BOONE, N.C. – The App State women's basketball team (10-11, 3-8 SBC) fell short to ULM, 78-70, on Friday. The Mountaineers and Warhawks were originally scheduled to meet on Saturday, but due to incoming inclement weather, the game was shifted to Friday.
"My first thought is I was proud of how the last group, I felt like I finally found a group that was willing to kind of scrap and compete and claw, and then I just left them in. I had a really hard time today finding a group to really get going and play with some emotion," said head coach
Alaura Sharp. "I understand that the scheduling, we could talk about all of this stuff of how they had a day off, we didn't. We had to play back-to-back, they didn't, but that's what it's going to be like in the tournament. We dug ourselves a hole, so we're not going to be in a situation where we have all these byes. We're going to have to go down to Pensacola and play a fresh team and find a way to be tough enough to win the game and that's the sell that we tried to make to our kids and I'm disappointed in just how long it took us to get going. But I also want to compliment
Jada Burton on her play. I think, someone asked me yesterday who is stepping up with
Jayden McBride out, that's my answer:
Jada Burton."
Four Mountaineers scored in double figures, led by graduate student
Jada Burton, who netted a season-high 16 points. She also combined with senior
Emma Smith for eight of App State's 14 assists, each dishing out four. Smith, who scored 13 points, knocked down three of the Black and Gold's six 3-point buckets and tallied six steals. Additionally, Smith combined with sophomore
Feryal Defne Atli and freshman
Riley Stoker for 15 of the Mountaineers' 34 rebounds. Fellow senior
Elena Pericic also netted a season high 14 points for her sixth game in double figures this winter.
Senior
Emily Hege landed a jumper to knot the score at 2-2, the sole tie of the night, before a Smith triple and a Burton jumper pushed App State ahead, 7-4. ULM managed to catch up and take a 12-7 lead with a 5-0 scoring run, but the Mountaineers narrowed the deficit to four at the close of the period with a second 3-pointer from Smith and a pair of free throws from Pericic. The Warhawks' momentum carried through the remainder of the half as App State steadily chipped away at the deficit. Atli and Pericic combined for 10 of App State's 15 points in the second period. A Biel free throw and a Pericic layup, assisted by Smith, helped narrow ULM's lead to 34-27 at halftime.
Burton went to work in the second half, netting 12 of her 16 points in the last 20 minutes of play. As ULM jumped ahead, 48-33, midway through the third quarter, the Mountaineers went on a 6-0 run as Stoker and Burton each drained a pair of free throws and Burton made a trip to the hoop, cutting ULM's lead to 48-39. In the fourth quarter, App State outscored ULM, 26-22, with Pericic and Mitchell combining for 16 points. The Mountaineers drained four of their six triples in the period, which included a pair from Pericic as well as contributions from Smith and Mitchell. Despite a late free throw from Burton, the Mountaineers fell short to ULM, 78-70.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will travel to Troy, Ala. to challenge Troy at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) on Feb. 4 before heading to Kent, Ohio to take on Kent State at 1 p.m. on Feb. 7 in the second installment of the 2025-26 MAC-SBC Challenge.
