Behind The Five

Concord's women's and men's basketball teams have earned a lot of attention for their five-game winning streaks.
Let's look at some of the numbers that went into the making of The Fives.

Ladies first.

• The Lady Lions are shooting .535 from the field, while holding their opponents to .277.
• The average margin of victory: 75.4-47.6.
• The normally turnover-prone Lady Lions have 94 assists and 76 turnovers during the streak. That's a 1.23 assist-turnover ratio, compared to their 0.72 ratio for the season.
  
• Concord has outrebounded its opponents by an average of 37-29.
• The Lady Lions are .825 from the free throw line.
• Reigning WVIAC Player of the Week Amber Schowalter's numbers during the streak: 19.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 2.2 spg, .732 FG (41-56), .842 FT (16-19)
• Sierra Brown is shooting .571 in the last five games, including three huge shots in crunch time of Saturday's big 65-63 win over West Virginia Wesleyan.

Tonight, Concord visits Glenville State. The Lady Pioneers stole a 61-60 win in Athens back on December 6th, even though Concord outshot GSC .489-.354 from the field and .429-.304 from three-point range.
The big differences in that game were turnovers (18 for Concord, 8 for Glenville State) and offensive rebounds (a 17-7 advantage for GSC).
Note: The Lady Pioneers had no answer for Schowalter that day; she finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds while shooting 9-13.
The Lady Lions are in 7th place in the WVIAC and need a win to stay in the upper half of the league. Plus, they should be keen on a little payback after letting the December 1st game get away.

Now, for the numbers behind The Five for the men....

• Concord is shooting a remarkable .597 from the field.
• The Mountain Lions are an even more remarkable .492 from 3-point range.
• Another something remarkable: Concord has a 166-156 edge in rebounds.
• CU's assist-to-turnover total: 109-57. That, too, is remarkable.
• Cordale Boyd's numbers: 18.2 ppg, 21 assists-10 turnovers, 24 rebounds, and .695 FG (41-59).
• Rafee Smith's numbers: 13.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, .571 FG (32-56).
• Derek Calloway, the Lions' X Factor: 18 points, 28 rebounds, 10 steals.
• Cory Willard's numbers: 16.6 ppg, .491 on 3-pointers (27-55), .483 FG (28-58).
• Matt Parker has been nearly unstoppable: 21.2 ppg (tops on the team during the streak), an amazing .757 on 3-pointers (28-37) and .589 FG (33-56).
• The last two games, Thomas Brown has elevated his performance: 25 points, 10-16 FG, 12 assists-five turnovers, six steals, 4-5 3-pointers. With Ruston Jessee out for the foreseeable future after foot surgery, the Lions need Brown to improve his play. And he has.

Concord gets a chance at payback tonight at Glenville State. Back on December 6th, the Pioneers bolted out to a big early lead, then hung through a wild and wacky finish and escaped Athens with an 81-80 win in overtime.
Both CU and GSC have become much different teams since then. But the Pioneers have what Concord wants: A spot in the top half of the conference. Tonight is the second of four straight games in which the Lions face a team ahead of them in the league standings. So the power rating points are there for the taking.
Note #1: Matt Parker injured his left (non-shooting) hand during last Saturday's 101-81 blow-by over West Virginia Wesleyan. How it will affect his performance remains to be seen.
Note #2: The Pioneers are on a three-game winning streak, part of a streaky season. Before this, they lost three straight, which followed a four-game win streak, which followed losing three straight, which followed winning six in a row, which came after a two-game win streak preceded by two straight losses, and ... you get the idea.


Of course, you'll hear both games of tonight's doubleheader on the air on Classic Rock 102 The New River (that's 102.3 FM, to be specific) and on-line at theriver102.com. We'll start with the Lady Lion Preview at 5:10 pm EST.