App State women’s basketball won their home opener in dominant fashion against the Columbia College Koalas Friday night.
From start to finish it was all a Mountaineer mania with the team having their highest scoring affair since December of 2022, as they won in a 97-43 blowout.
The first quarter started out hot for the Black and Gold, as starting graduate student forward Zoë McCrary won the tipoff. Following a Columbia foul, App State took an early lead, which only grew as senior guard Emily Carver hit a three off an assist from McCrary.
After a pair of Koala free throws in which one was made, senior guard Mara Neira pump faked a defender and hit a two in the paint.
App State established a lead early on and were not willing to give it up as Neira hit back-to-back threes, and senior guard J’Mani Ingram put up two buckets to finish out the quarter; the second of Ingram’s coming from a jumper after spinning out of a block making it a 24-6 game.
The team’s chemistry and speed were highlighted early in the second quarter as a throw-in was taken by senior guard Zada Porter after she broke away from her defender and hit a layup.
Senior guard Asjah Inniss was one of the key pieces to the team’s play, as she put up five in the second quarter, and junior guard Seneya Martinez also put up five.
Going into halftime, true freshman guard Hekla Nökkvadóttir sank a three which extended the Mountaineer lead even more.
Coming out of the half, the show continued right out of the gate with Neira hitting a three. The first half set the precedent and it seemed as if the team felt no reason to slow down with plays like Neira getting a rebound and throwing it downcourt to Porter who took it for a layup making that evident.
Porter, being one of many frequent scorers of the night, was also able to make a layup through a foul and then hit the one that followed. In the waning moments of the third quarter, Ingram sank two free throws following a foul.
The fourth quarter was truly more of the same as Porter got a block on defense nearly right off the bat.
With the momentum of the night pushing her, Ingram really shined and seemed to be everywhere on both offense and defense, putting up six points and grabbing two rebounds in the span of mere minutes.
Martinez topped off her night with an incredible interception on a Koala pass which she took down the court for two.
Senior forward Samantha LaFon scored the final points of the night, capping off the Black and Gold’s incredible 54-point win.
The team’s defense on the night was also quite prominent as they managed to keep the Koalas under 10 points in three of the four quarters. This was headlined by Martinez as she had seven rebounds, a pair of blocks and a pair of steals.
App State heads to Greensboro next Saturday to face off against the UNC-Greensboro Spartans in their next game. The game begins at 3:30 p.m. and can be watched on ESPN+.
