Courtesy of the Concord Sports Information Department
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Concord University women’s basketball team lost in double overtime to Notre Dame, 82-78, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game inside Murphy Gymnasium.
CU (5-2, 2-2 MEC) let a 77-73 double overtime lead slip away as the Falcons (4-3, 3-1 MEC) finished the game on a 9-1 run.
The Mountain Lions forced the first overtime as sophomore guard Jaisah Smith hit a layup with 33 seconds left and Concord got an ensuing stop on the defensive end to keep the game tied at 64-64. Smith was again the player CU looked for in overtime as her bucket with 30 seconds remaining pushed the Maroon and Gray ahead, 72-70. However, by Concord going 1-of-2 at the foul line it kept the door open for NDC to tie the contest at 73-73 to send the game into a second overtime.
Into the second overtime, two free throws from junior forward Alexis Phillips and a bucket by fifth-year senior forward Riley Fitzwater gave CU the four-point cushion, but it was unable to hold off the Falcons.
The Maroon and Gray fought to get back into overtime as it trailed by as many as 13 in the opening quarter and still trailed 36-31 at halftime. CU continued to chip away at the deficit out of the halftime break and took its first lead of the day at 47-45 with 4:54 left in the third quarter after a jumper from senior guard Maggie Guynn.
From there neither team led by more than three points for the remainder of regulation.
Smith pumped in a career-high 23 points, including three three-pointers. Fitzwater nearly collected a triple-double with 19 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. Guynn had 15 points and played 47 of 50 minutes. Phillips netted eight points and grabbed five rebounds.
Concord travels to Fairmont State 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
