BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan women’s basketball team picked up a big road win on Wednesday night as they defeated Concord 64-60 in Athens. The Lady Bobcats hit seven crucial three-pointers and shot 15-20 from the free throw line in the win.
A Daveona Hatchell 10-foot jumper put the Lady Bobcats on the board first off an inbounds pass from Courtney Wilfong. Concord’s leading scorer Abbie Smith converted on a tough layup a couple possessions later to answer. Witt hit back-to-back layups and Shelby Genes hit a pullup three in transition to give the Lady Bobcats a 9-4 lead at the under-5 media timeout. Following the stoppage of play, Concord hit a pair of layups and Witt went back-to-back once again on layups, giving Wesleyan a 13-9 lead at the end of one.
M’laya Ainsworth drained a three in the opening minutes of the second quarter to get her night started. Concord trimmed the seven-point Wesleyan lead down to one but Witt put the Lady Bobcats back up by five with six-straight points. Maggie Guynn hit a three to give the Mountain Lions the lead back with a little under three minutes left. Imani Jackson put Wesleyan back up with a pair of free throws and Witt connected on another layup to finish her 17-point first half in the closing minute. The Lady Bobcats took a 29-26 advantage into the locker room.
Wesleyan scored on their first possession of the new half on a Genes layup. Concord went on a 7-0 run to retake the lead, making Wesleyan head coach Brett Vincent call a timeout. Hatchell knocked down a straightaway three to stop the scoring drought out of the media timeout. The Lady Bobcats ended the third quarter on a run of their own, outscoring Concord 10-2 and holding onto a 41-37 lead going into the final quarter.
WVWC came out of the break hot with Witt and Genes connecting from down low and Wilfong nailing a three to make it 48-40, forcing Concord head coach Tesla Southcott to call a timeout. Concord put the timeout to good use, trimming the Wesleyan lead to three until Hatchell buried a corner three, making it 51-45 with 5:11 left.
The Mountain Lions knotted it up at 52 until Hatchell hit her third three-pointer of the game with just over two minutes left in regulation. Concord cut it back down to one but Witt came down and hit a big three to make it a four-point game. Genes went 4-4 at the free throw line in the final 13 seconds of the game to close it out.
Smith led the Mountain Lions with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Nakaila Gray scored 11 and Maggie Guynn finished with 10 points.
Witt had her third-straight game of 20+ points with 23 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Bobcats. Hatchell put up 13 points and Genes aided with 11 points. Jackson dished out five assists in the win.
Wesleyan returns home to face the fifth-ranked Glenville State Lady Pioneers inside Rockefeller Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
