Concord Tops UVa.-Wise 84-78 in Overtime Behind Balanced Scoring Effort

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team notched its first win of the 2024-25 season defeating UVa.-Wise in a non-conference game that went into overtime played at the Carter Center Wednesday evening.
 
Leading by as much as 16 points in the second half, Concord needed overtime after UVa.-Wise took a late lead in the fourth quarter. However, a bucket by junior forward Abbie Smith with 17 seconds left and a defensive stop pushed the game to an extra period.
 
Junior guard Kennedy Scales connected on her third three-pointer of the game for the first points of overtime at the 3:51 mark. Then, senior guard Sanaiya Morris took advantage of a UVa.-Wise turnover to grow the lead to five, 76-71. With under a minute remaining, senior guard Skylar Davidson took a steal all the way to the rack to give CU an 81-72 advantage. A late three pointer from the Cavaliers was not enough as the Mountain Lions earned their first victory of the season, 84-78.
 
Smith struck quickly, scoring the first CU (1-2) bucket 19 seconds into the game. Following a five-point swing by the Cavaliers (2-1), Smith netted back-to-back layups to retake the advantage 9-7 at the 6:36 mark. The Mountain Lions maintained the lead through the remainder of the quarter and led 20-15 after 10 minutes of action.
 
Smith continued her hot start, scoring the first four Concord points of the second quarter to lead 24-19. With the game nearing halftime, Davidson buried her second three-point basket of the game to hold a six-point advantage with three minutes to play, 33-26.
 
The lead grew to nine, 41-32, at halftime.
 
Scales and junior forward Imani Hickman provided buckets to open up the third quarter with jumpers to open up CU's first double-digit lead, 45-34, at the 7:45 mark. Sophomore guard Madison Young added a three-point basket that grew the lead to 12, 48-36.
 
It was part of a 17-6 run to open the third quarter that saw the lead swell to 54-38 with 3:53 left in the third. UVa.-Wise closed to within eight, 57-49, at the end of the period.
 
Five Mountain Lions scored in double figures, led by Smith with an 18-point, 20-rebound performance. It was the second double-double of the season for Smith and the first 20-board game in her career. Morris (16), Scales (15), Davidson (14), and Hickman (13) also scored double-digit points. CU forced 33 Cavaliers turnovers, fronted by a season-high 19 steals. Davidson and junior guard Carolynn Washington came away with four steals each to lead all players. The Maroon and Gray also cashed in on 24 second-chance points in the game.
 
CU travels across Mercer County to face Bluefield State November 20 at 5:30 p.m. inside Ned Shott Gymnasium.