BOONE, N.C. - App State women's basketball suffered a 57-51 decision to Louisiana on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center.
App State falls to 9-18 and 6-10 in conference play, while Louisiana moves to 16-10 and moves to 9-6 in the Sun Belt.
Michaela Porter was the most efficient Mountaineer on the night, shooting 4-of-7 from the field and 5-for-6 from the line with a personal-high 14 points, leading a bench attack that outscored Louisiana's reserves 18-5.
Pre Stanley rounded out the leading scorers with 12 points, with half of her points at the charity stripe after a 6-of-6 showing. Stanley also added five rebounds and four swipes. Bayley Plummer led the team with 13 rebounds and Ashley Polacek posted four assists.
After trailing 48-34 with 6:36 left in the game, the Black and Gold stormed back with an 11-0 run that was started by a Lainey Gosnell layup. Following a pair of free throws by Stanley and a field goal from Maya Calder, Gosnell and Porter capped off the surge with three straight points.
The momentum swung in App's favor, but four straight free throws by Brandi Williams and Ty'Reona Doucet pushed the lead to seven with just over a minute left in the game. Polacek brought the lead down to five, but it was too little too late as the Ragin' Cajuns clinched the victory.
Minus the late run in the fourth quarter, the Apps struggled on offense with missed opportunities inside the paint and layups.
Appalachian did a stellar job of protecting the ball as the 10 turnovers were the fewest forced this season by Louisiana. The Mountaineers also shot a solid 14-of-18 from the free-throw line in the setback.
Doucet led Louisiana in scoring with 18 points on top of seven rebounds. Williams (12 points) and Jomyra Mathis (11 points) rounded out the leading scorers.
App State will host ULM on Saturday at 2 p.m. in its final home game of the season. The Apps will honor Nicola Mathews, Kaila Craven, Armani Hampton, Polacek and Plummer.
