Concord's Late Rally Falls Short Versus Glenville State

Athens, W.Va.- The Concord University women's basketball team fell in a battle of first place teams with Glenville State escaping with a 91-86 victory in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center Friday night.

Concord (12-6, 8-3 MEC) trailed by as much as 19 points with only 5:57 left in regulation. With their backs against the wall, the Mountain Lions clawed back.

It started with a pair of free throws from senior forward Olivia Ziolkowski, immediately followed up by a triple from senior guard Kennedy Scales. 

With 3:56 remaining, Scales drilled another longball to cut it to 13 points. Senior forward Abbie Smith knocked in two from the line and sophomore guard Kenyah Stubbs converted an and-one to make the deficit just 10 points. 

A free throw from Stubbs and another three-pointer from Scales erased the lead to only six points, 84-78. After surrendering a layup, freshman guard Cadence Blackburn hit a deep three-pointer with just 43 seconds left in the game. 

CU got the game to as close as four points as Smith scored two more from the charity stripe. However, Glenville State (14-3, 9-2 MEC) closed out the game at the foul line.

From the start of the game, the pace was shown to be rapid.

GSU jumped out to an early 12-6 lead with 5:26 left in the opening quarter. Concord battled back, going on an 11-5 run to knot things at 17-17. The run was powered behind the arc with junior guard Kiley Smich and freshmen guards Lacee Smith and Nasiya Smith all draining triples.

At the end of the first, the Mountain Lions trailed 22-19.

Two more three-pointers gave CU its first lead in the second quarter, with junior guards Alexis Frazee and Smich making it 25-24. 

With GSU up 39-27, Concord completed a 13-4 run to close the first half to trail by three points, 43-40, at intermission.

Both teams went blow-for-blow to start the second half until it was deadlocked at 54-54 points with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter. GSU held a 65-58 edge after three quarters.

Scales posted a new career high with 22 points, going 8-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Scales also tacked on five rebounds and three assists. A. Smith finished with another double-double, tallying 18 points and 12 rebounds. Stubbs was one rebound shy of the program's third triple-double, ending her night with 15 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds. Smich had a complete night with six points, nine rebounds, and six assists.

Concord stays home to take on Fairmont State Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in another MEC matchup inside the Carter Center.