BOONE, N.C. – Following Tuesday's season-opening victory over Lees-McRae, the App State women's basketball team (1-0) takes its show on the road for the first time with a Thursday contest at Mercer (0-1).
Date: Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
Teams: App State vs. Mercer
Location: Macon, Ga. (
Hawkins Arena)
TV: ESPN+
TV Announcers: Luke Winstel and Sybil Blalock
Twitter Updates: @AppStateWBB
Michaela Porter scored 14 points and
Faith Alston added a career high-tying 13 points as the Mountaineers jumped out to a 35-10 lead and cruised to a 75-41 win at home in Tuesday's opener.
Porter also pulled down nine rebounds and notched a career-high six steals, while
Janay Sanders,
Emily Carver and
Breanna Locke added nine points apiece.
App State leads the all-time series with Mercer 3-0, including a 77-68 Mountaineer win two years ago in Boone. The preseason pick to repeat as Southern Conference Champions, Mercer has made the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons as the SoCon tournament champ. Three Bears were named to the preseason All-SoCon team – Amoria Neal-Tysor, Jaron Dougherty and Shannon Titus.
Mercer lost to Wake Forest, 68-55, in its opener on Tuesday.
Notables:
• App State won its season opener for the second straight year and is looking to start 2-0 for the second consecutive season as well. Prior to last year, the Mountaineers hadn't started 2-0 since the 2010-11 season.
• Ten different Mountaineers scored against Lees-McRae, while all 13 available players saw action.
• App State drained 10 3-pointers in the opener, including three from both
Faith Alston and
Emily Carver.
• The Mountaineers return starters
Michaela Porter (8.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg last season) and
Brooke Bigott (7.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg) from last year's squad that finished 15-12 overall and 10-8 in Sun Belt Conference play.
• App State's 10-8 league record last season matched its best since joining the Sun Belt.
• The Mountaineers have advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals twice in the last three seasons.
• Senior
Michaela Porter was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt third team. The Mountaineers' top returning scorer and rebounder, Porter is known for her defensive prowess, having ranked second in the league last year with 1.9 steals per game.
• Returning guards
Janay Sanders (6.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and
Faith Alston (4.0 ppg, 2.5 apg) both played in all 27 games last year.
• Head coach
Angel Elderkin is in her eighth season at the helm and is looking to lead App State to its second consecutive winning season and third in four years.
