BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball continues its growth during the second summer period after wrapping up another week of workouts.
Eight student-athletes were on hand for the first summer portion while the entire team including the freshman class of
Brooke Bigott,
A'Lea Gilbert, and
Haile McDonald made their way to the High Country for session No. 2.
"It's been an exciting summer of growth for our program," head coach
Angel Elderkin said. "In our first two weeks together as a team, I like who we are becoming. Every moment is a teaching moment, and as long as they continue to bring the effort and communication, we can continue to progress on the basketball court."
On-court workouts that include offensive and defensive practices, combined with conditioning and weightlifting, have been highly intensive. The team is divided into three squads for competition in addition to the weekly challenges that players have been completing. The challenges are focused on shooting, conditioning and building chemistry.
With a team that is adding more depth across the board and coming off a 2017-18 campaign in which it made the second-most 3-pointers (167) in a single season, the Mountaineers are putting a heavy emphasis on getting out in transition.
"We definitely want to make sure we're going fast on the floor so we've been working on our fast break," returning leading scorer
LaPresha Stanley said. "We're working on feeding the post and limiting our turnovers because we were turnover prone last season. There's a set of standards that we have here and want to meet those standards."
App State returns all nine active players from last season including its leading scorers in Stanley (11.4 ppg),
Tierra Wilson (10.5 ppg) and third-team All-Sun Belt selection,
Bayley Plummer.
Madi Story, who tore her ACL her senior season, has been taking part in non-contact drills. UCF transfer
Ashley Polacek is eligible in her first season after sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules.
