SAN MARCOS, Texas - Junior guard Madi Story hit a layup with three seconds left to push Appalachian State University women's basketball (6-7, 1-1 SBC) to a gritty 66-64 victory over Texas State (6-7, 1-1 SBC) on New Year's Eve in Strahan Coliseum.
Story paced the Apps with a game-high 14 points while chipping in with five boards. Ashley Bassett-Smith scored 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field. Bria Carter stuffed the box score with nine points, a game-best seven boards and four assists, and Q. Murray rounded out the leading scorers with eight points.
App State went on to shoot a season-high 47.4 percent from the field while scoring 42 of its 66 points in the paint.
Appalachian snaps the Bobcats' three-game win streak, which was a Sun Belt best going into today's contest. Despite TXST shooting 50 percent from the field and 3-point range, Appalachian made the plays it needed to down the stretch to pull out the first SBC win of the season.
Trailing 54-48 with 9:19 left in the game, Appalachian outscored the hosts 18-10 the rest of the way. The Black and Gold shot 9-for-15 (60 percent) during the stretch while limiting the Bobcats to just four made buckets.
Following a layup from Texas State's McKinley Bostad with eight seconds left in the game, Murray found a cutting Story down the baseline before going through traffic to hit the game-winning shot. TXST had a chance to win the game, but the Bobcats' go-ahead attempt fell short.
App State and Texas State went back-and-forth in a contest that saw seven ties and 14 lead changes. App State took its first lead of the game, 10-9, with 2:55 thanks to a 6-0 spurt capped off by Bayley Plummer. The Bobcats would retake the lead with a 15-13 advantage going into the second frame.
The second quarter was much of the same, where the Apps and Bobcats couldn't gain any separation from each other. Bassett-Smith hit a shot down low to put App ahead 22-18 during the makings of what looked like a big run for the Black and Gold, but the Bobcats outscored the Apps 13-5 over the final 7:48 of the first half thanks to three trifectas and a 31-27 lead going into the break.
App State would score the first eight points of the second half to go out in front, 35-31, while three different Mountaineers scored during the charge. TXST answered with two treys to retake the lead that it wouldn't give up and eventually went into the final quarter with a 49-46 edge.
After the Bobcats took their largest lead of the game with 9:19 left, 54-48. Appalachian kicked it into gear with a 14-3 run over the next six minutes to take a five-point lead, 62-57. Appalachian clamped down on defense forcing TXST into five turnovers and a 4:27 scoring drought.
Six different players scored for the Apps, three of which came off the bench. Amber Driver hit her lone field goal of the game to begin the run while two freshmen in Brooklyn Allen and Armani Hampton hit clutch back-to-back layups to cap off the stretch. Allen and Hampton played less than 15 minutes each, but both players came up big in crunch time.
TXST wouldn't give up as it came back to tie the game before the thrilling finish, which both teams would exchange leads in the 1:08, including Bassett-Smith's layup that gave App a 64-62 advantage.
Appalachian shot 58 percent in the second half (34.6 percent in first half) while scoring 30 of their 39 points in the second half in the box.
App State will return home on Thursday, Jan. 5 against Arkansas State at 7 p.m. for the Sun Belt home opener inside the Holmes Center.
Quotable
On the Win (Coach Elderkin)
“Today was a great team win. I loved the grit and toughness our team played with, especially in the last 10 minutes.”
On the final play (Coach Elderkin)
“Our last play was obviously designed to get the ball in Joi's hands. We discussed if they didn't guard the inbounds, to look to throw the ball back. But give all the credit to Ashley [Bassett-Smith] flashing to the ball and then Q. [Murray] making a great pass to Madi [Story] for the great finish.
Tip-Ins
- Despite not scoring 20 points like the past two games, the bench did shoot 5-of-7 with 13 points.
- App State has scored 30 or more points in the paint in all six wins (6-0).
- The Mountaineers are 3-2 this season in games decided by five points or more.
- Appalachian is 3-2 against Texas State, and it's the first win on the road against either Texas team in the Sun Belt (UT Arlington).
