Mountain Lions Roll to 85-70 Win at Seton Hill - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Five players scored in double figures to lift the Concord University women's basketball team over Seton Hill University, 85-70, Saturday afternoon at the Salvitti Gymnasium. The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory snaps Concord's three-game losing streak.

Concord improves to 5-12 overall and 4-7 in the WVIAC with the victory. The Griffins fall to 10-9 overall and 7-6 in league play.

The Mountain Lions shot a season-best 50.8 percent (30-for-59) from the field and connected on 22-of-28 free throws en route to their second-highest scoring performance of the season. Defensively, CU came away with 11 steals and forced 22 Seton Hill turnovers. Concord held advantages of SHU in rebounds (39-36), points off of turnovers (26-16) and points in the paint (41-20).

Junior guard Amanda Smith scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and an 8-for-9 effort from the foul line in addition to grabbing seven rebounds and making three steals. Saturday marked the fourth 20-point game in Smith's Concord career.

Sophomore forward Jacqueline Kestner posted her second consecutive double-double with career-highs of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Kestner, who entered the game shooting just 50 percent from the free throw line this season, made 7-of-9 foul shots against Seton Hill. She has now scored at least 10 points in five consecutive games. Kestner is shooting 51.2 percent (20-for-39) from the field and 71.4 percent from the foul line (15-for-21) over the five-game stretch,

Sophomore forward Rachel Artrip continued to provide Concord with a scoring threat off the bench, finishing with 19 points. Artrip has scored 56 points (18.7 ppg) as a reserve for CU in the last three games. Senior guard Tanisha Williams and freshman guard Leslie Mack also came off the bench with matching 11-point efforts to help the Mountain Lions, which played just three bench players, outscore the Seton Hill reserves 41-22. Williams also matched Smith with three steals of her own.

Senior guard Stephanie Wagner was extremely efficient vs. the Griffins, passing out 10 assists while committing just one turnover and making 4-of-5 shots from the field including one three-pointer to finish just shy of her first double-double with nine points. Wagner's 10 assists were a team season-high.

Seton Hill jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but Concord quickly caught up with a dominating 21-7 run over a seven-minute period to take a 21-12 lead with 10 minutes to play in the first half. The run was sparked by nine points from Artrip and six from Kestner. The Maroon and Gray then went to work to increase its lead for the remainder of the period. CU led by as many as 23 points before taking a 20-point advantage, 45-25, into halftime.

The 45 points tied the Mountain Lions' second half effort against UVA-Wise on Nov. 27 for their most points scored in a half this season. Concord shot a blistering 54.5 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

The game was never in doubt in the second half. Seton Hill managed to cut Concord's lead to as little as 12 points on two occasions, but CU had an answer for every SHU run before finishing off the Griffins with the 85-70 victory. Smith led Concord in the second half with 11 points and two steals.

Kelly Brennan and Katie Gattuso led Seton Hill with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

Concord will look to earn back-to-back wins for the second time this season when it returns home to face Glenville State 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28 at the Carter Center.