ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team used a 13-0 run over a 3:38 segment of the fourth quarter to erase a five-point deficit in a 56-50 win over Notre Dame Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
Trailing 45-40 at the 6:34 mark of the fourth, the rally began with an old-school three-point play from fifth-year senior forward
Riley Fitzwater with 5:47 left in the contest. Just 53 seconds later, junior guard
Jazz Blankenship hit a transition three-pointer to give the Mountain Lions (13-6, 8-5 MEC) their first lead since the two-minute mark of the third. Two free throws from sophomore guard
Maddie Ratcliff extended the lead, and junior forward
Alexis Phillips cashed in on her only field goal of the night at the 3:35 mark.
Blankenship capped the run with a three-pointer with 2:36 remaining to push the advantage to 53-45. NDC (7-9, 6-6 MEC) scored the next five points to get the game back to one possession with 1:35 remaining. However, Blankenship and Fitzwater closed the game out at the foul line.
A defensive-minded game throughout—with both teams shooting 31 percent—Concord jumped out to a 9-2 lead through six minutes before Notre Dame answered with a 10-0 run to finish the first 10 minutes.
The Falcons led throughout the remainder of the first half with CU only able to tie the game at 20-20 before NDC hit a late jumper to pull ahead 22-20 at the break.
The lead exchanged hands twice and the contest was tied three times in the third quarter alone, but nothing was decided as the teams went to the fourth deadlocked at 36-36.
Fitzwater notched her 17
th double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds while adding five blocks. Blankenship scored half of her 14 points in the fourth quarter as she made 3-of-6 three-point tries for the game. Senior guard
Maggie Guynn threw in nine points and grabbed six points.
Phillips came off the bench to collect a career-high 12 rebounds.
Despite shooting just 31.5 percent (17-for-54) from the floor, the Mountain Lions connected on 90 percent of their foul shots (18-of-20). The 31.7 percent shooting that CU allowed was the eighth time the Maroon and Gray has limited a team to less 35 percent from the field this year.
Concord travels to Alderson-Broaddus 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
