Concord Women Fall to WV State, 93-89 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Concord Women Fall to WV State, 93-89

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ATHENS -

Five players scored in double figures to lead the Concord University women's basketball team to its highest point total of the season, but it wasn't quite enough as West Virginia State defeated CU, 93-89, Monday night at the Carter Center in West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference competition.

Leading the way for the Mountain Lions (7-19, 4-10 WVIAC) was junior guard Amanda Smith, who scored 23 points and also pulled down five rebounds and had two blocks. Smith went 7-for-18 from the field and made a career-high nine free throws in 10 attempts.

Sophomore forward Jacqueline Kestner earned her fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountain Lions. Senior guard Tanisha Williams was perfect at the foul line (3-for-3) and 6-for-10 from the field on her way to a 15-point, five-assists, five-rebound night.

Sophomore guard Stephanie Wagner, the WVIAC's leader in assists, stayed true to form with eight assists, seven points, and two rebounds.

Senior guard Katy Somerville and sophomore forward Rachel Artrip scored 13 points each. Somerville was an efficient 3-for-5 from three-point range.

Concord shot 40.9 percent from three-point range (9-for-22) and 80 percent from the foul line (20-for-25). CU also held advantages over the Yellow Jackets (11-13, 10-10 WVIAC) in rebounds (42-37), assists (20-17) and forced turnovers (12-8). Monday marked the fifth time this season that the Mountain Lions committed less than 10 turnovers.

WV State took the lead early in the first half, coming out with an 8-0 run within the first two minutes of play. Concord battled to cut the Yellow Jackets' lead to as little as three points, 34-31, with 3:18 to go in the period thanks to a three-pointer from Wagner. However, West Virginia State ended the half on an 11-2 run to take a 45-33 lead into halftime.

Concord trailed by double digits for the majority of the opening 10 minutes in the second half until a 9-0 Mountain Lion spurt that was sparked by four points from Williams, a three-pointer from Somerville and a layup from Webster cut an 11-point margin down to just two points at 62-60 with 10:00 minutes to play.

The Yellow Jackets responded by pushing its lead back to 12 points, 89-77, before an eventual frantic last-minute comeback attempt by Concord, which saw CU score 12 of the game's final 16 points, fell just short in the four-point 93-89 loss.

After quiet first half's, Smith, Somerville and Williams came alive in the second 20 minutes of play with 16, 13 and 13 points each.

Jasmine Blanton scored 27 points to lead West Virginia State.

Concord will take its winning streak into Glenville State 5:30 p.m. Thursday before coming home to close out the regular season against Bluefield State on Saturday.