BOONE, N.C. – The App State women's basketball team defeated Louisiana, 61-52, in the Holmes Convocation Center on Thursday. The Mountaineers rise to 8-2 in Sun Belt play and 12-8 on the season. Additionally, the Mountaineers have won four consecutive games since Jan. 18. At the close of Thursday's competition, App State ranks third in the Sun Belt standings.
"I'm really proud of our team," said head coach
Alaura Sharp. "To start this week I talked to them about sometimes are they just living in the moment. I think it's important for me as the head coach to 'big picture' them. I talked to them about how, by the time we wake up on Sunday, it's all of a sudden going to be February and it's the last month that we're going to have the opportunity to grow and get better as a team. We have to have a sense of urgency in practice of improving the things that we need to improve and get better at down the stretch."
"We worked really hard on our defense," said Sharp. "I thought we played some good basketball tonight. We have really struggled guarding and defending the basketball. I thought outside of those little fouls down the stretch we got a little undisciplined, but I thought our kids really executed."
Four Mountaineers scored double-figures, led by senior
Eleyana Tafisi and junior
Elena Pericic, who each netted 13 points. Tafisi drained a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe and made five of App State's 11 steals as well as one of App State's pair of blocks. Tafisi also combined with fellow senior
Zada Porter for eight of the Black and Gold's assists. Porter netted 11 points and also drained 3-of-3 from line. Pericic knocked down three of App State's six treys on the night and senior
Emily Carver, who netted 10 points, knocked down two treys. Junior
Rylan Moffitt grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, followed by Carver and junior
Emily Hege, who pulled down four rebounds apiece.
The Mountaineers netted 25 points off turnovers and held Louisiana to five assists, four treys, and four fast break points. The Black and Gold shot 90% from the charity stripe and 46.9% from the field. App State led by as much as 10 points in three of four quarters.
App State took an early 7-0 lead after Porter opened the game with a jumper, which was followed by a Carver trey and fast break layup in the paint from Tafisi. Carver and Pericic knocked down a pair of treys to take a 13-3 lead. With 0:07 left in the quarter, Pericic knocked down a second trey with an assist from Porter. Carver and Pericic combined for 12 of App State's 16 points in the quarter, both knocking down 2-of-3 from the arc.
Pericic made an early layup in the second quarter, assisted by Tafisi. With a layup and three-point play from Tafisi, App State took a 22-16 lead. Tafisi accounted for 11 of App State's 15 points in the period, draining 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. Moffitt also contributed a tip-in layup in the paint. App State led Louisiana, 31-26, at the half.
Porter, who netted six of App State's 12 points in the third quarter, opened the second half with a jumper and Hege knocked down her sole trey of the game to keep the Mountaineers ahead, 36-28. As the Mountaineers faced a drought early in the period, the Ragin' Cajuns found their footing with a 9-0 run to edge ahead, 37-36. Louisiana held the lead for a mere 0:47 before Porter and Pericic got around the defense for layups. Porter drained a pair of freebies and Moffitt knocked down a free throw to put App State ahead, 43-37, at the close of the quarter.
The Mountaineers shot 63.6% from the field in the fourth quarter. Early in the period, senior
J'Mani Ingram made a layup to extend App State's lead to 45-37. Moffitt also made it to the hoop for an early layup in the paint to keep the Mountaineers ahead, 47-39. Porter completed another three-point play, Carver drained a pair of freebies, and senior
Mara Neira made a layup to put App State up 54-44. As the Ragin' Cajuns narrowed the deficit with free throws, Pericic drained her third 3-point bucket of the game. With layups from Carver and Neira, App State sealed the victory, 61-52.
Up Next
App State will host Georgia State for both the men's 1 p.m. Coaches vs. Cancer game as well as the women's 3:30 p.m. Pink Day game on Saturday. Fans are encouraged to wear pink, show up early for the men's game and stay late for the women's game. One ticket will get fans into both games. The Chuck-A-Duck contest will make its return during halftime of the women's game.
