The Mountaineers traveled to Norfolk, Virginia Thursday to begin their four-game road trip with a 68-49 loss to the Old Dominion Monarchs. 

This was the first of two matchups between these conference foes with the second to be held in Boone Feb. 22. The teams came in tied in the Sun Belt standings with identical conference records of 4-3. 

After jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead, App State allowed ODU to close the final eight minutes of the first quarter on an 18-3 run and take a 20-9 lead into the second. 

 The Black and Gold showed fight in the second frame as junior guard Emily Carver converted a layup at the 1:48 mark to cap off a 7-0 run and bring the Mountaineers within eight at 26-18. Carver put up seven points in 20 minutes in her first outing since being sidelined after the matchup with Marquette Dec. 17. 

Junior guard J’Mani Ingram converted a mid-range jump shot with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter, trimming the Monarch lead to 44-37. This was the smallest deficit App State got in the second half. 

Old Dominion won the fourth quarter 20-11 thanks to a fundamental mindset as all of their points came either in the paint or from the charity stripe. The Monarchs won by a final of 68-49, moving to 13-5 on the season.  

Senior guard Faith Alston and sophomore guard Chaé Harris led App State in scoring with 12 points each. Sophomore guard Alexis Black tacked in eight points along with three rebounds. 

Assisting was an issue for the Mountaineers as their tally for the contest was only six. Ball movement problems led to poor shot selection for App State as the team shot 30% from the field. 

With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Black and Gold are now fifth in the Sun Belt with a conference record of 4-4 and an overall record of 10-9.

The Mountaineers will continue their road trip Saturday against James Madison at 4 p.m. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.