ARLINGTON, Texas – Appalachian State University women's basketball (6-16, 4-7 SBC) suffered a heartbreaking 49-48 loss to UT Arlington (12-10, 6-5 SBC) on Thursday evening at College Park Center.
Nicola Mathews and
LaPresha Stanley both scored a game-high 15 points with four rebounds and three assists. The tandem guards put forth excellent performances where rest came sparingly as Mathews played the entire 40 and Stanley playing for 38.
Bayley Plummer corralled a game-high 15 boards and added five points and four swats in a career-high 40 minutes. The sophomore averaged a staggering 17.5 rebounds through two contests against one of the Sun Belt's tallest lineups.
Plummer and Rebekah VanDijk was one of the key matchups to watch in the paint. Both centers essentially canceled each other out on offense, but Plummer held VanDijk to a season-low four points on 2-of-9 shooting. The UTA senior came into the contest averaging 21.8 points and 11.7 rebounds over the last eight games since the Apps and Mavs met for the first time in December.
Also playing well for App was
Maya Calder, who scored six points and grabbed nine off the glass, including six offensive rebounds in just 20 minutes.
The Mountaineers dominated the boards with a 50-32 edge including 17 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points. However, UTA forced App into 23 turnovers, leading to 25 points.
Both teams played stout defense as each team shot below 33 percent from the field. Appalachian held UTA to a conference-low in points and field goal percentage at 31.1 percent.
Stanley also did a stellar job on Crystal Allen, limiting UTA's second-leading scorer (12.9 ppg) to 10 points on 4-of-16 from the floor.
Leading by four, 48-44, with 54 seconds left, UTA scored the final five points to capture the win. VanDijk scored the go-attempt with eight seconds left in the game after UTA came away with a jump ball.
Stanley had a clean look at the game-winning attempt as she sprinted by the defenders with time winding down, but the shot just fell short.
UTA took its largest lead of seven (33-26) in the third quarter after Allen had made her only 3-pointer. The Mountaineers stormed back with a 9-4 surge over the next 3:26 thanks to Mathews scoring all nine points to close the gap to two, 37-35.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers and Mavericks went back-and-forth until with the game tied at 40-40,
Lainey Gosnell sparked an 8-4 run with one of her two 3-pointers. Free throws by Mathews and another foul shot by Stanley pushed App to a 46-44 edge. A driving Stanley dropped off a beautiful pass to Calder for a bucket to give App the 48-44 advantage.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening half, which included a 7-6 output in the opening frame. Appalachian claimed a 24-23 lead going into the break thanks to a 3-pointer from Stanley.
App State will have a quick turnaround as it faces one of the teams in the Sun Belt in Texas State on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ET).
