App State Suffers Setback to NC A&T

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Appalachian State women's basketball (0-5) couldn't overcome a hot-shooting NC A&T team in an 81-56 defeat to North Carolina A&T (2-2) on Tuesday evening at Corbett Sports Center.

Kaila Craven fired in a team-high 14 points off the bench with four of her five-made field goals from beyond the arc, while LaPresha Stanley rounded out the leading scorers with a personal-high 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting. The duo of Craven and Stanley shot a combined 10-for-17 from the field. Lainey Gosnell corralled a team and personal-high 10 off the glass in her second straight start.

The Mountaineers tied a season-high with seven 3-pointers and shot a season-best 42.3 percent from the field. However, the Aggies picked Tuesday night to have its best shooting performance of the season going 10-for-20 from outside the arc and 44.4 percent from the field. Going into Tuesday's contest, NC A&T (2-2) came into the game shooting 35.1 percent from the floor and a 27.3 clip from 3-point land.

App State hit two of its first three shots with Armani Hampton and Stanley scoring a pair of buckets in the first 1:20 of the game to take a 4-0 lead. But the hosts responded with a 7-0 run over a 1:56 span until Nicola Mathews buried a trifecta to stop the run. NC A&T ended the quarter with a 15-11 edge, a lead that it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game.

The Aggies pushed the lead to as much as 15, 32-17, with 3:02 left in the first half before App outscored NC A&T, 10-6, the rest of the way to slice the lead to 11, 38-27. Once again the Aggies stopped the Black and Gold from gaining any momentum keeping the lead in double digits. Craven nailed a deep triple to bring the Apps to within single digits, , 50-42. It was the closest App would be within reach as NC A&T never had the lead dip below 10 points following Cinia McCray's 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.

C'Coriea Foy scored a game-high 25 points while Kala Green scored 17 points and McCray rounded out the Aggies' scorers with 14. The tandem of Foy and McCray did the damage from beyond the arc with nine treys. 

Appalachian will look to bounce back and seek its first win of the season against College of Charleston on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tip-Ins
- The bench reached 20 points for the second time in the past three games after the Apps received a season-high 27 points from the reserves.
- Appalachian's 12 points in transition is a season best.
- After scoring 14 points on Tuesday evening, Craven is now averaging 10.6 points for her career on the road (8.9 overall).