BOONE, N.C. - A sluggish first-half performance doomed Appalachian State University women's basketball (4-8, 1-2 SBC) in its 76-45 setback to UT Arlington (7-6, 2-1 SBC) Thursday evening in the Holmes Center.
App State Starters:
#3 Bria Carter, #10 Joi Jones ,
#23 KeKe Cooper,
#34 Madi Story,
#42 Mia Marshall UTA Starters: #00 Cierra Johnson, #13 LaShanda Green, #24 Amara Wainwright, #34 Morgan Holly, #44 Rebekah VanDijk
Appalachian couldn't overcome a hot shooting night from UTA and four players in double figures for the Mavericks. App State also had its own troubles shooting 26.4 percent from the floor while uncharacteristically falling in the rebounding battle, 41-30.
Three players scored six points to lead 10 players that scored for the Mountaineers.
Elizabeth Norregaard scored a career-high six points while
Katelyn Doub and
Ashley Bassett-Smith also chipped in with six points.
Marshall led the team with five boards and Bassett-Smith swatted away three shots for her ninth-straight game with at least one block.
Jasmine Ogunjimi dished out a career-high three assists while Story also came away with three helpers.
App State started strong out of the gate with a 6-1 advantage in the first 2:33 of the contest. Carter started the game with a pair of free throws before consecutive jumpers from Cooper and Bassett-Smith had Appalachian starting the game with confidence. The Mountaineers continued to show strong play tying their game-high five-point lead with a layup from Bassett-Smith that gave App State an 8-3 lead in the period.
With 6:03 left in the period, UTA started to get into a rhythm showing why the Mavericks were picked second in the Sun Belt, stringing a 9-1 run to capture a 14-9 advantage at the end of the quarter.
What App State couldn't have was another nine-point performance the following quarter, which is what happened in the second period as the cold shooting carried over and the Apps couldn't regain momentum.
UTA would take a lead by as much as 12, 30-18, going into the break while Appalachian did cut the deficit to 22-15 with 6:24 left in the half followed by a Carter jumper, but UTA finished the stanza on an 8-3 spurt before half ended.
The Mavericks stayed on top of the Mountaineers in the second half never leading by less than 10 points en route to the victory. UTA shot 53.7 percent from the floor against an App State squad that was first in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage defense at a 32.4 shooting clip heading into the game.
Rebekah VanDijk led four players in double figures scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing nine boards.
App State will look to get back to .500 play in the Sun Belt and look for its first home conference win against Texas State at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Holmes Center.
Tip-Ins
- With Bassett-Smith's three blocks, she is now tied for seventh all-time in blocks (71) passing Melissa Davis (1993-97) and now tied with Catherine Williams (2008-12).
- App State assisted on a season-high 85.7 percent (12-of-14) of its possessions.
- UT Arlington's 53.7 percent shooting from the floor snaps a streak of six-straight games where the Apps limited their opponents to shooting under 40 percent from the field.
- Marshall was the lone player on the team in the plus/minus threshold with plus-3.
