The App State women’s basketball team traveled to face Marshall Saturday for the first matchup of the season. The Mountaineers edged out the Thundering Herd 68-64.
The Black and Gold kept the game close in the first quarter. Senior guard Mara Neira opened the scoring for the Mountaineers with a three. Freshman guard Hekla Nökkvadóttir knocked down a three as well to even the score at eight.
Despite the good shooting, App State trailed 14-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Marshall scored first in the second quarter but Neira responded with her second three of the game to cut the lead to 3.
Marshall started to pull away on a 11-2 run to increase the lead to 27-15.
The Mountaineers responded with a 9-0 run of their own. The run was highlighted by a pair threes from junior guard Emily Hege and senior guard Zada Porter. The Black and Gold trailed 29-26 at the break.
The shooting continued as junior guard Emily Carver hit a three to tie the game at 29 to start the third quarter.
The Mountaineers took a 41-36 lead behind the scoring of Carver and junior forward Elena Pericic. App State maintained a 46-43 lead. However, a 7-0 run by Marshall put them ahead 50-46 heading into the final quarter.
Carver recorded 7 of her 10 points in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers tied the score at 55 after another Carver three and an old fashioned three-point play from Porter.
A Pericic three gave the Black and Gold a 58-57 lead. Porter hit another three and a free throw to keep the Black and Gold in front 62-60 before Marshall tied it at 62. A bucket and a pair of free throws put the Mountaineers back in front 66-63. A clutch pair of free throws in the final seconds by Porter put the game on ice.
Porter scored 9 of her team-high 15 points in the final quarter. She also went a perfect 3 for 3 from behind the arc. Pericic was close behind with 14 points of her own as well as team-high 7 rebounds.
The Mountaineers shot 42% from behind the arc in the game and 81% from the charity stripe.
App State will start a four-game home stretch against Old Dominion at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The game will be Luau Night and App State students will receive a Luau-themed T-shirt while supplies last.
