BOONE, N.C. - The App State women's basketball team will host James Madison for its National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) game on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be available to stream on ESPN+ for fans who are unable to make it to the Holmes Center.
At 5:30 p.m. there will be a pregame clinic with App State women's sports teams on the Holmes Center concourse. The first 200 fans to arrive at the game will receive a free NGWSD-themed t-shirt. Following the game, fans are encouraged to stick around for an autograph session with App State Women's Basketball. Wednesday's game is also a Mountaineers Supporting Mountaineers night for App State's student-athletes.
Last Time Out
App State paused Sun Belt action as it clashed with Kent State in the MAC-SBC Challenge on Saturday. The Mountaineers fell short to the Golden Flashes, 68-63, in Kent, Ohio, despite four lead changes and four ties. Junior
Daisia Mitchell scored a team-high 18 points, marking her eight games as App State's top scorer. She also shot 100% from the charity stripe and combined with graduate student
Jada Burton for nine of the Mountaineers' 13 steals. Freshman
Addie Biel and sophomore
Feryal Defne Atli joined Mitchell in double figures with 14 points and 12 points, respectively. Senior
Elena Pericic was App State's top rebounder on the afternoon, grabbing six boards. She also combined with fellow senior
Emma Smith for seven of the Black and Gold's 13 assists.
Rankings Report
Mitchell and Smith continue to lead as App State's top scorers, averaging 11.1 and 10.0 points per contest, respectively. Mitchell, who has netted double figures in 16 games, including five consecutive games since Jan. 23, also leads the team in blocks, tallying 12 this winter. Smith ranks second in the league in assist to turnover ratio (1.57), leading the Mountaineers in the assists category with an average of 3.7 per contest. She is also App State's top rebounder, averaging 6.2 boards per contest, as well as the Mountaineers' leader in the steals category (2.0 stl/g).
App State continues to lead the Sun Belt in scoring defense, holding teams to an average of 59.7 points per contest. The Mountaineers also lead the league in 3-point percentage defense, holding teams to a mark of 27.2%. Additionally, the Mountaineers rank third in the league in field goal percentage (43.1%).
In league-only action, the Mountaineers rank third in the league in scoring defense, holding teams to an average of 65.2 points. App State also ranks fourth in team free throw percentage with a mark of 72.5% and rounds out the top five in assists, averaging 13.42 per conference contest.
Series History vs. James Madison
The Mountaineers fell short to James Madison in both of their contests last season. In Harrisonburg, Va. on Feb. 13, App State came up short, 77-61.
Mara Neira was App State's top scorer, netting 18 points and accounting for four of App State's eight 3-point buckets.
Emily Carver grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while
Eleyana Tafisi led the team in assists and steals, recording seven in both categories. In the Mountaineers' home closer on Feb. 22, 2025, App State fell short, 83-57.
Zada Porter netted a team-high 14 points and dished out team-high six assists in her last home game in the Black and Gold.
Emily Hege, who scored 13 points, drained three of App State's six triples. The Mountaineers' top rebounder was
Rylan Moffitt, who grabbed seven boards.
Scouting James Madison
James Madison, which was ranked 18th in last week's
CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25, is 18-8 on the season and 9-4 in Sun Belt play. The Dukes have won their last four games, entering Wednesday's contest fresh off a 71-57 victory over MAC contender UMass. Since starting conference action, the Dukes have only dropped contests against Marshall (Dec. 20) Georgia Southern (Jan. 7), Georgia State (Jan. 10), Arkansas State (Jan. 25). The Duke's losses to Marshall and Georgia State were both dropped in overtime.
Redshirt senior guard Peyton McDaniel, graduate student forward Ashanti Barnes, and junior guard Bree Robinson are JMU's top scorers, averaging 18.9, 14.4, and 11.3 points per contest, respectively. McDaniel, who ranks 16th in the nation in total points this winter (492) leads the Sun Belt in field goals (172), and points per game, ranking among the NCAA's top 35 in both categories. Barnes rounds out the NCAA's top 50 in double-doubles (8), rebounds (237), and rebounds per game (9.1). Junior guard Zakiya Stephenson and Robinson rank among the nation's top 45 in assists (113) and steals (65), respectively. JMU leads the SBC in field goal percentage (44.5%) and stands among the NCAA's top 30 in total rebounds per game (42.27), rebound margin (8.7), and defensive rebounds per game (28.5).
Through 13 Sun Belt contests, James Madison leads the league in field goal percentage (46.9%), assists (16.0), and assist to turnover ratio (1.02). Barnes leads the league with a field goal percentage of 53.6%.
On the Horizon
The Mountaineers return to the court to host Georgia State for Pink Day and Alumni Day on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be available to stream on ESPN+. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and there will be a t-shirt giveaway for the first 100 students at the game. App State Women's Basketball alumni can
register for the weekend's activities. There will also be an autograph session with the team following Saturday's game.
