BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball (4-3) bounced back in a big way with a 71-58 triumph over North Carolina A&T (1-6) on Education Day in the Holmes Center Wednesday afternoon.
Madi Story fired in 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the floor and a 7-of-10 performance from the free throw line. The junior tied her career high from last season against Texas State (1/9/16) while also recording six boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks (career high).
The 31 points are the third 30-point performance in the Sun Belt this season, while it's tied for the second-highest outing in the conference.
Ashley Bassett-Smith rounded out the leading scorers with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting with seven boards.
Bria Carter recorded a team-high eight rebounds along with four points and despite scoring a season-low eight points, Joi Jones filled the box score with seven rebounds and a season-high five assists.
App State started and finished strong outscoring the Aggies a combined 42-21 in the first and fourth quarters.
The Apps finally got the start they needed outscoring the visitors, 23-11, in the first quarter. Story got the ball rolling scoring the Black and Gold's first 10 points of the game en route to a 10-4 lead with 3:53 left in the opening frame. The Apps stretched the lead to as much as 13, 21-8, after two of Q Murray's nine points. App State would take a 23-11 advantage into the second frame thanks to a stingy defense that held the Aggies to 17.6 percent shooting from the field and forced six turnovers. App State's 23 points were the highest it has scored this season, 18 of which came in the paint and eight in transition.
Appalachian opened up the second quarter stretching the lead to its largest at 18, 29-11, with 7:34 left in the half after Jones found Story for a layup. However, NC A&T started to slowly climb back into the game, slicing the lead to single digits going into the break, 37-31. NC A&T shot 50 percent (3-of-6) from beyond the arc and hitting five of its six foul shots, outscoring App State 26-2 the rest of the way.
Coming out of the locker room, the Aggies closed the gap to as close as two (37-35) with 8:37 left in the third quarter, but a 15-4 run over the next 5:26 extended the lead to 52-39. Story and Murray paced the offense with 13 of the points. Once again, the Aggies wouldn't give up dwindling the deficit to four at the end of the third quarter, 52-48.
App State wouldn't let the defending MEAC Tournament Champions get any closer, as the hosts scored 14 of the next 21 points to take a 66-55 lead, and eventually sealed the win with a layup from Jones with under a minute left.
Appalachian has already surpassed last season's win total in non-conference play and didn't pick up its fourth win until Dec. 31st.
The Mountaineers scored a season-high 18 fast break points and forced 22 Aggie turnovers into 27 points. App State held a 47-44 edge on the glass and recorded 11 steals.
App State will look for back-to-back wins at home on Sunday in the finale of a three-game homestand against Radford at 2 p.m. on ESPN3 inside the Holmes Center.
Quotable:
“Madi (Story) set the tone for us in the first quarter to get us off to a good start, which we haven't been able to do in the first six games. She was aggressive from the opening tip on both ends of the floor, whether it was getting early baskets to get her going on offense, or getting steals and blocks on defense. I thought our defense created a lot of our offense when we were able to force some turnovers and get out in transition to score some easy buckets. They made a comeback in the second and third quarter, but we got stops when we needed to and responded well when they made a run. I was proud of the team for bouncing back from Sunday's loss, and getting a win against a team that won their conference tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. I think this type of win will give us confidence moving forward.” - Angel Elderkin.
Tip-Ins
- Mikaya Wilson (Raleigh, N.C./Knightdale) scored a career-high seven points.
- App State scored at least 20 points off of turnovers for the fourth time this season (3-1).
- After shooting 3-7 from the free throw line in the first half, the Apps shot 9-11 in the second stanza.
- Bassett-Smith is just one block away from becoming one of seven players with at least 100 blocks.
- Carter led the team with a plus-26 in 29 minutes while Jones (19), Bassett-Smith (13), Wilson (12) and Story (10) followed suit.
- Story produced an impressive Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 29, a team best this season.
- App State led for 39:52 of the game while never trailing and being tied with NC A&T for just eight seconds in the first quarter.
