Berry’s Career-High Leads Concordia to a 78-71 Win Over Wilmington (DE)

Berry’s Career-High Leads Concordia to a 78-71 Win Over Wilmington (DE)

New Castle, DE – The Concordia College Clippers women's basketball team traveled to face Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) South Division opponent Wilmington (DE) this evening. The Clippers bounced back from their two game skid to win 78-71 behind first-year forward Mariah Berry's (Southington, CT) career-high point total.

Concordia jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the opening moments as they looked to their three-point shooting to get ahead on the scoreboard. After a layup by the Wildcats with 11:18 remaining in the period, the lead was cut to only four points. The Clippers extended their lead to double digits after a three-point basket by Berry at the 7:40 mark.

Wilmington managed to knock down a three-point basket of their own with 4:25 left in the half to try and keep the game at single digits. Concordia responded by going on a 9-4 run in the closing minutes to go into the locker room with a 35-22 lead.

The Clippers began the second half with a 6-0 run as they looked to be in control with a 19 point lead. The Wildcats responded with a 7-0 run to get within 12 points of tying with 14:38 remaining only to have Concordia counter with a 7-0 run of their own.  With 11:59 remaining, Wilmington began scoring eight unanswered points to get back into the game as they trailed by only 11 points.

The Clippers would build their lead back up to 15 with 3:44 left in the game after a foul shot by Berry. With time running out, the Wildcats stepped up their aggression and got to the foul line which helped them cut Concordia's lead to only eight points with 2:19 to go. Wilmington resorted to fouling during the final two minutes but it would not help them as the Clippers held on for their sixth conference victory of the season.

Berry led Concordia in scoring with a career-high 20 points and also added 11 rebounds for her first career double-double. Chanessa Blakemore (Albany, NY) recorded her 14th double-double of the season with an 11 point and 17 rebound performance. Sade Jones (Patterson, NJ) added 18 points while Tara-Ann Rock (Queens, NY) came off the bench to score 12 points in 18 minutes of playing time. As a team, the Clippers shot 41.7% (20-of-48) from the floor as half of their baskets were three-point field goals.

Concordia (7-15, 6-9 CACC) will be back in action tomorrow evening as they travel to Post University. The Clippers will take to the court of the Drubner Center at 6pm in Waterbury, CT.