BOONE, N.C. - Suffocating defense, dominant interior play and a team-centric performance led Appalachian State University women's basketball (10-13, 5-7 SBC) to a convincing 73-48 victory over archrival Georgia Southern (10-13, 6-6 SBC) on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center.
All nine student-athletes who got in the game scored while four players notched double-figures in the scoring column. Appalachian did a great job moving the ball with 19 assists on 29 field goals.
Madi Story led all scorers with 17 points for her seventh straight game in double-figures. The junior wing led the team with six assists and snagged four boards. Joi Jones shot an efficient 7-for-10 from the floor with seven rebounds and four helpers.
Ashley Bassett-Smith turned in a solid effort on both ends of the floor with 12 points, four boards and four swats, surpassing KeKe Cooper (2012-15) for fourth place all-time with 131 career blocks and counting. Q. Murray rounded out the leading scorers with 11 points, and Bria Carter corralled 10 off the glass for a game-high.
The Mountaineers led wire-to-wire never trailing in the contest, as a 13-0 start in the first 6:06 of the game was all the Black and Gold needed. App held the Eagles scoreless for the first 6:35 of the quarter and missed their first 10 shots of the contest en route to a 17-7 lead going into the second frame.
Appalachian stayed in front of the visitors for the rest of the half taking a 30-20 advantage going into the break. The 20 points by GS tied a season-low for fewest points in any half this season.
App State stayed in control with ease as the lead never dipped below 13 points in the second half, and eventually went up by 25 in the waning seconds of the game. App snapped Georgia Southern's three-game win streak and matched last season's win total.
The Black and Gold forced 18 Georgia Southern turnovers that led to 24 points while holding a dominating 23-5 advantage in second-chance points. The Mountaineers recorded a 32-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 46-33 rebounding advantage.
Defensively, the App defense held Georgia Southern's two leading scorers Angel McGowan (15. 3 ppg) and Patrice Butler (15.0 ppg) in check to a combined 9-for-25 shooting performance and just 24 points.
After making 30 3-pointers combined over the last three games, the Apps held Georgia Southern to 3-for-22 from beyond the arc, which was a season low in trifectas for the Eagles.
App will look for its third-straight conference win against Georgia State in the annual #Play4Kay game. Tip will start at 1 p.m. on ESPN3.
Quotable
“We really wanted to disrupt them defensively and not let them get off any 3-pointers because they came into the game averaging 10 3-pointers over their win streak. The team stuck to the game defensively, and executed it really well. On offense, we really attacked their zone by moving the ball and it showed on how many of our field goals were assisted on. This was the best ball movement we've had against the zone this season and it paid off today. Everyone contributed to tonight's win, and we're looking forward to Saturday.
Tip-Ins
- App State is 7-0 when scoring 70 or more points.
- The Mountaineers are 10-4 when recording 10 or more assists.
- Jones led the team with a 21 Player Efficiency Rating (PER).
- The entire starting five of Murray, Carter, Jones, Bassett-Smith and Story had a plus/minus of 19 or more.
- Bassett-Smith's plus-32 tonight was a career-high for the senior and a team-high this season.
- Appalachian is 6-1 when scoring at least .900 points per possession.
