The Mountaineers fell 81-69 to the current first-place Sun Belt team in the Marshall Thundering Herd Wednesday evening. This is their third loss in a row on the road trip after dropping games to Old Dominion and James Madison.

App State traded blows and crashed the glass hard in the first quarter. It culminated in a hard-fought offensive rebound for sophomore forward Rylan Moffitt that she kicked out to freshman guard Chaé Harris for a three-point bucket to give the Mountaineers a 14-12 lead. A couple of minutes later, junior guard Emily Carver turned a steal into another three-pointer.

The second quarter ended with both teams trading quick buckets. A lay-up with 52 seconds left by graduate student guard Mariah Frazier was followed up by a jumper from Harris on the next offensive possession to put the halftime score at 39-37.

The Thundering Herd stormed ahead offensively in the third quarter with a 15-2 run, kicked off by two three-pointers from the Herd’s forward Meredith Maier. The last Mountaineer bucket of the quarter came from a strong move to the basket and lay-up from Frazier with 2:21 on the clock. The Black and Gold were outscored 23-9 in the third, putting Marshall up 62-46.

The Mountaineers offense fought hard in the final frame, scoring 23 points led by senior guard Faith Alston with 10 points. She finished the game leading all App State scorers with 16 points and four assists.

App State shot 47% from the field, compared to Marshall’s 37%. The Mountaineers committed 20 turnovers, while the Thundering Herd hauled in 14 offensive rebounds.

This was the Mountaineers first meeting with Marshall this year, who remain undefeated in conference play maintaining sole possession of first place. They rematch against the Thundering Herd Feb. 15 at noon in the Holmes Convocation Center.

The Mountaineers will continue their road trip in Conway, South Carolina Saturday to face Coastal Carolina. Tip-off will be at 1:00 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.