Concord Set for Trip to West Virginia Wesleyan, Hosts Davis & Elkins for Senior Day

Concord Stats - West Virginia Wesleyan Stats - Davis & Elkins Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University women's basketball team visits West Virginia Wesleyan 5:30 p.m. Wednesday before hosting Davis & Elkins for Senior Day at the Carter Center 2:00 p.m. Saturday in a pair of Mountain East Conference games.

LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Concord and West Virginia Wesleyan Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of the contests. 
Video: Live streaming video will be available for this week's games from the host school.

RECORDS
Concord is 17-9 this season after a 75-68 non-conference win over Bluefield State while sporting a 10-8 MEC mark.

West Virginia Wesleyan is 2-18 this season and 1-17 versus conference foes.

Davis & Elkins starts the week at 6-17 overall and 3-15 in the league.

SENIOR SENDOFF
Prior to Saturday's contest, fifth-year senior forward Riley Fitzwater and senior guard Gracie Robinson will be honored for their careers at CU. One of the most accomplished players not only at Concord or in the MEC, but on a national level, Fitzwater is approaching 2,000 career points. The Glenville, West Virginia native is at 1,973 points for her career, second in program history, and ninth among active Division II players. On Monday night, Fitzwater became the first Division II player since the 2007-08 season to collect 1,500 career rebounds. Both Fitzwater's rebounding total (1,501) and career block total (519) leads NCAA, regardless of Division. Additionally, Fitzwater's 77 career double-doubles are also the most among NCAA women's basketball athletes. Fitzwater's career field-goal percentage of 68.5 is just under one percentage point ahead of the career record set by Valdosta State's Deidre Williams (1993-96). As for Robinson, she will suit in her 97^th career game at Concord Wednesday as she has started 68 contests with 66 of those starts coming consecutively. One of the scrappiest players in the MEC, Robinson has drawn 11 offensive fouls this season to go with seven offensive fouls in just 16 games last season. Two years ago, the Wytheville, Virginia native was just one of five players in the MEC with 100 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists for the campaign. Robinson has been part of 70 wins in her career at CU while Fitzwater has been on the winning end of 83 games in her five years.

FINDING THE RANGE
In Concord's 75-68 win at Bluefield State Monday night, junior guard Jazz Blankenship and sophomore guard Maddie Ratcliff were significant contributors for the Mountain Lions. Blankenship broke out of a small shooting slump as she hit 4-of-6 three-pointers on her way to 16 points. Before canning four triples on the road, the Lester, West Virginia native had been 2-of-16 from beyond the arc in her previous four games. For the season, Blankenship is shooting 35.6 percent from three-point distance and Monday night was the seventh time this season that she has made at least three three-pointers in a game. As for Ratcliff, she stepped up and knocked in all 12 of her free throws against Bluefield State on her way to her second career game with at least 20 points. Just a 69.6 free-throw shooter for the season, the Pulaski, Virginia native's 12 makes at the charity stripe are tied for the second-most in an MEC game this season without a miss.

GRINDING IT OUT
A top-five shooting team in the MEC this season, CU was held to 41.8 percent from the field in a 65-53 January win over West Virginia Wesleyan. The Mountain Lions were limited to less than 40 percent in the first half, but shot 46.1 percent in the second half as it fought off a WVWC rally in the fourth quarter to win by 12 points. The 23 made field goals made by Concord in its win over the Bobcats were just one of four times this season that the Mountain Lions have made less than 25 shots in a win. One of those instances were in Monday's win at Bluefield State when it hit 24 field goals. Senior guard Maggie Guynn paced Concord versus WVWC in January with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting. In her career against WVWC, the Pearisburg, Virginia native is averaging 12.7 points per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the floor. Last season, CU was defeated 67-56 by Wesleyan on the road as Fitzwater had 22 points and nine rebounds.

HIGH FIVE
The Mountain Lions picked up an 81-66 road win over Davis & Elkins January 15, part of a five-game winning streak for CU. Concord shot over 47 percent from the field and made 75 percent of its free throws (21-for-28) in the victory. Five different players hit double figures in the game with Fitzwater scoring 17 points to go with 13 rebounds. Ratcliff and sophomore guard Jaisah Smith each scored 13 points with Smith just missing double-double, pulling down nine rebounds. Guynn pumped in 12 points while Blankenship scored 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench. Robinson just missed making it six players in double figures as she netted nine points. The 28 free throws that CU took at Davis & Elkins are tied for third most in a game this season for Concord.

FREE THROW FRIENDLY
And speaking of the charity stripe, CU has risen to second in the MEC in free-throw shooting this season. The Mountain Lions are hitting 74.5 percent of foul shots, the best in five years when it shot over 75 percent in 2016-17. Junior forward Alexis Phillips is fourth in the percent conference this season as she shoots an even 80 percent at the foul line. Led by Ratcliff, Concord made 87.5 percent (21-for-24) of its free throws at Bluefield State Monday. If one of both games come down to foul shooting this week, Davis & Elkins is making 68 percent of its free throws while West Virginia Wesleyan is just a 66.2 percent team at the charity stripe. Additionally, CU's free-throw percentage in the final three minutes of games raises to 77.3 percent.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
10- Points needed by Guynn to become the 11^th player in program history with 1,200 career points.

29- Bench points by Concord at Bluefield State, the second straight game and fourth time in the last six with at least 20 bench points.

66.7- Combined field-goal percentage for Fitzwater and Guynn (12-for-18) in January's win over Wesleyan.

WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
The Bobcats were missing leading scorer Symphonie Bryant-Brown when they visited Athens in January. Bryant-Brown averages 12.3 points per game. Courtney Wilfong is also netting double figures at 10.3 points per game. She had 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists versus CU in the first meeting. One of the best offensive rebounding teams in the MEC, WVWC averages 13.9 offensive boards and grabs just under 35 percent of its own misses. Wesleyan had 15 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points versus Concord earlier this season.

DAVIS & ELKINS AT A GLANCE
One of the front runners for MEC Freshman of the Year, Dream Cherry is eighth in the MEC in scoring this season averaging 16.3 points per game. Marissa Berlin is one of four players in the conference averaging a double-double with 12.3 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per contest. Peyton Mohler is a third scorer in double figures for the Senators at 12.5 points. Three of the last five games for D&E have been decided by five points or less.