ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team starts the season off with the games at the MEC-PSAC Challenge as it takes on Winston-Salem State 12:00 p.m. Saturday and Clarion 12:00 p.m. Sunday on the campus of Fairmont State.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Fairmont State Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of both contests.
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for the games.
RECORDS
The Mountain Lions finished the shortened spring season with a mark of 9-7.
Winston-Salem State did not play games last season.
Clarion played 12 games last year as it went 5-8.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
Some early-season records will be on the line when the season gets underway Saturday afternoon. Head coach
Kenny Osborne is two wins away from achieving 300 wins in his 23-year coaching career. He is the active winningest coach in the Mountain East Conference. Senior guard
Maggie Guynn is 71 points away from becoming the 20
th member of the 1,000-point club at Concord. The Pearisburg, Virginia native finished last season averaging 18.2 points per game in her final five games including throwing in a career-best 27 at West Virginia State. Fifth-year senior forward
Riley Fitzwater is 78 points away from moving into the top five in scoring at CU. She has 1,589 points for her career, seventh-most in program history.
BLUE-COLLAR EFFORT
Senior guard
Gracie Robinson and junior guard
Ashton Funderburg combined to average just 6.4 points per game last season, but the point guard tandem gave the Mountain Lions more intangibles than just scoring. Funderburg drew eight charges a season ago while Robinson took seven charges on the defensive end. Additionally, both shot 70 percent or better from the foul line last season with Funderburg shooting a team-best 86.4 percent at the charity stripe during the 16-game season.
LOOKING TO GO 2-0
Concord has never started the year 2-0 at the MEC-PSAC Challenge with this being the seventh year participating in it. Two seasons ago, the Maroon and Gray dropped a 93-82 decision to Seton Hill before downing Lock Haven, 86-60. Fitzwater averaged a double-double of 13 points and 17 rebounds per game in 2019. And Guynn tallied 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the win over Lock Haven. Fitzwater opened her career against Clarion in 2017 with 20 points and 13 rebounds, one of 70 career double-doubles for her in a 73-66 loss.
SOPHOMORE SIDEKICKS
Sophomore guards
Maddie Ratcliff and
Jaisah Smith proved to be two of the best freshmen in the MEC last season as Ratcliff finished as the second-highest scoring freshman at 10.5 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Smith made her mark from three-point range as she hit on 40 percent of her attempts from behind the arc. In the second half of last season, Ratcliff scored in double figures in five of eight games, including a 17-point game on 6-of-7 shooting versus nationally-ranked Charleston. Smith was instrumental in an upset of Glenville State as she posted 13 points on 5-for-8 from the floor.
Â
