BOONE, N.C. - App State women's basketball pushed past Georgia Southern with an 83-75 triumph on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers improve to 6-14 and 3-6 in league play after their first Sun Belt sweep of the season. Georgia Southern falls to 6-14 and 3-6.
App State had its most balanced scoring of the campaign with a season-high 83 points and shooting a season-best 47.3 percent from the field.
Also, the Black and Gold canned 12 3-pointers and shot 54.5 percent from long-range, with both being season highs
Five players scored in double figures with
Pre Stanley and
Ashley Polacek pouring in a game-high 18 points. Polacek stepped once again in the second half with 15 of her points in the third and fourth quarters. The redshirt-senior added six rebounds and three helpers. All four of
Lainey Gosnell's field goals were from three, scoring 15 points and corralling six boards.
Stanley played facilitator as she dished out a personal-high seven assists while grabbing five off the glass in an all-around performance.
Bayley Plummer tied a season-best with 14 points (11 in the second half) and a game-high 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the campaign.
Michaela Porter put forth her best performance off the bench for the Black and Gold with 11 points, tying a personal best (Cincinnati).
The Georgia Southern offense gave App State fits in the first half, hitting eight 3-pointers (8-17) and shooting 48.6 percent from the floor.
The Eagles took a lead by as much as 11, 37-26, after making seven of their first 11 attempts in the second quarter. App State responded when it drained four straight shots, highlighted with three trifectas.
A Stanley trey brought the deficit to two, 40-38, before Nisbet hit a layup with 13 seconds left in the half to send GS into the break with a 42-48 edge.
Appalachian came out of the locker room clicking on all cylinders going 6-for-6 in the first 3:42 of the second half. Stanley and Plummer broke a 50-50 tie with a 7-0 spurt to give the Mountaineers a 57-50 cushion.
A layup by Polacek gave App State a 61-53 advantage followed by a bucket from Victoria Stavropoulos just before the third ended, giving the hosts a 61-55 lead.
The Mountaineers stayed in front despite GS slicing the lead to one possession on multiple occasions in the final frame. App State pieced together a 10-2 run while ahead 64-62 to take its largest lead of the game, 74-64. GS got to within six, 76-70, but three straight free throws by Polacek and Gosnell iced the game.
App State held GS to 2-of-12 from deep and 40 percent shooting from the floor in the second half, and outscored its rival 45-33 in the stanza.
The Mountaineers are 11-3 over their last 14 meetings against Georgia Southern.
Appalachian looks to take the momentum next weekend in Texas, when it starts on Thursday against UTA at 8 p.m. (ET).
