Concord Falls in MEC Quarterfinals to Notre Dame

WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team came up short in the Mountain East Conference Tournament Quarterfinals 69-59 Thursday night at WesBanco Arena.

Both teams started slow as Notre Dame (15-13) held Concord scoreless for over five minutes of the first quarter and led 12-9 after 10 minutes.

Throughout the second quarter every time Concord (20-11) made a run at the NDC lead, the Falcons had an answer. Fifth-year senior forward Riley Fitzwater completed an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Mountain Lions to within 22-20 at the 4:46 mark of the period.

Notre Dame responded with an 8-2 run to go up 30-22 and led 32-27 at halftime.

Senior guard Maggie Guynn scored the first bucket of the third quarter, and junior guard Jazz Blankenship followed it up with a three-pointer at the 7:12 mark to pull CU to within 34-32 of Notre Dame. But, it was the closest the Mountain Lions would get for the remainder of the period as the Falcons ripped of a 7-0 spurt and still led 47-41 after three.

Senior guard Gracie Robinson injected some momentum into Concord in the first 76 seconds of the fourth as she hit two free throws and knocked down a three-pointer to trim the CU margin to 47-46. Robinson also stood in for her second charge of the game during the early part of the quarter.

NDC answered Robinson's triple with a three-pointer of its own. Over the next four combined possessions, the teams traded buckets until Notre Dame pulled ahead 58-50 with 4:26 left in the contest.
CU got to within seven, 64-57, after a three-pointer from sophomore guard Maddie Ratcliff with 2:12 remaining, but it was as close as Concord would get.

Ratcliff netted a team-high 16 points to go with six rebounds. Fitzwater finished her illustrious career with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Glenville, West Virginia native ends her career as Division II's all-time leading field-goal percentage leader at 68.8 (899-for-1,306), over one percent higher than the old record.

She also tallied 2,077 career points and 1,557 rebounds. Guynn and sophomore guard Jaisah Smith each scored eight points. Smith tied her career high with nine rebounds.

Along with Fitzwater, Thursday was the final career game for Robinson who scored all seven of her points in the second half. Robinson finished the year with 14 charges.