Concord Rolls By Davis & Elkins, 78-54

ELKINS, W.Va. – The Concord University women's basketball team went on a 10-0 run that span the first and second quarters and never looked back in a 78-54 win over Davis & Elkins Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the McDonnell Center.

After both teams got off to a slow start from the field, freshman guard Cadence Blackburn gave CU (17-7, 12-4 MEC) an 11-6 lead at the 2:09 mark of the first quarter. Davis & Elkins (1-24, 0-16 MEC) answered on the next possession to get the game back within one score.

However, senior forward Abbie Smith converted a traditional three-point play on Concord's next trip, and junior guard Alexis Frazee scored the final five points of the first period as the Mountain Lions opened up a 19-8 lead after 10 minutes.

Smith netted a layup 25 seconds into the second quarter as the lead swelled to 13 points. Less than two minutes later, senior forward Olivia Ziolkowski gave Concord a 28-11 advantage.

The Senators reduced the deficit to nine points two different times in the period, but sophomore guard Kenyah Stubbs beat the first-half buzzer to give the Maroon and Gray a 39-25 advantage halftime.

D&E opened the second half by holding the Mountain Lions to two points in the first 3:29 of the third quarter as the Senators crept within 41-34. Blackburn answered with back-to-back layups to get the lead back to double digits. The margin grew to a game-high 19 points—to that point—with less than 10 seconds left in the third after two of Smith's game-high 22 points.

The largest margin of the game was 32 points, 76-44, after another three-point play—this time by Blackburn—at the 4:15 mark of the fourth quarter.

Coupled with her 22 points, Smith ripped down a career-best 21 rebounds for her first career 20-20 game. It is the program's first 20-20 game since Riley Fitzwater in February 2018 against Wheeling. Smith finished 9-of-12 from the floor.

While Smith did the heavy lifting in scoring, five Mountain Lions finished in double figures. Frazee was 3-for-5 from three-point distance as part of her 15 points. Stubbs tossed in 12 points. Blackburn and Ziolkowski added 10 points apiece. Ziolkowki grabbed seven rebounds to assist in CU owning a 46-34 rebounding margin.

In the first quarter, Smith moved into third place in scoring in program history at Concord as she now as 1,806 points. 

After shooting just 41 percent in the first half, the Mountain Lions shot nearly 59 percent in the second half. For the game, CU hit 48.5 percent (33-for-68) of its shots.

Defensively, D&E was limited to 33.9 percent shooting by the Maroon and Gray.

Concord hosts Wheeling 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.