App State Routs UNCA, 81-51, in Midweek Matinee
BOONE, N.C. -- Lockdown defense and strong rebounding propelled Appalachian State University women’s basketball past UNC Asheville, 81-51, on Wednesday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers (5-6) dismantled the No. 1 scoring offense in the Big South, with relentless pursuit, getting 16 takeaways and holding the Bulldogs (6-3) to a tied-season-low 51 points and a season-worst 27.3 percent shooting clip.
Appalachian’s offense was also rolling, recording a season high in field goal percentage (43.9), a season high in points, and a season best in rebounds (51) and blocks (9). Also, the Mountaineers displayed their best ball movement of the season, dishing out a season-high 21 assists.
Leading the Mountaineers in board crashing was Bayley Plummer finished with a career-high nine rebounds while hosting the block party was Ashley Bassett-Smith, who stuffed three shots, while Plummer and Driver each threw two shots back.
The Black and Gold were led on offense by three double-digit scorers. Q Murray finished with a career-high 22 points and a season-high five assists while Joi Jones tallied a complete game, recording13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Amber Driver saved her best performance of the season in the non-conference finale, coming off the bench to score a career-high 11 points and put in a personal-best seven rebounds. Madi Story’s double-figure scoring streak was snapped at four games, but boasted a plus-30 in the plus/minus column, stuffing the stat sheet with six points, eight boards, and six assists.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first quarter between both teams. With two seconds left in the first quarter and Appalachian trailing by one, 11-10, Murray spearheaded a 7-2 spurt with a corner 3-pointer to give the Apps a 13-11 advantage going into the second frame.
Appalachian never succeeded the lead as it blew the doors open in the second quarter, outscoring the visitors, 20-7, thanks to the help of next-level defense. App State held UNCA without a field goal for the entire quarter en route to its lowest point total of any half this season with 18.
With App State leading 17-13, the Black and Gold used an 11-0 run over a 5:44 span to take a 28-13 lead. The duo of Plummer and Driver provided the run with nine of the points with Murray sealing the spurt with a pair of free throws. The defense held UNCA scoreless for more than seven minutes and missing all six shots.
App State went into the half with a 33-18 edge while holding the Bulldogs to 21 percent shooting from the field. Five players scored at least five points, and the Apps assisted on nine of 12 field goals.
The Mountaineers never let the lead dip below double digits en route to ballooning the lead to as much as 34 in the fourth quarter, 75-41. Appalachian dominated on both ends of the floor in a win that will surely give the Black and Gold confidence going into conference play and snapping the three-game slide.
App State’s defense hounded UNCA’s leading scorers in Tianna Knuckles, Khaila Webb, and Chatori Major. The trio came in averaging more than 10 points but was held to 17 points combined on 5-of-22 shooting from the floor.
The bench played its best game of the season scoring a season-high 27 points while App State scored 23 points off of the Bulldogs’ miscues.
The Mountaineers travel to UT-Arlington for the beginning of Sun Belt Conference play. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 29.
Trojans Fall to Hot-Shooting Tigers
BATON ROUGE, La. – Facing its fourth major-conference opponent of the season, the Little Rock women's basketball team dropped a 69-49 decision against LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday night.
The Trojans (6-6) trailed by 5 points at halftime, but the Tigers (10-2) extended their lead to 11 points by the end of the third quarter and would pull away further in the fourth.
LSU shot 60 percent from the field in the game, the highest shooting percentage for any Little Rock opponent this year. The Tigers also scored more than any Little Rock opponent this season.
Kyra Collier scored in double figures for the fifth time in seven games, recording 12 points and adding six rebounds. Kaitlyn Pratt also reached double-figure scoring in her home state with 11 points. Ronjanae DeGray was Little Rock's top rebounder with nine, and Monique Townson led the team with three assists. Raigyne Moncrief topped the Tigers with 23 points.
After allowing the Tigers to score 20 points in the first quarter, the Trojans' defense picked things up in the second and allowed just 8 LSU points. The Little Rock offense struggled, though, and the team was unable to cut LSU's 9-point lead lower than 5.
The Tigers went into the break ahead 28-23 as Raigyne Moncrief scored 13 points for the home team while Collier had 12 for the visitors at the half.
With non-conference play now complete, Little Rock will begin Sun Belt action next week. The Trojans will host Louisiana in both teams' first conference game on December 29 at the Jack Stephens Center at 6:30 p.m.
JAGS CLOSE OUT NONCONFERENCE SLATE WITH 66-41 LOSS AT UAB
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of South Alabama's women's basketball team (5-6) fell 66-41 at UAB (6-4) in the last nonconference game of the season on Wednesday afternoon at Bartow Arena. The Blazers' hot shooting was too much for the Jaguars as UAB went 49.0% (24-49) from the field and 52.9% (9-17) from the three-point line while South Alabama was just 27.5% (14-15) from the field and 33.3% (7-21) from three.
"We only scored six points in the second quarter, and that just allowed UAB to get out a big lead," said head coach Terry Fowler. "If you look at the final stats it's an even game other than made shots. We have to figure out a way to score. I told the team in the locker room that ultimately they have to make shots, but the coaching staff needs to come up with solutions to help them with that process."
The game was tight for the first five minutes as the two teams traded baskets. Erin Autio hit two three-pointers, and Ellis hit a jumper and layup. UAB made four of its first five shots, including three three-pointers, for an 11-10 lead. The Blazers then ended the quarter with a 10-5 scoring advantage that included a 9-0 run. UAB shot a blistering 75% (8-12) from the field and 80% (4-5) from three in the quarter.
