App State Eliminates Arkansas State in Opening Round of SBC Tournament

NEW ORLEANS - Appalachian State University women's basketball pushed past Arkansas State, 79-68, in the first round of the 2018 Sun Belt Championship held in New Orleans at Lakefront Arena.

The young Mountaineer squad, which many of them were playing in their first-ever Sun Belt Tournament game, looked like they've been in the spotlight before of a big postseason contest. 

Appalachian posted four different players in double figures with LaPresha Stanley pouring in a game and career-high 27 points on 8-of-17 shooting and an even more impressive 10-for-11 outing from the charity stripe. Stanley also added six rebounds and two assists. Bayley Plummer turned in a monster performance tying her career high of 18 points and a game-best 19 rebounds. The sophomore center stuffed the stat sheet tying personal bests in assists with four and being an inside force with a game-best five blocks. 

Tierra Wilson scored 16 points with four boards and two helpers. The freshmen led the team with three trifectas including two in the final frame that led to 10 points in the stanza. Nicola Mathews rounded out the leading scorers with 12 points and paced the way with six assists. 

Appalachian dominated the glass, 50-32, and for a second straight game corralled 20 offensive rebounds for 17 second-chance points.

Arkansas State started the game with an 11-7 start in the first 4:12 of the game until free throws by Lainey Gosnell began an 8-2 stretch that pushed the Mountaineers to a 15-14 first quarter lead. Plummer made a layup that tied up the frame before Mathews, and another bucket from Plummer gave App the edge. 

In the second quarter, A-State claimed a 22-19 lead with 7:22 left in the half after hitting four of its first seven shots. Appalachian responded by outscoring the Red Wolves, 19-7 the rest of the way including a 6-for-8 stretch over the final 3:49 of the half to give App a 38-29 advantage. Armani Hampton scored a layup before Stanley scored five straight points to end the first stanza for the nine-point lead at the break. Appalachian's defense dug in during the run holding A-State to a 1-for-8 stretch.

Coming out the break, Mathews hit a jumper on the first possession that extended the lead to double-digits, 40-29. However, the Red Wolves went on a big run that turned the 11-point deficit to a 55-48 lead for Arkansas State late in the third quarter. A-State went on a 19-4 burst highlighted by 73.3 percent shooting to outscore App, 26-13. Three straight free throws by Stanley and Plummer sliced the deficit to four, 55-51. 

Appalachian showed composure when down early in the quarter piecing together a 19-3 run over six minutes to take a commanding 77-65 lead with a minute left in the game. Mathews' field goal started the take over before Plummer pin-pointed a skip pass to Wilson for one of her two 3-pointers that gave the Black and Gold the lead for good. After turning the ball over 10 times in the third quarter, the Mountaineers did an excellent job with zero miscues on offense in the final frame. 

After Plummer and Stanley hit back-to-back layups to extend the lead to four, 66-62, Payton Tennison hit a trifecta to bring the edge to one, 66-65. Plummer hit a layup on the ensuing end and then Stanley opened the gate for App to pull away with a timely 3-pointer for the six-point lead, 71-65, with 2:46 left in the game. Another field goal by Mathews and four consecutive free throws by Wilson iced the game, giving the Black and Gold the win in the first round for the second straight season. 

App shot just 4-for-11 from outside the arc, but hit a season-high 21 free throws going 21-for-26 (.808) from the free throw line.

The Mountaineers will face the top-seeded Little Rock Trojans on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN3 at Lakefront Arena in the quarterfinal round. 

Tip-Ins
- Plummer posted her second game of the season with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds (16 pts/18 rebs. at Marshall)
- Stanley recorded her fourth game of at least 20 points and in back-to-back games. She's averaging 18.3 points, six rebounds and shooting 44 percent over the past seven games
- Mathews notched her fourth game of the season with at least 10 points and five assists
- Appalachian scored at least one point per possession for the fifth game this season
- Mathews and Hampton posted a team best of plus-19 in the plus/minus column
- App State is 32-28 all-time in conference tournaments and 14-9 in the first round
- Plummer now has eight games with at least 15 rebounds and earned her 13th double-double of the season