BOONE, N.C. - App State women's basketball fell to Troy by a score of 81-61 on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
The Apps fall to 8-16 and 5-8 overall while Troy improves to 20-4 and 11-2 in league action.
Lainey Gosnell scored a team-high 13 points with six rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
Bayley Plummer was two points shy of her third straight double-double, grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds and scoring eight points.
Michaela Porter and
Ashley Polacek each tallied nine points to round out the leading scorers.
A second-quarter in which Troy won by 20 points was the pivotal factor in App State's loss, while
Pre Stanley, who had been averaging 19 points at home this season, fouled out in 10 minutes.
The Mountaineers came out looking to slow the tempo down against a fast-paced Troy squad. Appalachian jumped out to a 6-2 advantage with 5:39 left in the opening period following a layup from Gosnell.
Troy scored the next seven points to take a 9-6 lead before Porter answered with a layup of her own to cut the deficit to one. After a 3-pointer by Amber Rivers,
Armani Hampton made a layup to slice the advantage to a possession, 12-10.
The visitors scored eight of the next nine points to take a 20-11 lead in the first 3:15 of the period. Gosnell's trifecta brought the deficit to only six, 20-14. However, five straight field goals by Troy and a scoring drought of 4:51 helped the Trojans jump out to a commanding lead.
Appalachian did improve in the second half, outscoring the Trojans by two through both periods. The Mountaineers also held the nation's leading offensive rebounding team to only 14 rebounds, which is nine below their average. The 14 offensive rebounds are the second-lowest total this season and the fewest in league action.
The Apps also assisted on 63 percent of their field goals with
Brooke Bigott dishing out four helpers on top of six points. App State protected the ball a lot better in the second half with only six miscues (10 in the first half).
For Troy, Japonica James (20 points) and Amber Rivers (18 points) came off the bench for a combined 38 points, shooting 13-of-17 between the pair.
With only five games left, App State has a pivotal road weekend coming ahead in Georgia, as App, Georgia State and Georgia Southern are tied for eighth in the Sun Belt.
App will face a hot GSU team on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Atlanta. The Panthers are winners of four straight following a 52-43 win over ULM on Saturday.