UAB's lead grew to double-digits after South Alabama only scored six points, all by Ellis, in the second quarter. UAB's Keonna Farmer made a layup and Deanna Kuzmanic hit a three-pointer, and Ellis responded in the following possessions with jumpers of her own to cut the Jags' deficit to nine with 6:27 remaining in the first half.
The Blazers ended the second quarter with a 9-2 run for a 35-21 lead at halftime. The Jags didn't score until Ellis made a pair of free throws with one second remaining in the half. South Alabama went just 2-14 (14.3%) from the field in the quarter.
South Alabama was able to cut its deficit to 10 points when Colby Davis and Autio hit back-to-back three-pointers that sandwiched a UAB layup to start the third quarter. The Blazers responded with another long run, this time a 12-0 that covered over almost five minutes. Davis ended the scoring drought for the Jags with a three-pointer, and Genesis Perrymond added another three later in the quarter.
The Jags were held to single-digits again in the fourth quarter as the Blazers outscored them 13-8. South Alabama wasn't able to get on the board in the quarter until Autio hit the first of two free throw attempts with 5:17 remaining in the game. The two teams traded baskets until the final horn.
Chyna Ellis finished with a team-high 15 points and 10 rebounds for the team's first double-double and double-digit rebound performance of the season. Ellis blocked three shots as well, sharing the game-high in rejections with LaNeetra Guillory. Autio was the only other double-digit scorer for the Jags with 13 points, which included making four of five three-point attempts.
UAB held a sizable edge in rebounds (43-25) due to its high shooting percentages, as the Blazers had just two more offensive rebounds than the Jaguars with nine of their own. UAB only had a slight edge in assists (11-10), and South Alabama had two less turnovers (17-19).
South Alabama will be off for nine days for the holiday break and resume play with its first Sun Belt game of the season at home against Troy on Dec. 31 at 1:00 p.m.
"Sometimes you need some time away," said Fowler. "Hopefully our kids can get away, and then return focused when everyone is back on Dec. 27th. We have to take care of South Alabama right now with three-four days of that, and then we'll turn our attention to Troy. We just have to get back to what we do well, and there's been some slippage on the defensive end of the floor based on not executing and making shots on the offensive end."
Rally Not Enough as Troy Falls at Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – Troy cut a 23-point deficit in the second quarter and went into the locker room at halftime trailing by just five, but ultimately fell to Tennessee, 110-84, on Wednesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Down 41-17 with 6:29 left in the half, the Trojans (6-4) began chipping away before going on a 21-4 run over the last 4:43 to pull the game to within five points, 47-42. The Lady Vols scored just 12 points in the second quarter after putting up 35 in the first.
Tennessee (7-4) relied heavily on the deep shot from guard Alexa Middleton, who scored a career-high 27 points on the back of 7-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Jamie Nared scored 21 points before fouling out. Mercedes Russell and Meme Jackson added 18 points each. The Lady Vols scored 63 of its 110 points in the second half and shot at a 51 percent clip for the game.
Jayla Chills turned in a solid performance for the Trojans with 17 points and 10 rebounds, her first career double-double. The senior was 8-for-26 from the field while missing all eight 3-point attempts. Claresa Banks led Troy scorers with 19 points – one shy of tying her career high – on 7-for-18 shooting; she was also 5-11 from the 3-point line.
UP NEXT
Troy will take an eight-day break before hosting Armstrong State on Dec. 29. It will be the final non-conference tune-up before opening Sun Belt Conference play on Dec. 31 at South Alabama.
A-State Yields 80-55 Decision to No. 20 Cal
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (12/22/16) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball team concluded its three-game stretch at the Puerto Rico Classic (in Lase Vegas) with a 80-55 loss to California at South Point Arena Wednesday evening.
Dominique Oliver led the Red Wolves (2-10) with 16 points and tied a career-high with six steals, while Jada Ford finished in double-figures for the fourth straight game with 14 points. A-State struggled to score throughout most of the evening despite getting open looks and finished just 18-of-57 (31.6 percent) from the field, while the Golden Bears finished the night 35-of-62 (56.5 percent). Kristine Anigwe led the way for Cal (12-0) with 39 points and 16 rebounds.
“I’ll take this effort any day of the week,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “The effort tonight was really good and it was probably one of the better jobs we have done at trying to execute what we wanted to get done and we didn’t always do it but you could there was a real effort to try and do it the right way.”
Cal showed its dominance on the inside from the get-go and scored 62 of their 80 points from the painted area, while keeping Arkansas State from finding any space inside on the offensive end of the floor. The Red Wolves finished with 12 paint points, but found success from the outside and knocked eight, 3-pointers, including four from Oliver.
A-State never led in the game and trailed by 17 with 4:01 remaining in the opening half, but a Madison Heckert layup brought a new energy to floor for the Red Wolves as the team worked the deficit down to 39-30 with 45 to go. Starr Taylor played a key role during the come back and scored four points, including a pair of free throws to get the within single digits.
Cal answered with seven straight points to start the third quarter to take a 48-30 lead and continued to hurt the Red Wolves with its size in the paint and pushed the advantage to its largest point at 65-37 with 2:44 left in the third period.
A-State will return home to open Sun Belt Conference play when it takes on Louisiana-Monroe at the Convocation Center on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.