ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team outscored Salem 31-10 in the first quarter and never looked back as it scored a season-best 96 points in a 96-71 win Monday afternoon in a non-conference at the Carter Center.
Monday was head coach
Kenny Osborne's 300
th career win at Concord over the 22 seasons he has coached in Athens.
The Mountain Lions (14-7) shot 50 percent (8-of-16) in the first quarter and knocked down 12-of-14 free throws to open up the 21-point margin after 10 minutes. Junior guard
Jazz Blankenship got CU off to a fast start as she scored 10 of the first 12 points for Concord in the opening 3:07 of the contest.
The lead ballooned to as much as 25 points in the opening half, 41-16, after junior forward
Lauryn Avery dropped in two of her 14 points at the 6:31 mark. Concord settled for a 51-29 halftime advantage after sophomore guard
Kacie Shaffner knocked down one of her three three-pointers in the final minute of the second quarter.
Salem (6-9) was never able to cut the deficit inside 20 points as it got within 22 points twice in the second half.
To start the fourth, the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 68-46. However, Blankenship canned a three-pointer at the 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter that set off a 16-5 run over the next 4:35 of the contest, ending with a layup from sophomore guard
Allison Dunbar with 5:45 remaining in the contest. After the bucket, Concord led 84-51, matching the largest margin of the game.
Shaffner's career-high 20 points paced five double-figure scorers for the Mountain Lions. Avery added 11 rebounds for her first career double-double in the victory. Energized by the early burst, Blankenship poured in 13 points as she and Shaffner combined for six three-pointers.
Sophomore guard
Jaisah Smith finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. And sophomore guard
Maddie Ratcliff netted 10 points. Junior guard
Ashton Funderburg just missed double figures with a career-high eight points.
Concord finished the game shooting 50 percent (32-of-64) from the floor and 77.4 percent (24-of-31) at the foul line. Defensively, the Mountain Lions held Salem to 32.4 percent (24-for-74) from the field and had a sizeable 48-35 rebounding advantage.
Five different players had at least two assists as Concord finished with 20 assists.
CU resumes Mountain East Conference play 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Frostburg State.
Â
