ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team overcame a slow start and stormed past Wheeling for a 75-68 win Wednesday night at the Carter Center in a Mountain East Conference game.
With the game tied at 25-25 at halftime, the Mountain Lions (9-13, 7-10 MEC) watched Wheeling (12-11, 10-7 MEC) open the second half on a 9-2 run. From there, Concord could only get as close as four points for the remainder of the quarter, and trailed by five, 47-42, after 30 minutes.
Graduate guard
Maggie Guynn opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, that helped CU take off during the final quarter. Guynn made it back-to-back three-pointers at the 8:52 mark. And after consecutive scores from junior guard
Jaisah Smith, Concord's lead extended to 55-50 at the 6:05 mark. The Mountain Lions kept WU from making a serious push as the Cardinals only got as close as four points.
After WU cut the Concord lead to 67-63 at the 1:09 mark, Smith sealed the game for Concord with a three-point play as the shot clock was running down with 38 seconds remaining.
The Mountain Lions only scored four points in the first quarter, but only trailed by seven through 10 minutes. CU shot 53.8 percent and posted 21 points in the second quarter to tie the game at halftime.
Smith led Concord in scoring with 17 points. Junior guard
Maddie Ratcliff went for 16 points while Guynn scored all 15 of her points in the fourth quarter, going 3-for-4 from the floor and 7-of-8 at the foul line. Freshman forward
Abbie Smith pitched in 11 points with a 7-for-8 showing at the free-throw stripe.
Guynn and J. Smith combined to score 24 of CU's 33 points in the fourth quarter.
The Mountain Lions shot 43.1 percent for the game and held Wheeling to 36.5 percent. CU also held a 41-34 advantage on the boards with four different players grabbing at least five rebounds.
The interior defense of Concord held WU's Lauren Calhoun, averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds, to five points and four rebounds.
CU travels to West Liberty 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
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