This week: Notre Dame College will be on the road this week in its final away swing of the season. The Falcons will visit Concord on Thursday, February 15, before heading to UVa-Wise on Saturday, February 17. Thursday's game will tip at 5:30 p.m. while Saturday is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
 
Records: The Falcons are 17-8, 13-5 MEC after falling to No. 11 Glenville State last week and defeating West Virginia Wesleyan. Concord is 11-13, 7-11 MEC after dropping five straight games. UVa-Wise is 5-18, 4-14 MEC this season and won its most recent game against Shepherd.
 
Coaches Corner: Lauren Macer is in her first season as the head coach of the Notre Dame women's basketball program. She currently has a record of 16-7. Kenny Osborne is in his 17th season at the helm of the Concord program. He has a 240-288 record with the Mountain Lions and a 254-301 career head-coaching record. Elise Clyburn is currently serving as the interim head coach at UVa-Wise. Her team has gone 5-18 this season.
 
Rankings: None of the teams playing this week received votes in the February 13 Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll.
 
Series History: NDC is 9-0 and against Concord after a close 66-64 victory at home earlier this year. The Falcons will look to secure a winning record against UVa-Wise as the teams have each won five games in their 10 meetings. Notre Dame won earlier in the season 90-68.
 
Free Throw Success: The Falcons have been consistent at the charity stripe over the past three games, making 42 of the team's 50 attempts. Sophomore guard Marisa Finazzo has been clutch from the line recently. In her past four games, Finazzo has been a perfect 21-for-21 and over the past six games she is 28-for-29. As a team, Notre Dame has made over 10 free throws in each of its past seven games.
 
Noting the Falcons: After losing their first back-to-back games of the season on the road on January 17 and 20, Notre Dame was 4-5 in away games. Since then, the Falcons have won three-straight on the road to get their winning away record back at 7-5. NDC won those three games by an average of over 10 points. Notre Dame is currently in second place in the MEC standings with a 13-5 conference record. In third is West Liberty at 11-7. If the Falcons are able to win both their games this weekend and WLU drops one, NDC will clinch the best conference finish since joining the Mountain East. West Liberty plays West Virginia Wesleyan and No. 8 Glenville State this week.
 
Noting the Mountain Lions: Similar to Notre Dame, Concord ranks high in the conference in offensive scoring (fourth at 76.3) and low in scoring defense (ninth at 75.4). Over their current five-game skid, the Mountain Lions have given up 81.4 points on average while scoring just 70.6. Despite their recent struggles, CU is first in the MEC in field goal percentage. The team makes 45.9 percent of their shots, which is 1.9 percent better than second-ranking Notre Dame at 43.8. Concord also ranks first in field goal percentage defense as they allow opponents to make just 38.1 of their shots. Part of the Mountain Lions strong defense is their ability to block shots. The team is first in the conference with 134 blocks this season. No other team has more than 110.
 
Noting the Cavaliers: UVa-Wise has not had an easy go in conference play this season as the team, but the team has won two of their last three games to improve to 4-14 in the MEC. In the first four seasons since the Mountain East Conference's inception, the Cavaliers were 5-4 against Notre Dame, which included eight regular season games and one MEC Tournament game. But the Falcons have been very success in their second attempts at playing UVa-Wise. NDC is 3-1 in the second matchups over the past four years and will look to make it 4-1 this weekend.