Concord women beat Notre Dame in MEC tourney first round

Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·2 min read

Mar. 2—WHEELING — The Concord University women's basketball team erased an eight-point third quarter deficit as it stormed back to defeat Notre Dame 78-67 in the MEC Tournament's First Round Wednesday afternoon inside WesBanco Arena.

Trailing 39-31 with 7:21 remaining in the third, the Mountain Lions (13-16) went on lightning fast 8-0 run that lasted just 12 seconds. Junior guard Nakaila Gray started the run with a bucket at the 6:36 mark, and completed a three-point play after getting fouled. After an offensive foul on the inbound, Gray was fouled five seconds later.

Another Notre Dame (7-22) turnover allowed freshman forward Abbie Smith to finish off her own three-point play.

However, Notre Dame responded with five straight points and still led 49-46 with 3:20 left in the third quarter. Senior guard Ashton Funderburg countered with a three-pointer—

Concord's only three-pointer of the game—at the 2:25 mark. The three-pointer helped CU tie the game after three quarters, 53-53.

The momentum carried over to the fourth for the Mountain Lions as they opened up the period on an 11-4 spurt as Smith capped another three-point play with 4:58 remaining. The Falcons weren't done though as they closed to within 65-63 with 2:56 remaining. Four consecutive free throws from Gray and junior guard Jaisah Smith helped Concord get the breathing room it needed to close out Notre Dame.

After shooting just 38 percent in the first half, and trailing 32-29 at the intermission, the Mountain Lions shot a blistering 69.5 percent in the second half. For the game, CU hit on 48.1 percent of its shots (25-for-52). Concord also attempts 38 free throws as it shot 71.1 percent (27-of-38).

J. Smith finished with 18 points on 5-for-10 from the floor and 8-of-11 at the foul line. She added a team-high seven rebounds. Gray was a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe on her way to a career-best 16 points, 5-for-7.

A. Smith scored nine of her 12 points after halftime while junior guard Maddie Ratcliff netted 11 points.

Graduate guard Maggie Guynn just missed double figures with nine points, but did move into eighth on the all-time scoring list at Concord with 1,570 points.

The Mountain Lions face West Virginia State 12 noon Thursday in the MEC Quarterfinals.