Lady Mountain Lions Lose to Davis & Elkins, 69-61 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

The Concord University women's basketball team dropped a close 69-61 contest against West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Davis & Elkins Monday night at the Carter Center in Athens, W. Va.

Concord (6-18, 5-13 WVIAC) was led by sophomore guard Stephanie Wagner, who recorded team-highs of 18 points, five assists and three steals. She was 6-for-13 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Wagner, who averages 9.8 points per game on the year, has scored 14.3 ppg over the last three games.

Senior guard Katy Somerville had her highest scoring performance since Dec. 8 when she matched her career-high with 14 points off of four three pointers and a 2-for-2 night from the foul line.

Other top performers for Concord included sophomore forward Jacqueline Kestner, who went for eight points and eight rebounds, and sophomore forward Rachel Artrip's 10-point, seven-rebound output. Junior guard Amanda Smith matched a personal-best and a game-high with three steals, giving her nine takeaways in the last four games.

As a team, Concord was 21-for-56 (37.5 percent) from the field, 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) from the three-point line, and 12-for-18 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. The Mountain Lions forced 19 Davis & Elkins (12-11, 11-8 WVIAC) turnovers. D&E had a 51-33 edge in rebounds.

Monday night proved to be a slow start for both teams. The game was scoreless until Wagner pulled up for a successful jumper at the 14:13 mark in the period to give CU a 2-0 advantage, its only lead of the night. The Senators proceeded to make four three-pointers in the next seven minutes, helping to take a 12-point, 25-13, lead with 7:28 left in the half.

Concord nearly cut the lead in half and ended the opening 20 minutes of action trailing by seven points, 35-28. Wagner scored five of Concord's final 11 points in the half.

Davis & Elkins pushed its lead to 15 points, 45-30, to start the second half, but a 16-5 Mountain Lion run that spearheaded by two three-pointers and a total of eight points from Somerville cut the lead D&E lead down to just 50-46 with 9:21 to play. However, the Senators responded with a 10-0 spurt of their own to push their lead back to double digits on their way to the eventual 69-61 win.

Ashley Bowels made five three-pointers and scored 18 points to lead Davis & Elkins.

Concord continues its three-game homestand 2:00 p.m. Saturday against Ohio Valley.