Concord Women Edged By Lincoln Memorial, 60-55 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

The Concord University women's basketball team was edged by Lincoln Memorial University, 60-55, Thursday night at the Carter Center in a game that featured six ties and 17 lead changes.

The Mountain Lions (2-7) were led by junior guard Amanda Smith, who scored a game-high 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field, including one three-pointer, and a 2-for-4 performance from the foul line. Sophomore forward Rachel Artrip added 12 points while sophomore guard Stephanie Wagner finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds to go with six assists.

Junior center Sammi Webster and freshman guard Leslie Mack both tallied six points with Webster also grabbing six rebounds.

Concord forced Lincoln Memorial (5-4) into 20 turnovers. The Mountain Lions have forced their opponents into at least 20 turnovers in four of their last five games. CU scored 22 points off of the Railsplitters miscues. Lincoln Memorial held advantages in rebounds (43-37) and field goal percentage (39.7 – 33.9).

CU jumped out to a 13-4 lead behind the duo of Smith and Artrip, who combined to score 11 of the early points through the opening 5:08 of the first half. Concord's nine-point advantage turned out to be the game's largest lead for either team.

Lincoln Memorial responded with a 12-6 run of its own to tie the game at 19-19 with 7:38 to play in the opening period. The two teams went on to trade the lead three times until a three-pointer by LMU's Haley Nelson gave the Railsplitters a 28-27 heading into halftime.

Concord wasted little time retaking the lead out of the break. Webster started CU's mini run by scoring three points off of a layup and made foul shot before a successful jumper by Smith and a three-pointer from Artrip gave Concord a 35-34 advantage with 16 minutes to play in regulation.

The lead proceeded to exchange hands nine times over the remainder of the game with neither team being able to grow its lead to more than five points in the second half. LMU appeared to take control of the game off of a 5-0 spurt that gave the visitors a 53-49 edge over CU with 3:27 to play, but Concord fired right back with a pair of free throws from Wagner and a three-pointer from Mack to put CU back on top, 54-53, with three minutes to play.

However, Lincoln Memorial managed to outscore Concord 7-1 down the stretch to come away with the 60-55 victory. Concord has lost its last five games by a combined 32 points, an average defeat of just 5.3 points.

Mariah Richardson led LMU with 16 points and three blocks.

The Mountain Lions are back in action 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8 at West Virginia Wesleyan in a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest.