ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team used a 58-point second half to defeat West Liberty 92-86 in a Mountain East Conference game held at the Carter Center Wednesday evening.
After a hard-fought back-and-forth first half, the Mountain Lions (8-6, 5-3 MEC) found themselves in a four-point hole at halftime, 38-34. West Liberty (6-9, 4-4 MEC) extended its lead by as much as 13 in the third quarter, but a three pointer by graduate guard
Jazz Blankenship with 2:19 remaining in the third frame halted the WLU momentum. Junior guard/forward
Deja Atkinson scored five points to end the quarter to make the score 64-55.
The Mountain Lions turned up the defensive pressure, trapping West Liberty into three straight possessions with turnovers as CU scored nine straight to tie the game at 64-64 with 8:27 remaining. Graduate guard
Nakaila Gray found the net on two layups, while senior guards
Jaisah Smith and
Maddie Ratcliff contributed at the free-throw line.
Following a Hilltoppers three-pointer, Ratcliff connected on a layup and drained a three-point shot set up by an inbound steal from Smith to take its first lead of the game, 69-67, with 7:44 remaining.
CU would never lose the lead for the remainder of the contest. Concord outscored WLU 37-22 in the final 10 minutes of action, the most points scored in a quarter since November of 2019 against West Virginia State. On the season, CU is outscoring opponents by 56 points in the second half.
With 3:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, Smith drained a pair of free throws to reach 1,000 career points. She becomes the 21
st 1,000-point scorer in program history. She was not done offensively, however, as she finished with a new career-high of 29 points. Concord set a new season-high in scoring, using 92 points to close out the game, 92-86 over WLU.
Concord set another season-high, forcing 38 Hilltoppers turnovers on 20 steals. Smith and Ratcliff picked away five steals each, Gray, Blankenship, and junior guard
Skylar Davidson came away with three steals each and Atkinson swiped one steal.
Ratcliff also added 17 points, two assists, and two three-pointers to her final line. Sophomore forward
Abbie Smith scored 14 points in 15 minutes on the floor. Atkinson rounded out double-digit scorers as she clipped 11 points. As a team, the Maroon and Gray shot 26-for-32 from the charity stripe (81.3 percent).
The Mountain Lions travel north to face Mountain East Conference foe Wheeling at the McDonough Center Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
