BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball (10-7, 4-2 SBC) continued its success at home with a 75-67 triumph over Arkansas State (8-10, 3-4 SBC) on Thursday evening inside the Holmes Center.
Madi Story registered a game-high 25 points on an efficient 11-of-17 shooting from the field. The redshirt-senior once again came through in the second half with 15 points, highlighted by 11 in the third period. Adding to her stellar performance was a season-high 10 rebounds, which gave the Maiden, N.C. native her first double-double of the season.
The other Mountaineer to score in double figures was
Lainey Gosnell, who hit five of her eight field goal attempts en route to 12 points.
Bayley Plummer was a force down low on both ends of the floor. The Thomasville, N.C. native snagged a game-best 15 rebounds with eight points and a season-high four blocks.
Ashley Polacek dished her way to a game-high eight assists with eight points.
For a third straight game, the defense held the opposing team's best player in check. This time it was Peyton Martin, who came into the game averaging a team-high 15.0 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting from the field. Martin tied a season low with six points on 2-of-9 shooting from the floor thanks to the stingy App defense.
App got off to a slow with the Red Wolves holding a 7-2 lead in the first 4:23 of the period.
Maya Calder got the Black and Gold going as she scored seven of her nine points in the frame, including five straight points during a 7-0 surge that gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the contest, 9-7.
After Arkansas State took a 12-10 lead with 2:54 left in the period, Appalachian hit its final four shots of the quarter during an 8-2 burst to go into the second frame with an 18-14 advantage.
Gosnell got the hosts going with a layup to push the lead to six, 20-14. However, Arkansas State went on a 9-0 run over the next 3:36 to take a 23-20 lead with 5:15 left in the second stanza. After coach Elderkin called a timeout, App State responded in a big way with a 15-3 run to close out the half.
Pre Stanley started the push with back-to-back buckets on a run that saw App score on seven straight possessions to go into the locker room with a 35-28 lead.
The Red Wolves closed the gap to just three points, 35-32, in the early moments of the third period. On the ensuing end, Polacek found Plummer in the paint for a bucket. From there, App slowly grew its lead thanks to Story's 11 points. Story at one point scored seven straight points to push the lead into single digits.
Tierra Wilson later canned one of her two trifectas to give Appalachian a 57-42 advantage late in the quarter.
Arkansas State's Jordan Elder hit a three of her own to bring Appalachian's lead to 57-45 at the end of the frame.
App State never relinquished the lead that it earned in the first half, but Arkansas State made things interesting late in the game. The Red Wolves scored seven quick points after a Wilson 3-pointer to slice the gap to single digits, 72-65. Polacek and Plummer finished the game hitting three of their four free throws in the final 11 seconds to help App seal the win and improve to 8-1 win at home.
Appalachian dominated inside with a season-high 46 points in the paint while shooting 46.9 percent from the field. App State was 26-of-51 for a 50.9 percent clip inside the arc. Despite the Apps shooting 11-of-18 from the field, they shot 7-for-8 from the charity stripe in the second half.
The Mountaineers go into Saturday with more momentum than ever. They'll go up against the defending Sun Belt champions in Little Rock. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. inside the Holmes Center.
Quotable
"Obviously, we're excited to have another win under our belt. It was interesting because when we walk into the locker room after a win, generally there is a celebration. I asked them what's a matter, why aren't we celebrating, and their first response was "now it's expected". I thought once again our defense takes their best player out, Peyton Martin. We held her to six points and six rebounds, and that's quite frankly how we've been winning games. Our team buys into our defensive game plan. We challenge our team to get 25 deflections and they get 27 deflections. We challenge our team to continue to be relentless on the boards, and we won the rebounding battle, 45-32. Another big key is that I thought our bench was ready. I thought when the game started, we got into foul trouble and we weathered the storm. I did address the fact that if we wanted to continue to win games, we can't start games missing layups and can't shoot 40 percent from the free throw line. Those will be our areas of focus when we get back together tomorrow." - head coach
Angel Elderkin
Tip-Ins
- Story has scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time in her career.
- Appalachian is 8-2 when she scores in double figures and 7-0 when she reaches at least 10 points with five boards.
- Plummer recorded 15 boards for the sixth time this season
- She also slid into eighth all-time with 715 career rebounds, passing Karen Robinson (713;1983-87)
- The Mountaineers are 7-6 all-time against the Red Wolves
- Story led the team with a PER of 26 and tied with Gosnell for a plus/minus of 11
- The Mountaineers have now held their last three opponents' leading scorers to a combined 11-for-39 from the field for 32 points.
- App State is within one conference victory away from matching last season's total
