CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to get within seven points, but was able to complete the comeback as it fell 69-56 to Charleston Thursday night in a Mountain East Conference game at the Wehrle Center.
After trailing 33-20 at halftime, the Mountain Lions (0-1, 0-1 MEC) fell behind 46-28 halfway through the third quarter as Charleston (1-0, 1-0 MEC) opened up its largest advantage of the game.
Not deterred by the deficit, CU closed the quarter on a 11-2 run. Senior forward
Riley Fitzwater and sophomore guard
Jazz Blankenship keyed the late third period run. Fitzwater scored five of the first six points of the spurt while Blankenship tallied five points over the final 25 seconds of the third, with a three-pointer and a subsequent fast break layup right before the end of the period.
After sophomore forward
Alexis Phillips made a layup 56 seconds into the fourth, the Mountain Lions found themselves down 48-41, however, Charleston scored the next five points to extend the lead back to double-digits where it stayed for the remainder of the contest.
Concord erased an early 7-0 hole to tie the game at 10-10 before a first-half surge from UC.
Fitzwater led the scoring for the Mountain Lions with 15 points to go with five rebounds and five blocks. Sophomore guard
Maggie Guynn was limited to 14 minutes because of foul trouble, but had eight points on 2-for-2 from the field and 4-of-4 from the foul line.
Phillips chipped in six points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard
Jaisah Smith had six points and five assists in her collegiate debut of 25 minutes.
CU shot 52.6 percent (20-of-38) from the field, but committed 25 turnovers. Charleston had a 38-30 edge on the glass.
The Mountain Lions welcome West Virginia State to the Carter Center 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
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