App State women’s basketball took on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Saturday, securing a close win 63-60.
Coming into the game the Chanticleers were 12-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while the Mountaineers were at .500 coming off a 68-85 loss to the Troy Trojans on Thursday.
The first quarter went the way of the Mountaineers. Both teams traded threes to start the game. The Mountaineers took the lead off of a three-pointer from senior guard Mara Neira, then extended it with a pair of free throws from senior guard Zada Porter. Junior forward Elena Pericic hit a three to close out the Mountaineers scoring for the quarter, leading 19-15.
The Chanticleers took the lead 19-21 before the Mountaineers responded with a quick two. App State would pull away again leading 29-23 with 4:53 to play in the second forcing a timeout from Coastal.
The Mountaineers went on an 8-3 run to end the half capped off by a three from Neira, leading at halftime 39-29.
The third quarter saw the Chanticleers outscore and out-rebound the Mountaineers, but they could only close the deficit to eight as App State led 50-42 going into the final period of play.
The Chanticleers went on a 7-0 run for nearly four minutes in the fourth, until it ended with a layup from senior guard Emily Carver. The Chants were able to close the gap to four with two minutes remaining before the Mountaineers took a timeout with 1:51 remaining.
Up four with a minute remaining, senior guard Eleyana Tafisi was called for traveling, but the Chanticleers were unable to capitalize. Coastal Carolina began intentionally fouling with 45.8 to play. On the ensuing play, junior guard Emily Hege turned the ball over, which allowed Coastal Carolina’s Jaylen Ponder to score, cutting the lead to two.
Pericic went to the line after being intentionally fouled with 21.7 seconds left, she missed both shots giving the Chanticleers the ball down two with 21 seconds remaining.
Tafisi drew a charge with 12.1 seconds remaining giving App State the possession. The Mountaineers turned the ball over and sent Ponder back to the free-throw line. She missed both and couldn’t score off the rebound.
The ball ended up in Pericic’s hands, and she extended the lead to three at the line with six seconds remaining. Coastal Carolina could not tie it up at the buzzer.
Pericic put up 12 points, a team-high 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Junior forward Rylan Moffitt led the team in scoring with 15 points, going 7-7 from the field but played sparsely in the fourth quarter after falling into foul trouble.
“I’ll be transparent. I went 0-5 last and I’m 100% tonight, so you win some you lose some,” Moffitt said. “My teammates kept feeding me, finding me the ball. I gotta give kudos to them too.”
Head coach Alaura Sharp singled out Tafisi in her postgame press conference
“It was taking us a long time to get into our offense,” Sharp said. “The composure and the grit and the toughness for her to handle all of that I’m really, really proud of that.”
Coastal Carolina ran a full-court press for nearly the entire game. Despite this Tafisi recorded five assists.
With this victory the Mountaineers move to 8-7 overall and 4-1 in conference play. They’ll look to start a winning streak against the Old Dominion Monarchs Wednesday in Norfolk, Virginia. The game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. and will be available to watch on ESPN+.
