App State women’s basketball had its third consecutive home game, facing the Davidson College Wildcats. The Black and Gold went into the contest with an unbeaten 2-0 record. Their streak was spoiled Wednesday night by a loss of 74-55.
Junior guard Daisia Mitchell started the game off with a hard-fought layup, putting the Mountaineers on the board with just a minute played.
A scoreless three minutes for App State allowed the Wildcats to launch on an 11-0 run, which seemed to shake the Mountaineer offense.
Graduate student guard Jada Burton was able to make use of the sporadic Wildcat defense and made a wide-open layup to get the team back on its feet.
Senior forward Elena Pericic scored her 1,000th career point on a layup with just over two minutes left in the quarter.
(Sam Baechli)
Mitchell and senior guard Emma Smith led the pack with 4 points each, coming off of an intense 10 minutes of play.
The Mountaineers saw little action five minutes into the second quarter with a steady score of 24-16.
Smith was fouled twice in 30 seconds, giving the Mountaineers an advantage from the stripe. Smith shot 100% from the free-throw line in the first half. App State fell behind 28-35.
App State had yet to make a three-pointer off of five attempts in the half.
Pericic got the layup to go and made the first three-pointer of the game just two minutes into the third quarter.
After what appeared to be a regrouped defense, App State slipped up on a few opportunities, leaving the score at 47-39 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.
Back-to-back fouls on the Mountaineers gave the Wildcats a few extra chances at the line, extending the lead to 52-41 with over three minutes left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a similar story for the Mountaineers as they remained scoreless for the first two minutes, but a floater from Pericic found its way in giving the Black and Gold their first points of the final quarter.
App State could not shake the Wildcats as their deficit increased to 64-50 with a little under five minutes left in the quarter.
The Mountaineers ended the night losing 74-55.
“The discipline that it takes to defend a team like Davidson, when you watch them on film, they leave their feet and they do a lot of double teams at the paint,” head coach Alaura Sharp said in the postgame press conference.
Despite the loss, Pericic had a decorated night with 13 points, a block and a steal while shooting 100% from the stripe.
Smith was a powerhouse, leading the team with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
“I thought she played with tremendous toughness and great effort and really showed that she can handle that kind of pressure for 37 minutes,” Sharp said.
App State will stay at home to face off against the Wofford College Terriers at 2 p.m. Sunday. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+.
