Concord Comes Up Short Against Notre Dame

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team lost to Notre Dame College 80-65 Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
 
The Mountain Lions (4-3, 2-1 MEC) found themselves in a five-point deficit at halftime, 39-34. Junior guard/forward Deja Atkinson buried a triple and Nakaila Gray converted a layup off of a steal from senior guard Jaisah Smith out of the break to cut the Falcons lead to 42-39.  
 
CU charged a 7-0 run on the back of a corner three-pointer from junior guard Skylar Davidson and a putback from Smith to give Concord its first lead in the game since they led 5-4 midway through the opening quarter, 49-48.  
 
Some back-and-forth to end the third quarter gave CU a 52-51 edge. The teams continued to trade buckets in the early stages of the fourth with sophomore forward Abbie Smith pushing CU ahead 59-57 with 6:23 remaining. However, it was the last lead of the game for Concord, as NDC rattled off seven straight points.
 
Concord chased the lead throughout the first quarter and was down 19-12 through 10 minutes. The Mountain Lions did not hold the lead in the first half past the 5:29 mark of the first quarter, but cut the Falcons lead to as little as one-point four different times in the first half.
 
Head Coach Tesla Southcott turned up the defensive intensity in the second quarter. Five of Concord's nine steals in the contest came in the second quarter. Davidson was able to push a fastbreak layup off of a steal to cut NDC'S lead to 21-17. Graduate forward Nakaila Gray connected on a layup posed from a J. Smith steal two possessions later.
 
Both Abbie Smith and Jaisah Smith recorded double-doubles, as A. Smith scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, eight of which were on the offensive end. Saturday was A. Smith's fourth consecutive game with a double-double. J. Smith logged 12 points and 10 rebounds. Davidson finished as the only other Mountain Lion in double-digits as she had 14 points and knocked down a pair of triples.
 
J. Smith and Davidson both led CU with four assists each.
 
The Mountain Lions pulled down 41 rebounds in the game, with 22 being offensive rebounds. This led to 21 second-chance points, a season-high as a team.
 
CU travels to Wise, Va. to face UVa.-Wise on Monday in a non-conference matchup at 5:30 p.m.