Concord Loses Road Contest to Fairmont State
The Concord University women’s basketball team was defeated 87-71 by Fairmont State Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at Joe Retton Arena.
The Mountain Lions (8-13, 6-10 MEC) were unable to keep pace with Fairmont State (15-8, 10-6 MEC) in the third quarter. Holding a 40-38 edge at halftime, CU watched the Fighting Falcons put up 32 points in the third period.
FSU went on a 12-4 run to open the third quarter. The Mountain Lions responded as two free throws from freshman forward Abbie Smith trimmed the CU deficit to 53-50. Fairmont State came back with six straight points before a jumper from junior guard Maddie Ratcliff at the 2:46 mark of the third quarter got Concord to within 62-56. However, FSU would extend the lead again with no answer from CU.
The first half featured eight lead changes as the Mountain Lions withstood a 16-4 Fairmont State run in the early stages of the second half to hold the two-point edge at halftime.
CU scored the final four points of the first quarter to take a 19-16 lead into the second. Ratcliff took the Concord lead to 21-16 at the 7:11 mark of the second before FSU began its run.
Trailing 32-25, Concord scored seven of the next eight points that was capped on a three-point play from freshman guard Hannah Perdue.
Down 38-36 in the closing seconds of the half, A. Smith got an offensive putback with 15 seconds remaining before a Fairmont State turnover resulted in a layup from junior guard Nakaila Gray.
CU got 12 points each from A. Smith and junior guard Jaisah Smith in the first half. A. Smith added another 12 points in the second half to net 24 for the game to go with 13 rebounds. J. Smith tossed in 18 points.
After shooting 54.3 percent in the first half, the Mountain Lions cooled off to shoot 44.3 percent (31-for-70) for the game. Concord outrebounded Fairmont State 44-35.
Concord returns to the Carter Center to face Wheeling 5:30 p.m. Wednesday
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