BOONE, N.C. - The App State women's basketball team is set to host Louisiana on Saturday as part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. and will be followed by the men's game against Arkansas State at 4:30 p.m. Tickets to the game will get fans into both the women's and men's game. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
The Mountaineers will be welcoming back their women's basketball alumni for the weekend as well with a pregame event at the McKinney Alumni Center at 11:30 a.m. There will also be 200 free hotdogs for students, courtesy Chancellor Everts.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers (8-12, 4-5 SBC) return to Boone after a hard-fought battle against Georgia State in Atlanta. The Black and Gold fell to the Panthers, 64-56, on Thursday. Redshirt senior
Janay Sanders netted a team-high 20 points, followed by sophomore
Emily Carver, who posted 14 points. Carver shot 3-of-5 from the 3-point line and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. Sanders and graduate student
Brooke Bigott each pulled down five rebounds, and junior
Faith Alston matched her season and career-high assists, dishing out seven.
The Mountaineers and Panthers swapped the lead 18 times, which included 11 times in the first half alone.
Around the Conference
In Sun Belt only play, Carver leads the league in 3-point percentage (.508) and 3-pointers per game, averaging 3.6 per game. The Asheville, N.C. native also stands second in the field goal percentage category (.500). In the scoring category for league-only action, Carver ranks fifth (averaging 16.9 points per game) followed by Sanders, who ranks eighth (averaging 14.9 points per game). App State ranks second for made 3-pointers with an average of 8.1 per SBC contest and stands fourth in the team 3-point percentage category (.346).
For the season as a whole, App State stands third in the conference for made 3-pointers, averaging 7.5 per contest. Individually, Carver ranks third for 3-pointers per game (averaging 2.3 per game) and Sanders checks in at sixth for scoring (averaging 14.6 points per game) for the season.
Last Time Against Louisiana
App State hosted Louisiana on Jan. 20, 2022, defeating the Ragin' Cajuns, 55-46, for head coach
Angel Elderkin's 100th career win. The Mountaineers forced 25 turnovers and held Louisiana to no 3-pointers on 10 attempts. On the flipside, App State drilled seven treys on the evening. Carver netted 11 points and shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Michaela Porter and Sanders each tallied 10 points on the night. Porter also shot 2-of-2 from the free throw line and made five steals. Sanders drilled 4-of-6 free throws to help App State to a free throw percentage of .750.
Scouting Louisiana
The Ragin' Cajuns are 12-9 (6-3 SBC) this season and will come to Boone after a 68-58 road win against Georgia Southern. Louisiana has won its last three games, which included an overtime victory over Arkansas State on Jan. 21. The Ragin' Cajuns' only losses in conference play came at the hands of Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss and Troy.
Lanay Wheaton and Tamera Johnson lead the team in scoring, averaging 11.7 and 11 points per game, respectively. Johnson also averages 7.0 rebounds per game while Wheaton averages 1.9 steals per game. Leading the Ragin' Cajuns in the assists category is Destiny Rice, who averages 2.1 per contest.
Louisiana went 18-7 (9-4 SBC) last season. In the SBC Tournament, the No. 3 Ragin' Cajuns defeated No. 6 seed Texas State in the quarterfinal before falling to SBC Championship runner-up No. 2 seed UTA in the semifinals. Over the course of the regular season, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded two four-game win-streaks.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will head out for their penultimate regular season road trip as they travel to Huntington, W.Va. to take on Marshall at 6 p.m. on Feb. 2, before going to Conway, S.C. to clash with Coastal Carolina at 12 p.m. on Feb. 4.
