Concord Battles High Point in Exhibition

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Concord University women's basketball team lost 71-44 to High Point in an exhibition game at the Qubein Center.

Junior guard Jaisah Smith sank the first bucket of the game as her three-pointer 60 seconds into the contest gave Concord a 3-0 lead. However, HPU scored the next 12 points and led 20-8 after 10 minutes.

The advantage grew to 42-22 at halftime despite senior guard Jazz Blankenship throwing two of her four three-pointers for the game in the second period.

The Mountain Lions chipped away at the High Point lead to open up the second half as graduate forward Alexis Phillips scored five straight points, reducing the deficit to 42-27 at the 9:03 mark of the third quarter.

Trailing by 19 points, 54-35, to start the fourth quarter, Concord watched the Panthers increase the lead to 65-39 with less than five minutes left.
Blankenship finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range. Phillips added six points and six rebounds in 14 minutes. Graduate guard Maggie Guynn and Smith each had netted six points—both of Smith's field goals were three-pointers. Freshman forward Abbie Smith had six points and three rebounds.

CU held a 39-33 rebounding edge on High Point, and made eight three-pointers.

The Mountain Lions open the regular season 2:00 p.m. Friday against Clarion at Joe Retton Arena in Fairmont, West Virginia.