Women's Basketball Captures Convincing Victory Versus Canisius

DELAND, Fla. - A team-centric performance by Appalachian State women's basketball led to a convincing 74-57 victory over Canisius on the final day of the Hatter Classic hosted by Stetson at the Edmunds Center. 

The Mountaineers improve to 3-7 while Canisius drops to 1-7 on the season. Two of Appalachian's wins this season have come on the road. 

It was a solid bounce-back performance after scoring just 44 points and shooting less than 30 percent yesterday in the setback against Bethune-Cookman. App State drained a season-high 11 3-pointers, shot 44.6 percent from the field with a season-best 18 assists on 25 field goals. The bench stepped up with 33 points, also a high from the reserves. 

Ashley Polacek continued her stellar stay in Florida as she scored a team-best 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting with four assists and four rebounds. After averaging 20.5 points through two games to lead the Black and Gold in scoring, she was named to the All-Tournament team. Pre Stanley was also named to the All-Tournament team following her 13-point performance with a personal-high six assists and three boards. 

Leading the charge from the bench was the sophomore duo of Brooke Bigott and Haile McDonald. The pair scored 12 points while Bigott dished out a personal-best six assists and canned a career-high four trifectas. McDonald corralled a career-high five rebounds. Lainey Gosnell came down with a season and game-high nine rebounds with five points. 

After taking an 18-15 point lead into the second quarter, the Apps dominated over the final three periods, outscoring Canisius, 56-32. The Black and Gold defense held the Golden Griffins to just 33 percent shooting during the stretch after Canisius shot 50 percent in the first frame. 

With App State holding a 22-17 edge early in the second period, Polacek scored 14 of the Apps' 16 points during a 16-9 surge over the final 8:47 of the half that stretched the lead to 12, 38-26.

Canisius closed the gap to single digits, 40-32, with 7:44 left in the third quarter. App responded by scoring six straight points thanks to a pair of layups from Stanley and a jumper by McDonald. The Mountaineers never let the lead dip below 14 points, upping their advantage to as much as 23 midway through the fourth thanks to a trey by Bigott. 

Appalachian took advantage of 13 Canisius turnovers by scoring 19 points, while posting a 40-27 edge on the glass. The 17-point triumph is the largest margin of victory this season. 

App will close out non-conference play on Dec. 29 against UNCG at 2 p.m.