mark. Ritz is fourth in Division II in rebounding. Ritz has one more double-double than Fitzwater (7-6) and is coming off a 28-point, 14-rebound performance in a non-conference loss to Ursuline.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
10- By scoring 10 points at Salem, May moved into seventh on CU's all-time scoring with 1,371 points in her career.
30- Field goal percentage that Concord limited Wheeling to last season in a regular season sweep for CU.
48- Points needed by Fitzwater to reach 1,000 for her career.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
The Hilltoppers have one of the best three-point shooters in Division II in Morgan Brunner. The senior is second in Division II in three-pointers made with 52. In fact, Brunner's 52 triples are more than double the total number of three-pointers West Liberty has given up this year, 25. WLU has the best three-point defense in the MEC at 23.6 percent (25-for-106). Brunner leads the Hilltoppers in scoring at 21.1 points per game. Taylor Johnson, an All-MEC First Team selection last season, is pouring in 16.3 points per game. WLU is averaging 79.1 points per game which is fifth in the MEC.
WHEELING AT A GLANCE
To complement Ritz, Khira Burton is averaging 12.5 points per game while Taliah Cashwell is scoring 11.2 points per game. However, Burton has only appeared in six of the 11 games for the Cardinals this season. Wheeling ranks fourth in the MEC in field goal defense (40.7 percent) and gives up the third-fewest points in the conference (72.3 points per game). All three of WU's wins have come away from home as it begins the week with an 0-3 home record.
