Boone, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball put forth a valiant effort against a tough Liberty squad, but fell short 74-68 at the Holmes Center Friday morning.
App State Starters: #2 Farrahn Wood, #10 Joi Jones, #30 Ashley Bassett-Smith, #34 Madi Story, #42 Mia Marshall
Liberty Starters: #3 Sadalia Ellis, #10 Jaymee Fisher-Davis, #21 Mikal Johnson, #44 Catherine Kearney, #55 Ashley Rininger
A cold-shooting performance doomed the Black and Gold, struggling from the floor going 32.8 percent from the field as opposed to the Flames' 44.4 percent shooting clip. Jones paced the offense with a team-high 18 points on eight buckets and dished out five assists.
Katelyn Doub spearheaded a solid performance from the bench that scored 33 points, turning in a career-high 13 points that saw some big shots during the day.. Kaila Craven and Madi Story both added to the mix with nine points, and Bria Carter chipped in with seven of her own . KeKe Cooper battled all night down low against one of the tallest teams App State will play this season, as she grabbed eight boards, five of which were on the offensive end.
The Apps and Flames stayed close throughout the first quarter with neither team taking a lead by more than four points. Following a Story trifecta that gave the Apps a 19-17 lead, Liberty's Sadalia Ellis came down to a hit a trey at the buzzer to regain the lead, 20-19.
Ellis' 3-pointer trickled an 11-0 run going into the second frame that put the Flames up, 28-19. But the Apps had a run of their own late in the second with a 10-3 run over the final 4:12 of the first half, cutting the deficit to six, 40-34. Wood and Doub sparked the run with consecutive threes.
Doub and Craven scored seven apiece to lead Appalachian going into the locker room. The Apps committed five of their seven turnovers in the first half, while forcing the Flames into 11 turnovers.
Coming out of the third quarter, when it looked like the Flames would go on a run, the Apps would stay right on their tail. After falling to an eight-point deficit (45-37), Doub came up big with back-to-back treys to bring Appalachian to three, 46-43. Liberty would stretch the lead to seven to go into the final quarter, 54-47.
When it looked like App was ready to take over, the Flames came up with big shots. After Carter hit a jump shot to cut the lead to one possession, 56-53, Liberty came back down for a layup to push the lead back to five. Later in the contest when Liberty stretched the lead to seven, a quick four points from Story and Cooper dwindled the lead back to a possession. However, the defending Big South Champions drained a pivotal three that would prevent App State from cutting it back to one possession.
The Apps will have a turnaround two days later as they hit the road for the first time this season to square off against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
