WHEELING, W.Va. – After clinching a berth into the Mountain East Conference Tournament on the final day of the regular season, the Notre Dame College women's basketball team carried their momentum into the opening round of the MEC Tournament against Concord. In a contest that featured 12 lead changes, NDC put together an efficient first half, before CU mounted a late run to move past the Falcons 78-67. Junior Lizzie Imrie carried the load for Notre Dame with a game-high and career-high 22 points, along with a game-high nine rebounds.
 
"It is unfortunate that the entire season came down to this. The season in general was a struggle with ups and downs, injuries, youth and just trying to find ourselves," mentioned head coach Imani Gordon postgame. "But I think that our girls came out and played hard. For the most part, I think we showed some growth, but at the end we couldn't execute."
 
The Mountain Lions jumped out to a hot start, quickly leading 9-2 with 8:02 left in the first. The Falcons settled in and responded with a 9-2 run of their own, knotting the game at 11-11 at the 2:20 mark. An even first quarter ended 16-16.
 
In the second quarter, Notre Dame continued to play well by stretching their advantage to 28-21, following an 8-0 run. A pair of threes by Imrie and freshman Mallory Hullinger moved NDC in front with 3:10 left in the half. At the break, the Falcons maintained a 32-29 lead.
 
In the first half, the Falcons shot 11-25 (44.0%) from the floor and 8-10 (80.0%) from the free throw line. On the other side, NDC held CU to 11-29 (37.9%) shooting from the field, including 0-5 from three.
 
When asked about the first half intensity, Gordon said, "we came out super aggressive, I think everyone was looking to score. But we fell short in a few things like rebounding and being able to get consecutive stops. But for the most part I think we played hard."
 
Notre Dame opened up their largest lead of the game at the 7:21 mark in the third quarter. A layup by freshman Noel Weathers gave the Falcons at 39-31 lead, forcing a CU timeout. The Mountain Lions responded well after the break, knotting the game at 53-53 as the quarter came to a close.
 
Concord controlled the fourth quarter by grabbing a 64-57 lead, after an 11-4 run to begin the period. Despite, a final push from NDC to cut the CU lead to 65-63 (2:56), the Mountain Lions would go on to polish off the contest, 78-67.
 
On the day, Imrie fueled the Falcons with an aforementioned game-high and career-high 22 points on an efficient 8-10 shooting from the floor. In addition, the Nordonia High School product added a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Joining the attack for Notre Dame were Weathers and senior Amil Ali-Shakir who tallied 12 points apiece, followed by freshman Cencere McDaniel's 11. Weathers and McDaniel contributed on the glass as well with eight and seven rebounds each, marking a career-high for McDaniel.
 
Moreover, Ali-Shakir added a team-high three assists, while Weathers ties her career-high with three blocked shots.
 
"I was really proud of the effort that we showed," stated junior Lizzie Imrie. "We talked at halftime that coming in as the 10 seed is never the standard but we gave it our all." We did have some mental lapses on the offensive and defensive end, but we know that basketball is a game of runs so we tried to contain as best as we could. It is unfortunate that we let this one slip away from us because I know we all really wanted this one bad and we have all been through a lot this season."
 
As a team, Notre Dame shot 22-57 (38.6%) from the floor, 3-15 (20.0%) from three and 20-25 (80.0%) from the free throw line.
 
The Notre Dame College women's basketball team will look forward to the 2023-24 season beginning in October 2023.