HARRISONBURG, Va. – The App State women's basketball team rounded out its final regular season road trip in Harrisonburg, Va., falling short to James Madison, 74-48.
Senior
Elena Pericic and sophomore
Feryal Defne Atli combined for 25 of App State's points. Pericic, who netted 14 points and drained two of the Mountaineers' 3-point buckets, marked her ninth game in double figures this winter. Additionally, Pericic combined with fellow senior
Emma Smith for six assists, each dishing out three. Atli registered her third game as the Black and Gold's top rebounder this season, grabbing seven boards. App State matched JMU with five triples and 13 fastbreak points apiece.
Off the tip, graduate student
Jada Burton landed a jumper in the paint to put App State on the board (2-0). JMU answered with a 5-0 scoring run to take the lead. A layup from Pericic and jumper from Smith kept the Mountaineers within one (7-6) midway through the first quarter. Atli made a jumper of her own, which senior
Emily Hege followed up with a triple to push App State ahead, 11-10. JMU went on a 6-0 run to close the quarter with a 16-11 advantage.
JMU's momentum carried for the remainder of play. App State managed to narrow the Dukes' lead back to one (20-19) with a jumper from Atli and treys from freshman
Riley Stoker and Smith. With a 7-0 run, JMU expanded the lead to 27-19. Despite a pair of layups from Mitchell and a pair of jumpers from Atli, JMU maintained a 38-27 lead at the half.
Pericic went to work in the third quarter, netting nine of App State's 12 points in the period. She went on to open the fourth quarter with a triple, assisted by graduate student
Jada Burton, which Smith followed up with a layup. However, the Dukes commanded the fourth quarter with a 16-2 run over a 6:26 span to secure the 74-48 win.
Up Next
App State will close out the regular season next week with games against Georgia Southern on Feb. 25 and Old Dominion on Feb. 27. Both games will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. and will be available to stream on ESPN+. Fans are encouraged to wear black to Wednesday's game against Georgia Southern. There will be 500 black rally towels available for the first 500 fans. Wednesday will also be Stroll Night and will feature stroll performances from six NPHC organizations. Friday's regular season finale against Old Dominion will be Senior Night. The Mountaineers will honor graduating seniors
Jada Burton,
Emily Hege, Zoë McCrary,
Elena Pericic, and
Emma Smith.
