ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team led wire-to-wire as it earned the program's first win over a ranked team in 13 years with a 59-54 victory over Charleston Saturday afternoon at the Carter Center in a Mountain East Conference game.
Charleston entered Saturday ranked third in Division II with a record of 13-0. The Mountain Lions improved to 8-5 on the season with the victory. Concord's last victory over a ranked foe was December 4, 2007 when CU picked off Glenville State at home.
With the game tied at 9-9 early on, the Mountain Lions finished the first 10 minutes on an 8-2 run to grab a six-point lead. The run carried over to the second quarter with Concord going up by a first-half high nine points, 24-15, with 6:15 remaining in the first half.
Overall, the 15-6 spurt was spurred by seven points from senior forward
Riley Fitzwater while junior guard
Maggie Guynn added four points.
The Golden Eagles, however, were able to close the first half on an 11-4 run to close within 28-26 of CU at the break.
Concord was able to fend off Charleston in the third quarter as UC was got within two points of the Mountain Lions' lead five times, but never able to tie the game.
With CU hanging onto a 44-42 edge through three quarters, Guynn pushed the lead to five points with a triple at the 8:03 mark of the fourth period, and Fitzwater followed with a corner mid-range jumper on the next possession.
After Charleston scored the next four points to get within 49-46, freshman guard
Maddie Ratcliff scored the next seven points for Concord as her jumper with 59 seconds left put CU up 54-48. After a defensive stop, Guynn knocked down two free throws, and Ratcliff added a late foul shot to ensure the win for Concord.
Ratcliff scored eight of her 17 points in the final 3:05 of the contest, and 15 of 17 in the second half to finish as the game leader in scoring. Guynn chipped in 16 points and added five assists.
Fitzwater notched 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks to tally her 60
th career double-double. Though she did not score in the game, junior guard
Gracie Robinson snagged a season-high eight rebounds.
Concord shot 45.8 percent (22-for-48) in the contest while holding UC to 27.8 percent (22-for-79). It was the third-lowest percentage for a team in the MEC this year.
CU limited Charleston's Brooklyn Pannell—the Division II leader in scoring at 26.6 points per game—to 16 points on 6-for-23 shooting. CU also locked down UC's second-leading scorer—Erykah Russell—to 5-of-27 shooting as she finished with 12 points, eight below her season average.
Saturday was the 17
th consecutive home win for Concord.
The Mountain Lions play their final road game of the season at West Virginia Wesleyan 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.
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