Game #1 – #7 Concord def. #10 Notre Dame, 78-67 | Box Score | Press Conference
By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – The third time wasn’t as easy for Concord’s women’s basketball team against feisty Notre Dame College but it was still a charm here Wednesday afternoon in the opening round of the annual Mountain East Conference Tournament at WesBanco Arena.
The seventh-seeded Mountain Lions, who had raced to big early leads and rolled to double-digit wins twice during the regular season over the 10th-seeded Falcons, had to overcome an eight-point, third-quarter deficit to eliminate Notre Dame, 78-67.
The victory improved Concord to 13-16 on the year and sets up a meeting with second-seeded West Virginia State (22-5) in the tournament quarterfinals Thursday at noon. Concord knocked off West Virginia State 82-71 in the next-to-last game of the regular season on Feb. 22.
Notre Dame finished its season at 7-22.
“I’ve got to give it to our girls because they battled the entire game,” first-year Concord head coach Tesla Southcott said. “It was a very physical game. Notre Dame took us a little bit out of our element in the first half. We weren’t using our strengths. We weren’t playing inside out. We weren’t throwing the ball ahead. We’re normally a team which prides itself on defense and we were, to be quit honest, a little off.
“I think some of that was a little bit of nerves and being anxious and playing in this arena for the first time this year. We’ve got a lot of kids in new roles for us, but in the second half I think you saw more glimpses of the real Concord. You saw the fight and determination.”
After an even first quarter, Notre Dame’s Lizzie Imrie and Noel Weathers helped the Falcons take a 32-29 lead at the half. In the first 2:39 of the third quarter the Falcons’ three-point advantage had ballooned to a game-high eight-point lead at 39-31.
“I think our girls came out and played hard for the most part and definitely showed some growth,” NDC coach Imani Gordon said.
“Towards the end, though, we couldn’t execute when we needed to. We kinda crumbled and fell apart. We’ll take it, learn from it and come back stronger next year.”
Imrie agrees.
“I was really proud of the effort we showed today,” said Imrie, who led all scorers with 22 points and nine rebounds. “Being the 10-seed is never the standard at Notre Dame, but we gave it our all today.
“We did have some mental lapses on both the offensive and defensive ends. We know that basketball is a game of runs and we tried to contain those runs as best as we could, but it was unfortunate that we let it slip away from us. We all wanted this game bad because we’ve been through a lot this season.”
Trailing by eight early in the third quarter Concord’s Southcott had seen enough. She called timeout, challenged her team and employed a press defense which turned the Falcons over a few times and paved the way for a quick Mountain Lion comeback.
“In that timeout I challenged them,” Southcott said. “I said ‘What are you made of? Right now you’re going down. If you don’t step on the gas and show everyone what you’re made of then you’re going to lose this ball game. Do you want your season to end today?’ I believe that was the statement I made.
“Teams that respond to that and honestly want that are the teams who can turn it around in the second half. Our girls did that.”
Led by Nakaila Gray and Abbie Smith, Concord wiped out its eight-point deficit in just over 60 seconds of game time and knotted the score at 39. After that it was close until the Mountain Lions began pulling away in the game’s final five minutes.
“One thing this team is about is grit and determination,” Concord’s Jaisah Smith, who led the Mountain Lions with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, said. “Coach T instills in us to never put our heads down. She tells us to keep fighting and that’s exactly what we did.”
Concord went 27-of-38 from the foul line in the game, including an 11-of-15 showing in the fourth quarter. The Mountain Lions also connected on seven of nine field goals in the final quarter. NDC, on the other hand, was just 5-of-18 from the field in the fourth quarter.
Joining Smith in double figures for Concord were Gray, who finished with 16 points, Abbie Smith, who added 12 and Maddie Ratcliff, who chipped in 11.
Besides Imrie, Notre Dame got double-digit scoring from Amil Ali-Shakir and Weathers, who both finished with 12 points and Cencere McDaniel, who contributed 11.
Game #2 – #9 Frostburg State def. #8 Davis & Elkins, 70-64 | Box Score | Press Conference
By Chris Thomas
WHEELING, W.Va. – Ninth-ranked Frostburg State made nearly 64 percent of its shots in the fourth quarter and rallied past eighth-seeded Davis & Elkins, 70-64, on Wednesday afternoon in the opening round of the Mountain East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, presented by The Health Plan.
“It feels good to get Frostburg State University’s first MEC Tournament win in school history,” said first-year Bobcat head coach Jenna Eckleberry. “We came out on fire in the first half and played nearly a perfect 15 minutes, but late in the first half had some lapses on defense.
“Then, we gave up 25 points in the third quarter. But, in the fourth quarter we got down on defense and made stops. The players did not want their season to come to an end today and they stepped up and made plays.”
With Davis & Elkins leading 56-49 with 8:58 remaining in the fourth quarter, Frostburg State went on a 12-0 run over a five-minute stretch to take over momentum in the game with a 61-56 lead at the 2:47 mark. Emilee Weakley, the 2023 MEC Freshman of the Year, scored six points during the stretch while Rhiana Hall, Arianna Briggs-Hall and Shelby Funchess added buckets for the Bobcats.
Jackie Wright dropped in a layup and Ellie Wilkerson added a jump shot to bring the Senators back within a single point (61-60) with 2:11 remaining, but a layup by Briggs-Hall and a jumper by Weakley pushed the Bobcat lead back to six with 44 seconds remaining.
From that point, the Bobcats buried 4-of-4 free throw attempts to answer a pair of D&E baskets and Frostburg State advanced to Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinal with a 70-64 first round win.
With today’s victory, Frostburg State advances to Thursday’s semifinal round against top-seeded Glenville State. Tip is set for 6 p.m. at WesBanco Arena.
Weakley led all scorers with 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Bobcats. Briggs-Hall added 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Funchess and Hall also reached double-figures for Frostburg State with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
For the game, Frostburg State shot 42 percent from the floor, including a 7-of-11 (63.6%) performance in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats scored 22 points off turnovers and had 38 points in the paint during the victory.
Davis & Elkins had four double-figure scorers in the game, led by Ellie Wilkerson with 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Taylor Smith added 12 points and three steals. Wright and Jaela Reid also reached double-figures with 11 and 10, respectively.
The Senators shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the floor on the afternoon. Davis & Elkins shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the third quarter and rallied from a six-point deficit at the 8:50 mark of the third quarter to a five-point lead with 3:50 remaining in the third. D&E would hold on to the lead and entered the fourth quarter with a 52-49 advantage.
“We’ve talked about highs and lows all season, but I’m proud of how the team came together this season,” said Davis & Elkins first-year head coach Donna Carr.
D&E scored 12 points on the fast-break and also dropped in 15 points off of nine offensive boards.
Although Frostburg State led for over 28 minutes, the game featured three lead changes and five ties.
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