MONROE, La. - Head coach
Angel Elderkin wanted her young team to close out a tight game in the fourth quarter, and that's exactly what they did.
Appalachian State University women's basketball (3-12, 1-3 SBC) drained a school record 15 3-pointers and fended off a late ULM (4-11, 1-3 SBC) run to topple the Warhawks in a 71-67 triumph on Saturday afternoon in Fant-Ewing Coliseum for the first Sun Belt win of the season.
Tierra Wilson bounced back in a big way after just five points against Louisiana with a team and career-high 27 points on 8-for-17 shooting and tied a school mark with seven 3-pointers. The Winston-Salem native added five rebounds and three assists in a superb 40 minutes of running the offense.
Nicola Mathews got in on the action as she tied a season best with 17 points highlighted by five trifectas.
Lainey Gosnell rounded out the leading scorers with 11 points off the bench. She chipped into the 3-point contribution with three from beyond the arc.
Bayley Plummer wouldn't score as she's capable of doing but did grab a game-high 16 rebounds with five points and three assists.
ULM cut an 18-point deficit to as low as two late in the fourth quarter, 69-67. However,
LaPresha Stanley canned two at the line to extend the lead to a two-possession game with 11 seconds left in the game, which eventually led to the win. App State went a perfect 8-for-8 over the final 39 seconds of the game, including four free throws for Stanley. The 12-for-14 performance from the charity stripe is a season-high in free throw percentage at 85.7 percent.
The Mountaineers got off to a hot start hitting their first three field goals of the game en route to an 8-2 lead in the first 2:37 of the contest. After ULM had cut the lead to one, 8-7, the Apps went on a 10-4 run over the final 6:27 of the frame to go into the second period with an 18-11 advantage. Wilson scored nine of the points during the surge with three treys before Stanley ended the quarter with a free throw.
ULM kept the lead at seven, 21-14, in the second quarter until Wilson and Mathews drained back-to-back trifectas to push the lead to 13, 27-14. The Mountaineers wouldn't let the lead dip below nine points while the lead ballooned to 14 points at the half following a pair at the line from Wilson. Appalachian went into the break with a 35-21 edge thanks to the shooting duo of Wilson and Mathews, as the pair combined for 29 points and 9-for-11 from 3-point range. The defense clamped down on the Warhawks holding them to 7-for-28 shooting from the field and limited ULM to 3-for-16 shooting from the floor in the second period.
Mathews started off the Mountaineers right where they left off hitting the first shot of the second half from deep to push the lead to 17. Another trifecta by Wilson gave the Black and Gold their largest lead of the game at 18, 41-23. Gosnell got her offense going scoring eight of her points in the third quarter, including two 3-pointers in the final 1:14 of the frame to keep ULM at bay and take a 53-39 into the fourth frame.
The Warhawks climbed back into the game in the fourth quarter when they outscored Appalachian, 28-18. Cortez scored 19 of her game-high 28 points in the fourth shooting 6-for-8 from the field and hit five 3-pointers, which were some closely-contested shots. Going into the period, Cortez was just 3-of-9 from the field with nine points.
App State dominated the glass, 43-22, the most significant rebounding advantage of the season including 18 on the offensive side.
Appalachian will look to continue the momentum when it hosts Georgia State on Thursday at 5 p.m.
Quotable
" A lot of great moments today for our young team to build on.
Tierra Wilson had an exceptional game. Obviously, her ability to knock down shots were huge, but it was even bigger to have her control our offense for 40 minutes. It was a great effort for our team." - Head coach
Angel Elderkin
Tip-Ins
- App State is 6-0 all-time against ULM
- App State's three wins on ULM's home floor has been by a combined eight points
- Wilson has two 20-point performances this season. App is 2-0 in both contests
- Appalachian's 1.029 points per possession is a season high
- The Mountaineers are 3-1 when Mathews scores in double figures
- Plummer now has five outings with at least 15 rebounds
- Calder led the team with a plus/minus of seven in 23 minutes
- Wilson had a PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 27, while Plummer rounded out the leaders with a PER of 18
- Appalachian assisted on 68 percent (15-22) of its field goals.
- In three wins, the Mountaineers have assisted on 74.6 (50-67) of their made buckets
- Mathews is shooting 57.6 percent (19-33) from 3-point range on the road
