ASHEVILLE, N.C – The App State women's basketball team bounced back from Thursday's setback with a 64-40 road victory over UNC Asheville on Saturday. The Mountaineers improve to 4-2 on the season with the win.
"I'm really proud of our team. They got our first road win," said head coach
Alaura Sharp. "Obviously we've had some tough scheduling on the road, one day home, another day on the road. I thought, the way Asheville plays, they make you play really ugly. Their defense is really tough to crack the code of. Life on the road is you win with your defense. We held them to 40, we had 42 rebounds, and I'm so proud of that.
"There was a lot of adversity with our team and I thought we handled that really well. We struggled at the free throw line, we struggled shooting the ball from the outside, we had some kids under the weather, so to be able to step up and close out the game with all that adversity made me really proud of our team," said Sharp. "Now we've got to see everybody at Holmes at noon on Tuesday, and we'll see you there. Go App."
Junior
Daisia Mitchell and sophomore
Jayden McBride combined for 22 of App State's points, each contributing 11. Seniors
Emma Smith and
Emily Hege matched with a team high seven rebounds. Additionally, Smith dished out a team high six assists and made five steals.
The Mountaineers caused 20 Bulldog turnovers and held UNC Asheville to a team field goal percentage of 28.3%. App State netted 40 of their 64 points in the paint as well as 24 points off turnovers, and grabbed 42 rebounds to UNC Asheville's 33.
App State controlled the lead for the duration of play, only allowing for one tie at 3-3 all in the first quarter. Mitchell put the Mountaineers on the board early with a jumper, which sophomore
Feryal Defne Atli followed up with a freebie. The Mountaineers netted seven of their 17 points in the period from the charity stripe. Freebies from Hege and a layup in the paint from Mitchell pushed the Mountaineers ahead, 7-3. The Black and Gold led by as much as seven in the period as senior
Elena Pericic and Smith made layups. A layup from Smith kept App State ahead at the close of the quarter (17-13).
Pericic drained the Mountaineers' first trey of the game to open the second period. The Black and Gold netted a game high 21 points over the course of the quarter, while holding the Bulldogs to 10. Over the last 5:27 of the half, App State went on a 14-2 run, which included layups from Mitchell, McBride, and Smith, freebies from Smith and graduate students Zoë McCrary and
Jada Burton, as well as a trey from Hege.
McBride opened the third period with a pair of back-to-back trips to the layup to extend App State's lead to 42-23. With a turnaround jumper from Atli, a quartet of freebies, and a tip-in from McBride, App State took a 50-29 lead.
Despite an early drought in the fourth quarter, App State netted 14 points to UNC Asheville's six in the period. With a layup in the paint, McCrary ended the Mountaineers' scoring drought, which was followed by a trip to the hoop from Mitchell to keep the Mountaineers ahead, 54-38. Both McCrary and Mitchell were assisted by Burton. App State closed the game with an 8-0 run over the last three minutes of play that featured a trey from Mitchell, layups from Burton and freshman
Riley Stoker, and a free throw from McCrary.
Up Next
App State will host Norfolk State at noon on Nov. 25 for Education Day. Admission for Tuesday's game is free and fans are encouraged to bring new or lightly used coats to donate to local children and families in need.
