BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball welcomes Lees-McRae on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Holmes Center in the lone exhibition of the preseason.
About the Mountaineers
All 10 of the Black and Gold's active players return from 2017-18, including third-team all-Sun Belt selection and the conference's leading rebounder,
Bayley Plummer.
Pre Stanley (11.4 ppg) and
Tierra Wilson (10.5 ppg), who were the Mountaineers' first freshmen since 2009-10 to lead the team in scoring, are back for their sophomore year.
Nicola Mathews, the Apps' leader in assists at 3.0 apg and
Lainey Gosnell, App's scoring spark off the bench last year, is back as well. The trio of Wilson (56), Gosnell (38), and Mathews (38) was the Sun Belt's third-highest shooting trio from beyond the arc with 132 of the team's 167 3-pointers. That number was the second highest made in a single season in school history.
Maya Calder,
Kaila Craven,
Dominique Jeffery,
Anna Perez Gomez, and
Armani Hampton add to the number of weapons on the team. First-team all-preseason Sun Belt selection,
Madi Story, is back after tearing her ACL, while UCF transfer,
Ashley Polacek is now eligible after sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules.
Newcomers
Appalachian brings in four talented freshmen from Texas, Virginia and North Carolina in
Brooke Bigott,
A'Lea Gilbert,
Haile McDonald, and
Emma Newton. Bigott stuffed the stat sheet at Seven Lakes High School, while Gilbert went to South Meck where she was an inside force averaging a double-double. McDonald helped her squad win a state title in Virginia and Newton was a 1,000-point scorer at Asheville Christian Academy.
Three Named Preseason All-Sun Belt
The trio of Story, Plummer and Stanley were recognized by the conference during its preseason awards. Story and Plummer were named to the second team, while Stanley was a third-team selection. Stanley led the team in scoring at 11.4 ppg and was second averaging 5.2 rpg. She was one of two freshmen in the league to average at least 10 points and five boards per contest. Plummer posted a breakout sophomore season where she led the Sun Belt and was 13th in the nation in rebounding at 11.5 per game. Her 355 rebounds set a new sophomore record while it was also the second-highest mark in a single season. Story led the team in 2016-17 in scoring (13.3 ppg), rebounding (6.9 rpg) and 3-pointers with 38. The redshirt senior was the only player in the conference to lead her team in all three categories.
2018-19 Poster
The 2018-19 posters are available! Fans can pick one up tomorrow at the game.
Scouting Lees-McRae
LMC finished with a 10-17 mark last season. The Bobcats return their top two scorers in Brea Forbes and Markia Stacy, who averaged 11.3 and 11.0 points per game, respectively. Forbes also averaged a team-best 6.3 rebounds per game, while Stacey's 153 assists were a team high.
What's Next
Appalachian will begin the 2018-19 regular season the road next weekend. The Mountaineers will face UAB on Friday, No. 9 at 7 p.m. (ET) in Birmingham.
