BOONE, N.C. - The App State women's basketball team is set to close out the regular season with a clash with Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C. on Friday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. and the game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers fell short to Georgia Southern, 57-55, in Statesboro, Ga. on Wednesday. For a third game this season, senior
Zada Porter was the Mountaineers' top scorer and top rebounder. She netted 22 points, one shy of her career-high which she's hit twice this season, and grabbed six rebounds. Junior
Emily Hege also netted double-figures, scoring 11 points and draining two of App State's three treys.
Around the Mountain
With one regular season game remaining, Porter leads the team with an average 11.1 points per contest. Junior
Rylan Moffitt leads the team in the rebounds category, averaging 4.6 per contest. Following Moffitt is fellow junior
Elena Pericic and Porter, who both average 4.4 rebounds per game. Dishing out an average of 4.6 assists per game, senior
Eleyana Tafisi leads the Mountaineers in the assists category.
In conference action, App State stands second in the Sun Belt in assists, averaging 15.76 per conference clash. The Mountaineers rank third in 3-point percentage (34.4%) and made 3-pointers (7.7), as well as fourth in field goal percentage (42.7%) and defensive rebounds (26.1). Tafisi checks in at third in the league in assists per game, averaging 5.1 per conference contest.
App State holds steady as the Sun Belt's leader in assists per game (15.5). The Mountaineers also rank third in the league and 28th nationally in bench points per game (24.8). The Black and Gold also check in at third in the SBC in defensive rebounds per game (26.3), and 3-point percentage (33.7%). Individually, Tafisi remains the SBC's season leader in the assists per game category and remains sixth in the league in total assists (106). Porter joins Tafisi in the league's top-10 in assists per game, checking in at sixth (3.5). She also stands eighth in the Sun Belt in free throw percentage (76.0%). Senior
Mara Neira ranks eighth in the SBC standings in 3-pointers per game (1.86).
Series History vs. Coastal Carolina
App State leads the series against the Chanticleers, 16-7, and have won the last three games against Coastal Carolina. The Mountaineers and Chanticleers last met on Jan. 11 in Boone, where App State clinched a 63-60 victory. Moffitt netted a season and team-high 15 points, draining a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and 1-of-1 from the arc. Pericic scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Pericic also combined with Neira for six of App State's 10 3-point buckets. It was also the Mountaineers' fifth game of the 2024-25 campaign netted 10 or more treys. App State held CCU to seven second chance points, nine assists, and 3-point percentage of 28.0%.
Scouting Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina is 21-7 (11-6 SBC) on the season and enters Friday's contest off an 81-65 home loss to Old Dominion. Since meeting the Mountaineers on Jan. 11, the Chants split a pair of games against Georgia State (Jan. 16 and 22), dropped contests to James Madison (Jan. 18 and 26), and won eight consecutive games from Jan. 29 to Feb. 22. Coastal Carolina's win streak included victories over Marshall, Louisiana, Texas State, Buffalo, Georgia Southern and Arkansas State. Coastal Carolina received votes in this week's CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid Major Top-25.
A quartet of Chanticleers average double-figures, led by Alancia Ramsey, who averages 12.4 points per game. Following Ramsey is Savannah Brooks (13.9), Kristin Williams (11.1), and Jayden Marable (10.0). Ramsey also leads the team in rebounds, grabbing an average of 6.6 per contest. Marable averages a team-high 4.1 assists per game, while Brooks leads the team with an average 2.4 steals per game.
Ramsey leads the Sun Belt in field goal percentage (56.0%) and Williams leads the conference in 3-pointers per game, averaging 2.5 per conference clash. Coastal Carolina stands fourth in assists (13.18) and steals (9.71). The Chanticleers also round out the Sun Belt's top-five in field goal percentage (41.9%) and defensive rebounds (26.0) in conference play.
For the season, Coastal Carolina leads the league in field goal percentage (43.1%) and turnovers forced per game (20.89). Additionally, CCU stands 23rd in the NCAA in turnovers forced per game. The Chanticleers rank second in the league and 26th nationally in steals per game (11.1) as well as third in the conference in 3-pointers per game (7.6). Williams leads the league and ranks among the NCAA's top-30 in 3-pointers (73) and 3-pointers per game (2.61). Brooks ranks third in the league in steals (60) and steals per game. Marable rounds out the Sun Belt's top-five in assists (113) and assists per game, while Riley Stack rounds out the SBC's top-five in blocks (34) and blocks per game (1.21).
On the Horizon
The Sun Belt Women's Basketball Championship is slated for March 4-10 at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
App State is projected to take either the fifth, sixth, or seventh seed in the tournament pending the outcome of Friday's results in the App State, Old Dominion, and Louisiana games. The Sun Belt Tournament bracket will be announced after the conclusion of the final SBC game on Friday.