App State women’s basketball welcomed James Madison University to Boone Wednesday. The Mountaineers built a 10-point lead in the first half, but the Dukes rallied back to win 60-53.
James Madison scored the opening basket a minute into the game, and the Dukes took a 6-0 lead a few minutes later.
Freshman forward Addie Biel put App State on the scoreboard, fighting through contact for a layup four minutes into the first quarter.
Both teams had difficulty hitting their shots in the first quarter. App State went 3-13 from the floor in the first quarter while James Madison did not score for the last six and a half minutes of the quarter.
One of App State’s 3 baskets in the first quarter came from senior guard Emily Hege, who connected on a mid-range jumper as the shot clock expired to make it a 6-5 game.
Senior guard Emma Smith drilled a deep 3-pointer with a minute left to give App State the lead. The Mountaineers held on to their 2-point lead, 8-6, as the quarter came to a close.
Both offenses continued to struggle to score, but sophomore forward Feryal Defne Atli banked in a layup halfway through the second quarter for a 13-10 App State lead.
The Mountaineers extended their advantage to 8 points when Hege connected on a 3-pointer from the corner with three and a half minutes left in the half.
James Madison began to find their footing on offense, but a steal by senior forward Elena Pericic led to graduate student guard Jada Burton hitting a wide-open 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining in the half.
App State’s defense held the Dukes in check the entire first half, and the Mountaineers went into the locker room with a 26-19 lead at halftime.
“We’re really in rhythm in those moments,” said Head coach Alaura Sharp about ending the first half strong. “We’re not playing tight, not tense and we’re not looking for someone else to make plays, we just make them.”
Coming out of the break, neither team was willing to play the sloppy and slow pace of the first half, especially Alti and Smith, who combined for the Mountaineers’ first 9 points of the quarter.
To match the Black and Gold’s two man game, JMU had three players score all 18 points in the initial 10 minutes of the half. The Dukes’ forwards Ashanti Barnes and Grace McDonough attacked App State at the rim while guard Peyton McDaniel severed the Mountaineers in the mid-range.
The Dukes’ ability to get to the paint put the Black and Gold in foul trouble, especially Biel.
Heading to the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers maintained the lead, but JMU was on their coattails and didn’t stop with the break. App State’s offense came out to the final 10 minutes stuck in the mud and didn’t score for the first four minutes and 39 seconds of the final quarter.
Alti took matters into her own hands, banking an and-1 layup, giving the Black and Gold momentum. Smith capitalized on the hyped up crowd, hitting 2 huge 3-pointers cutting the Dukes’s lead to 1 and forcing them to call timeout.
After the hot stretch from Smith, James Madison went on a 7-0 run of their own and put the game away. Pericic made an and-1 shot from behind the 3-point line, giving the Mountaineers hope, but it was too little too late, and JMU won the game 60-53.
“Our kids are hurting. Kind of feels like three games in a row that we’ve played really hard and well,” Sharp said. “We’ve had different players step up, but we just can’t close the game.”
JMU finished the second half 15-26 from the field compared to the Black and Gold’s 10-30. The turnovers were also a rough spot for App State in the final 20 minutes, committing 10 to JMU’s 2.
The loss brings App State’s losing streak to 4, marking their longest of the season and moving them further down the Sun Belt Conference standings to 12th.
App State has a chance to break the streak Saturday as they take on Georgia State University. The game is set to tip-off at 2 p.m. and acts as alumni and pink day for the team.
They will honor cancer survivor and App State legend Valarie Whiteside with pink jerseys during the game.
