BOONE, N.C. – The App State women's basketball team closed its four-game homestand on Saturday, falling short to Georgia State in Saturday's Pink Day game, 62-55.
"I just feel like we weren't us," said head coach
Alaura Sharp. "A lot of that was Georgia State forced us to not be us, even in transition they smothered senior
Eleyana Tafisi all the time and she wasn't able to pop the ball around. That's something that we're going to have to address and figure out before other people start doing that to us. I thought it made us out of sync, out of rhythm."
Senior
Mara Neira was the Mountaineers' top scorer, netting 15 points and marking her third game as App State's top scorer. For a second time during the 2024-25 campaign, Neira knocked down five treys, having previously drained five from the arc on Dec. 21 at Mercer. Fellow senior
Zada Porter netted 11 points, marking her sixth consecutive game and 12th game this season scoring double-figures. Porter also drained a trio of treys, made a team-high three steals and made four rebounds. Senior
J'Mani Ingram and juniors
Rylan Moffitt and
Elena Pericic combined for 15 of App State's 36 rebounds, grabbing five apiece. Ingram and Tafisi both netted seven points and made two steals apiece. Tafisi led the team in assists, dishing out six. Moffitt made the Mountaineers' sole block of the game.
App State drained 10 treys for a fifth game this season and netted 28 points off the bench. The Mountaineers held Georgia State to five offensive rebounds. The Black and Gold and Panthers swapped the lead on nine occasions and knotted the score four times. After Saturday's game, the Mountaineers (12-9, 8-3 SBC) are tied for third with Troy in the Sun Belt standings.
Tafisi put the Mountaineers on the board with a trey and promptly landed a jumper to give the Mountaineers a 5-2 lead. App State and Georgia State traded the lead four times in the first quarter. The Black and Gold went on a 7-0 scoring run that featured a fastbreak layup and pair of freebies from Ingram and a 3-point bucket from Neira, which put App State up 16-10. The Panthers answered with a 5-0 run on their own to cut the deficit to 16-15 at the close of the period. Ingram and Tafisi had combined for nine of App State's 16 points in the quarter. Additionally, Ingram combined with Moffitt for four of App State's eight rebounds in the period.
In the second quarter, Neira and Porter each contributed six points to combine for all 12 of App State's points. The Mountaineers and Panthers traded the lead three more times during the period. Georgia State edged ahead, 18-16, with an early 3-point bucket. Porter and Neira answered with back-to-back treys of their own to push the Mountaineers ahead, 22-18. The duo knocked down another pair of treys to keep App State ahead, 28-22. The Panthers found momentum with a late 9-0 run to take a 31-28 edge at the half.
The Mountaineers opened the third quarter with a free throw from Ingram and jumper from Porter to tie things up at 31 all. App State and Georgia State each netted 11 points over the course of the period. As the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 38-31, Porter drained her third trey of the game, Pericic knocked down a pair of freebies, and Ingram made a free throw to cut the deficit to one (38-37). Tafisi managed to land a jumper, but Georgia State closed the quarter with a 42-39 edge over the Mountaineers.
Neira and Moffitt combined for 12 of App State's 16 points in the final quarter. A pair of jumpers from Moffitt kept the Mountaineers within three of the Panthers' lead (47-44). With a pair of treys from Neira and a trey from senior
Emily Carver, App State took a 53-52 edge. Georgia State answered with a trey of its own to edge ahead, 55-53. Moffitt knotted the score at 55 all with a jumper in the paint, but Georgia State sealed the game, 62-55, with a late 7-0 run.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will head to Monroe, La. for a 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT) game against ULM on Wednesday before returning to Boone to host Northern Illinois for this season's second installment of the MAC-SBC challenge at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Saturday's game will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day and will feature a pregame youth clinic with App State's women's sports teams for the first 50 kids who sign up.
