ATHENS, W.Va. - The score sat 71-71 during the fourth-quarter media break of the Notre Dame College/Concord University women's basketball game. With 4:05 remaining on the clock, the players returned to their battle on the court. The Mountain Lions went on an 11-2 run to make it 82-73 in favor of the home team before NDC went on a run of its own to close the gap to 84-81 in the final minute of the game. Concord closed out the contest, making its free throws to win 88-81. 

NDC started the game off strong, gaining a 7-2 lead with baskets made by Seina Adachi, Katie Karalic and Kyleigh Ramlow, who would lead the team in scoring on Saturday. That run would be the first in a series of runs each team would go on as the lead was exchanged 19 times throughout the competition. 

Concord finished the quarter with a 6-2 advantage to lead 22-18 heading into the second. The teams battled it out in the first part of quarter two trading the lead eight times before the Mountain Lions took control to hold a 49-42 upper hand heading into halftime. 

After trailing by seven, NDC would open the third quarter by scoring the first 11 points of the second half and take back control 53-49 before allowing CU to make a bucket. Notre Dame remained in the driver's seat for nearly the rest of the quarter before a layup from Concord's Madison May with just four second remaining put the Mountain Lions up 61-59. 

Once again the Falcons fought their way back to a lead after a three-point shot from Adachi put the team up 67-66. Karalic would add two to that margin after an offensive rebound and jumper to go up 69-66. But Concord kept up the pattern of the game and came back to tie things up 71-71 before the fourth-quarter media timeout. 

"The team battle, played through plays and trusted each other throughout the game," head coach Lauren Macer said. "We put Concord into tough situations and forced them to make tough shots, which ultimately they made."

Notre Dame is now 2-2, 0-1 MEC while Concord improves to 3-1, 1-0 MEC. 

Adachi led the team with 21 points as she has scored at least 20 in all four games this season. The junior guard also added seven rebounds and three steals. Ramlow and Karalic each added 18 points as Ramlow made five shots from distance and Karalic saw eight of her 11 attempts go in. 

Karalic and Abi Oriti led the team with four assists apiece while Jessie Stout came down with 11 rebounds. 

Notre Dame continues MEC play on Monday, November 19, at UVa-Wise. The game is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.