Concord Locks Down Wheeling in 66-54 Win

Wheeling, W.Va.- The Concord University women's basketball team shut down Wheeling 66-54 to pick up a Mountain East Conference win Wednesday night inside the McDonough Center.
 
Up 19-14 after 10 minutes of play, Concord (10-5, 6-2 MEC) outscored Wheeling (7-8, 3-5 MEC) 11-6 in the second quarter as CU held the Cardinals to 3-for-13 shooting in the period. CU ran the lead up to 25-16, however, Wheeling cut the lead to just five with 2:43 left in the first half. The Mountain Lions answered by pulling away once more. Senior forward Abbie Smith's layup and a three-pointer from freshman guard Nasiya Smith extended the lead back out to 10 points, with Concord holding a 30-20 lead at halftime.
 
Concord continued to play well offensively in the third quarter, getting five more points from sophomore guard Kenyah Stubbs while Abbie Smith added four more. The pair went a combined 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the third quarter.
 
Wheeling got the first bucket of the fourth quarter to pull within 47-39, but the next 11 points belonged to CU as the Mountain Lions worked the lead up to a game-best 19 points, 58-39, with 6:48 remaining.
 
The fourth quarter saw Stubbs take over, scoring eight of Concord's 19 points to put away Wheeling for good.
 
Both teams came out firing and were going bucket-for-bucket until the 5:56 mark when Concord took the lead 11-10, starting an 8-0 run as CU held Wheeling scoreless for more than three minutes. The Mountain Lions kept the lead for the remainder of the game as they led for nearly 38 minutes.
 
Concord got a huge performance from their starting five as they accounted for 61 of CU's 66 points.
 
Stubbs scored 19 points in the win, adding on five rebounds and two steals. A. Smith netted 14 points and a season-high 16 rebounds. Senior guard Scales finished with a season-best 13 points on 6-10 from the field. Junior guard Kiley Smich did a bit of everything, tallying nine points, seven rebounds, an assist and a steal. Senior forward Olivia Ziolkowski tacked on six points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
 
Concord's staunch defense played a massive role in the win, holding Wheeling to just 20 first half points and 54 points overall. Wheeling shot 28.8 percent from the field and made just 4-of-26 three-point attempts.
 
The Mountain Lions owned the glass with a 54-30 advantage. The 54 rebounds were a season high.
 
Concord comes back to the Carter Center to take on West Liberty Saturday at 2:00 p.m.