ATLANTA - For the second time in as many games, Appalachian State University women's basketball (10-17, 7-11) needed late-game heroics to come away with an exhilarating 72-69 win over Georgia State Saturday afternoon in the GSU Sports Arena.
With the win, the Mountaineers have a two-game cushion over GSU (10-17, 5-13) for the eighth seed in the conference tournament, while the victory gave the Apps a 2-0 finish on the road in league play for the first time this season.
Joi Jones pumped in a career-high 28 points while shooting an impressive 12-for-17 (70.5 percent) in a game-high 38 minutes of action. The junior guard came up with big plays in the final quarter once again with 11 of her 17 second-half points. Kaila Craven didn't play like a freshman on Saturday, pouring in a personal-best 18 points off the bench while draining a career-best four 3-pointers, three of which either tied the game or gave Appalachian the lead.
Madi Story stuffed the stat sheet with six points, a team-high seven boards, four assists and four swipes.
KeKe Cooper added in 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field with three blocks and five boards. The senior didn't set any career highs, but she did make perhaps the two biggest plays of the season for the Mountaineers in the thick of the tournament race.
With 27 seconds left in the game and the Mountaineers trailing, 69-67, Cooper grabbed the offensive board over two defenders off the missed layup, went up strong to convert the putback in spite of being fouled and tied the game at 69-all. Moments later, Cooper hit the free throw to put the Apps up by one, 70-69.
On the following possession, Georgia State's Makeba Ponder went left for the layup before Cooper came from help side to pick up the crucial block, while Bria Carter snagged the rebound.
Still leading by just one with six seconds left, Craven stepped up to the line after drawing the foul and hit the two biggest free throws of the game that gave Appalachian a 72-69 advantage, and put pressure on GSU to hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. Georgia State had chance to tie with a tightly-contested 3-pointer, but fell way short, sealing the win for the Mountaineers.
The trio of Jones, Craven and Cooper scored 57 of the team's 72 points (79 percent) while shooting 23-for-39 (59 percent) from the field.
It was a close game throughout, as the Mountaineers and Panthers exchanged 14 ties and 14 lead changes while neither team led by more than five points.
Appalachian took an early 9-4 lead in the opening 3:46 of the contest once Jones hit one of her three layups in the period. GSU cut the deficit to one, 11-10, with 3:03 left in the first stanza. Cooper extended the lead back to five, 15-10, on a jumper that was assisted on by Carter. App State was on top of the hosts for the rest of the frame taking a 17-14 advantage.
Craven's trifecta with 9:28 left in second quarter put the Apps up 20-16. However, an 11-2 run over a 4:01 span gave Georgia State its largest lead of the game at five, 27-22. Appalachian responded with a 9-4 run to cut the lead to one, 32-31, thanks to a layup from Cooper with 45 seconds left. After a GSU layup on the following possession, Craven drained one from long distance to tie things up going into the break, 34-34.
Both teams shot well in the first half with Appalachian shooting an even 50 percent and Georgia State shooting 51.7 percent. Jones and Craven totaled 21 points between the duo guards on 9-for-13 shooting while Cooper went 4-of-6 for eight points.
The Sun Belt foes went back and forth in the third quarter. Trailing 42-38 with 5:23 left in the contest, Ashley Bassett-Smith sparked a 5-0 spurt that was capped off by a corner trifecta from Craven that pushed App State to a 43-42 advantage. From the 5:04 mark until the end of the third quarter, the Apps and Panthers finished with seven lead changes before the Black and Gold took a 50-49 lead into the fourth quarter when Mia Marshall received a nifty pass from Carter for the layin.
Story got the ball rolling with three-straight points in the final period to extend the Apps' lead to three, 52-49. But like the previous three frames, the Panthers didn't go away quietly where they scored 10 of the next 14 points to take a 59-57 lead with 4:56 left in the game. App State scored on back-to-back jumpers from Jones that gave App State a 61-59 lead. But the Panthers sprinted to a 65-62 lead with 2:35 left in the contest off a 6-1 run.
Coming in the clutch moments later was Craven on the offensive end, where she hit a 3-pointer to tie the contest, 65-65. GSU and App State traded two more baskets that gave GSU a 69-67 lead with 1:19 left in the game, setting up the final theatrics.
In the fourth quarter, App State came away with seven offensive rebounds to GSU's two boards on the offensive end. The Panthers did have 13 offensive rebounds (Appalachian - eight offensive rebounds) entering the final period. Appalachian also went 8-for-9 in the fourth quarter (11-for-13 overall).
App State will conclude the regular season with the final home stretch against the top two teams in the conference, starting with Little Rock on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center.
Quotable
“For the last 48 hours, we talked about how this game was going to come down to rebounding the basketball. Our team was on a mission in the fourth quarter and I am extremely proud of our second effort and commitment. Joi Jones put this team on her back and everyone responded by leaving their best effort on the court.” - head coach Angel Elderkin
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