The App State women’s basketball team made the trip to Pensacola, Florida, for the Sun Belt Conference tournament in hopes of hanging their first conference championship banner in the rafters. 

The Mountaineers were ranked as the No. 6 seed and their first matchup was No. 11 seed Marshall Friday. 

The Black and Gold were well rested as they were given a bye until the fourth round of the tournament. However, this matchup was the Thundering Herd’s fourth of the tournament.

Senior guard Zada Porter put the Mountaineers on the board first with a layup. Porter followed up with a three, scoring 5 of the team’s first 7 points. 

App State led 6-7 with 4:52 to go in the first quarter. 

Senior guard Mara Neria came off the bench and drilled her first three-point attempt to extend the lead to 4. 

The Thundering Herd responded with a 10-0 run which was snapped with a Neira layup.

The Mountaineers trailed 19-13 at the end of the first quarter. 

Neira opened the second quarter with her second three. 

Senior guard Emily Carver followed with 7 of the next 8 points for the Black and Gold, making the score 29-24. Carver scored two layups and a three during the stretch. 

App State went into the break trailing 35-26. 

Junior forward Elena Pericic scored the first points for the Mountaineers with a three. Marshall held a 40-29 lead. 

Neira one-upped her teammate with back-to-back threes, making the score 43-35. 

The Black and Gold hit a couple free throws and entered the final quarter trailing 55-41. 

Carver continued to score with 3 three-pointers and a layup to open the fourth quarter. 

A layup from senior forward Samantha LaFon and three-pointer from Neira made the score 69-60 with 1:30 left to play. 

Neira went on to make 2 more threes, but it was not enough and the Mountaineers lost 75-66. 

Carver and Neira led the Black and Gold with 23 points each. Carver made 4 three pointers and Neira made a game high 7. 

App State finished with a 13-17 overall record and were 9-9 in conference play.