Jaisah Smith leads Concord past West Virginia State
Nov. 22—INSTITUTE — The Concord University women's basketball team took down 13th-ranked West Virginia State 70-57 in a Mountain East Conference game at the Walker Convocation Center Tuesday afternoon.
The Mountain Lions (3-2, 2-0 MEC) held the Yellow Jackets (3-2, 1-1 MEC) to just 24.4 percent shooting from the floor and 11.4 percent from three-point range. Over half of WVSU's shot attempts were from long range.
Concord used a 12-0 run in the first quarter to propel to a 22-10 advantage after the opening 10 minutes of play. Senior guard Jaisah Smith scored six points in the opening quarter while freshman guard Ana Young came off the bench with five points in the first 10 minutes.
Graduate guard Jazz Blankenship knocked down a corner three to make the score 29-17 heading into the second quarter media timeout. And graduate guard Alexis Phillips added six points in the quarter to give Concord a 14-point advantage going into the break, 38-24.
Smith continued her scoring prowess with six more points in the second quarter to aid the offense.
Seven different Mountain Lions scored in the second half, including seven points and five rebounds from sophomore forward Abbie Smith
After Concord ran its lead to as much as 21 points in the third quarter, it needed to hold off a small WVSU run in the early stages of the fourth. The Yellow Jackets got within 62-49 with 4:50 remaining, but a jumper from
Jazz Blankenship snuffed out any comeback hopes for West Virginia State.
Jaisah Smith finished the game with 20 points on 8-12 shooting and going 4-4 from the free throw line. Tuesday marked Smith's second 20-point performance this season. Abbie Smith collected her second double-double this winter (13 points, 11 rebounds). Phillips also scored in double-digits as she totaled 10 points in the game.
Phillips and graduate guard Nakaila Gray had two blocks.
The Mountain Lions head to Salem November 29 for a non-conference game starting at 5:30 p.m.
