Concord Pushes Past Clarion with Fourth-Quarter Spark, 55-44

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team outscored Clarion 23-11 in the fourth quarter on its way to a 55-44 win Friday afternoon in the season opener at Joe Retton Arena in the Atlantic Regional Crossover.

Down 33-32 to start the fourth quarter, graduate forward Alexis Phillips gave the Mountain Lions the lead right back with a three-pointer at the 8:22 mark. Clarion scored on the following possession to retake a one-point advantage. However, CU sparked a 7-0 run to get the separation it needed down the stretch.

Junior guard Jaisah Smith scored back-to-back buckets to push Concord ahead 39-36 with 6:09 remaining. Just over a minute later, senior guard Jazz Blankenship hit her only three-pointer of the game to extend the lead to 42-36.

The Golden Eagles got back to within four points three different times, but Concord was 9-of-10 at the foul line in the final 68 seconds of the game to secure the win. Smith led the way at the line by going 6-of-6 to push her to a game-high 14 points.  Smith was 8-for-8 at the line overall.

Both defenses worked hard early in the game with Clarion holding an 11-10 edge after 10 minutes. The Mountain Lions stymied CU in the second quarter, holding the Golden Eagles scoreless for the first eight minutes of the period. With the harassing defense, Concord took an 18-16 lead into halftime.

Graduate guard Maggie Guynn connected on a three-pointer to open the third quarter to build the lead back to 21-16. However, Clarion didn't go away as it scored four of the final six points of the third to take the one-point edge into the fourth.

The Mountain Lions got a balanced scoring effort in the game. Joining Smith in double figures were junior guard Maddie Ratcliff (11 points), Guynn (10) and Phillips (10). Phillips added 10 rebounds for a double-double.

Concord clamped down on Clarion to hold the Golden Eagles to 24.1 percent shooting from the field and 15.8 percent (3-for-19) from the three-point distance.

Concord held a 39-38 rebounding edge.

The Mountain Lions play Winston-Salem State 1:00 p.m. Saturday to conclude the Atlantic Regional Crossover.