BOONE, N.C. – The App State women's basketball team fell short to Troy, 85-68, in the Holmes Convocation Center on Thursday.
"I was really concerned when Watauga County canceled schools and I thought our marketing department had worked really hard to give us a great Education game today, but I was really proud of the crowd that we did have and really thankful for everybody that came out on the snowy roads and supported our team," said head coach
Alaura Sharp.
"I wish we would have played a little bit better. I feel like Troy really was aggressive. They're really aggressive in the paint, blocking shots and I think it made us really timid and back on our heels. Our culture and our leadership has been so good in our last four games and I thought we kind of took a step back from that. Maybe that's what we needed to kind of learn and grow from the details of play. That's probably what I'm frustrated with is that I thought that we defensive rebounded well. They are a great offensive rebounding team. We did a good job there. We had a positive assist to turnover ratio. We shot it decent from the 3-point line in the second half. I just didn't think our energy and our togetherness and our body language was really what would allow us to get over the hump. I thought we kept cutting it to eight, we played harder in the second half, but just disappointed that we couldn't get over the hump. There's a lot we can learn from today."
Four Mountaineers netted double-figures, led by senior
Zada Porter, who scored 18 points and drained 4-of-8 from the arc. Thursday's contest marked Porter's fourth game this season as the Mountaineers' top scorer. She also grabbed a pair of rebounds. Fellow senior
Eleyana Tafisi netted 11 points and made a team high three steals. Additionally, Tafisi and senior
Asjah Inniss each grabbed a team high six rebounds. In the assists category, Tafisi and Pericic dished out a combined six assists. Tafisi combined with juniors
Elena Pericic and
Emily Hege for six of App State's 10 treys, each contributing two. Pericic and Hege netted 10 points apiece.
App State (7-7, 3-1 SBC) scored 13 second chance points compared to Troy's six. The Mountaineers also netted 13 points off turnovers. The Black and Gold held Troy to seven offensive rebounds, compared to App State's 16. The Mountaineers and Trojans swapped the lead twice and knotted the score on four occasions.
Early in the first quarter, Troy established a 6-1 lead. Porter drained a trey and a freebie to cut the lead to three (8-5). A layup from Inniss and a trey from Hege knotted the score at 10-10. The Mountaineers took the lead (14-12) after Hege drained a pair of freebies and Tafisi made a layup. As Troy knotted the score at 14 all, Hege drained another pair of freebies, shooting 100% from the line in the first quarter, before Troy made a layup to tie the score at 16-16 at the end of the period.
As the Trojans established a 24-16 lead, a layup from Pericic and jumper from senior
J'Mani Ingram cut the deficit to six (26-20). Over the course of the period, Porter netted eight points and drained 2-of-3 from the arc. Tafisi knocked down a 3-point bucket of her own to cut the deficit to 38-31, but the Trojans closed the half with a 42-31 lead.
Hege opened the third quarter with a trey, assisted by Porter. Senior
Emily Carver made a pair of layups to chip away at the deficit. Carver and Pericic combined for 10 of App State's 23 points in the period. Pericic netted her points with a jumper and 3-point bucket. Porter also netted six points in the quarter, knocking down a 3-point bucket and completing a three-point play. The Mountaineers also scored 11 of their 13 second chance points in the third period. Senior
Mara Neira landed a last second jumper to close the period.
Despite a 67-54 deficit, Pericic opened the fourth quarter with a trey, assisted by Tafisi. Tafisi drilled a trey of her own with an assist from Ingram. The Mountaineers cut the deficit to 74-65 after a fastbreak layup from Tafisi and a layup in the paint from Inniss. Carver completed a three-point play for the Mountaineers late in the quarter, but Troy took the win, 85-68.
Up Next
The Mountaineers return to the court on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men's basketball program. Fans are encouraged to come early for the men's game at 1 p.m. against James Madison, and stay late for the women's game that follows, as one ticket will get fans into both conference clashes. Saturday is the Mountaineers' Stripe Out day and fans are encouraged to wear either black or gold depending on the section their seats are in. The Zooperstars will perform during halftime of the women's game.
