LAKEWOOD, NJ- In a high-energy contest, the Georgian Court University basketball squad saw an opportunity for a CACC victory slip away as the Lions dropped a 78-74 decision to visiting Concordia College Saturday afternoon in the GCU Wellness Center.

The Clippers (3-8, 2-3 CACC) jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead to open the game before the Lions drained 12 unanswered points for a 12-7 advantage at 15:02 remaining in the first stanza. Concordia battled back to regain the lead, 18-16, on a Sade Jones (Jr.-Paterson, NJ) layup at 10:45.

Tahira Matthews' layup at 8:05 tied the game at 24-24, the third stalemate of the first half. The road team proceeded to open up a seven-point lead, 34-27 with 6:12 on the clock. A jumper by GCU's Shauneia McPhearson at 5:09 concluded a 7-0 run by the Lions, tying the game for the fourth time.

The contest would be knotted on three more occasions before Georgian Court took a 47-45 margin with 22 ticks on the board on a layup from Ebony Sellers. Megan Burns (Fr.-Staten Island, NY) put in a free throw at 0:11 to put the Clippers within one at the intermission. 

McPhearson topped all scorers with 16 first-half points. Concordia's Krystina Agard (Jr.-Queens, NY) provided 15 for the Clippers. GCU's Matthews also eclipsed with 13  first-half points of her own.

Georgian Court (1-7, 0-3 CACC) opened the second session with a 5-0 spurt, leading 52-46 at 18:51. The Clippers were able to extinquish that deficit and tie the score at 67-67 on a pair of free throws from Agard with 6:14 remaining. Agard's  layup just two minutes later (4:15) put the Clippers up, 71-69, and gave Concordia the lead for good.

Agard terrorized the Lions offensively, shooting 9-for-16 from the floor and a stellar 13-for-15 from the charity stripe for a game-high 32 points in 39 minutes. Jones contributed 12 points while sophomore Tara-Ann Rock (Queens, NY) added 10 points of her own.

GCU's McPhearson led her squad in the scoring column with a season-high 23 points, shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-9 at the line. She also led the Lions with five assists. Matthews tallied her first career double-double with 22 points and 12 boards.

Georgian Court out-muscled the Clippers on the glass with 47 rebounds (vs. 32 for Concordia). However, the Lions shot just 58.6% (17-for-29) from the free throw line compared to a prolific 81.8% (27-for-33) for the Clippers.

GCU returns to action Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM when they welcome Southern New Hampshire University to "The Well".