Concord Starts Two-Game Road Trip at Wheeling

Concord Stats - Wheeling Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University women's basketball team begins a two-game Mountain East Conference road trip when it visits Wheeling 2:00 p.m. Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Wheeling University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics and live streaming video of Saturday's game. 

Live Stats
Live Video

SERIES HISTORY: Wheeling leads 28-11

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
February 9, 2022: Wheeling 77 - Concord 72 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
January 8, 2022: Concord 83 - Wheeling 66 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 4, 2021: Wheeling 77 - Concord 72 (OT) (Wheeling, W.Va.)
February 1, 2021: Wheeling 69 - Concord 60 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
February 12, 2020: Concord 88 - Wheeling 51 (Athens, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 4-7
MEC Record: 2-5
Home Record: 1-3
Away Record: 2-3
Neutral Record: 1-1

RUN TO THE GLASS
Concord grabbed 50 rebounds for the first time this season as it outrebounded West Liberty 50-42 in an 87-74 loss Wednesday night at the Carter Center. The Mountain Lions got more than half their rebounds on the offensive glass as they came up with 27 offensive boards. It was the first 50-rebound game in over year when CU plucked down 51 boards at Hawaii Pacific last December. Freshman forward Abbie Smith recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds versus West Liberty. Junior guard Nakaila Gray had a career-high eight rebounds with seven coming on the offensive end. Graduate forward Alexis Phillips nabbed nine rebounds. CU has the third-best rebounding margin in the MEC (+2.9).

BE AGGRESSIVE
For the fifth time in the last six games, the Maroon and Gray registered 10 or steals versus West Liberty. Concord came up with 13 steals and forced the Hilltoppers into 23 turnovers. After recording a program-record 21 steals as a team at Emory & Henry Monday, junior guard Maddie Ratcliff led the way versus WLU with five steals to move into a tie for sixth in the MEC in steals per game with 2.0. Senior forward Lauryn Avery and freshman guard Hannah Perdue both had three steals. CU is already more than half way to last year's steal total 11 games into the 2022-23 season. The Mountain Lions had 182 steals last season and have logged 115 this winter (10.4 per game).

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY
With the 27 offensive rebounds Wednesday night, Concord tallied a season-best 25 second-chance points. It marked the second time this season that CU had 20 or more offensive rebounds after snatching 21 offensive rebounds at West Virginia State in November. While Gray led the way on the offensive glass, Smith (six) and Phillps (five) combined for 11 offensive boards. Concord ranks third in the MEC in offensive rebounds per game (14.3). The last time the Mountain Lions came up with 25 or more offensive rebounds in a game was March 2012 against Glenville State. Wheeling is giving up 13 offensive rebounds per game this season.

LOW POST SHOWDOWN
Avery, Smith and Phillips held their own against the MEC's leading scorer Wednesday in West Liberty's Arriana Manzay as she was limited to eight points and four rebounds. The trio gets another stern test Saturday when they match up against Wheeling's Lauren Calhoun who is averaging 18.2 points (seventh in the MEC) and 11.5 rebounds (first in the conference) per game. Smith recorded a career-best four blocks versus Manzay. They also frustrated Manzay to only seven shot attempts in the contest. Calhoun has tallied seven double-double this season, including coming up two rebounds shy of a 20-20 game to open the season versus Lock Haven. She averaged 16 points and 11.5 rebounds versus CU last season, but was held to 36.6 percent shooting.

HOME COURT FEEL
With 270 miles separating the Concord and Wheeling campuses, home court has been important recently. The home team has won the last five games in the series with WU winning a conference tournament matchup on a neutral floor in 2021. The last time a road team has won was Concord in February 2019. In CU's win last season, the Mountain Lions held Wheeling to 35 percent shooting on its way to an 83-66 win. Senior guard Jazz Blankenship sank three three-pointers and had 15 points to go with five assists. Junior guard Jaisah Smith was an efficient 7-for-10 from the floor for a team-best 16 points. Wheeling led wire-to-wire in a 77-72 win last February. Graduate guard Maggie Guynn led CU with 22 points. Phillips came off the bench with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes. And speaking of double-doubles, Guynn had her only career double-double to date with 10 points and 14 rebounds at the McDonough Center in February 2021.

FAST START
In two of its four wins this season, the Mountain Lions have scored at least 25 points in the first quarter—at Emory & Henry Monday and versus Notre Dame December 3. A fast start could be important as the only time CU has lostthis season after leading through the first quarter was at home versus Fairmont State (22-18). In last season's win over Wheeling, CU led 24-11 after a quarter and 58-24 at halftime. Concord also shot a blistering 62.1 percent from the floor in the first half at home versus the Cardinals. But in the five-point loss at WU, the Mountain Lions were limited to seven points in the first quarter and just 27 for the half.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5- Concord outrebounded Wheeling by five last season, 38-37 at home and 39-35 at Wheeling.

22- Points scored by senior guard Ashton Funderburg in the last three games after scoring just nine points in her first seven games of the season.

115- Guynn suits up in her 115^th career game Saturday, moving her into sole possession of third on the program's all-time list.

WHEELING AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 6-7
MEC Record: 4-3
Home Record: 2-4
Away Record: 2-3
Neutral Record: 2-0

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
After a 6-1 start to the season under first-year head coach Anna Kowalska, Wheeling has lost six straight games. Three of the six losses have come to nationally-ranked foes: Charleston, Glenville State, Grand Valley State. Besides Calhoun, the only other Cardinal averaging double figures is Shanley Woods (10.2 points). She has canned 32 three-pointers and is shooting 36.8 percent from beyond the arc. Kenzie Dalton is only averaging 5.8 points per game, but does a little bit of everything else for Wheeling with 4.2 assists per game (third in the MEC) and 2.0 steals per contest (tied for sixth with Ratcliff). Kowalska coached at WVU Tech from 2018-21.