 |
|
| Eagles take down ASU |
Brad Norman
Sports Beat |
Josh Brown | Chief PhotographerGeorgia Southern University defeated
the Mountaineers on Saturday with a final score of 77-65. The
Eagles had 30 trips to the foul shot line, while ASU had only
four. The Mountaineers travel to Greensboro Feb. 3 to play against
Furman.
|
Georgia Southern University’s
Jessica Everett scored six straight points to start the game, and
the Lady Eagles never relinquished their lead as they downed the
Mountaineers 77-65 Saturday.
Appalachian rallied in the first half to tie the
score at 12, but they would not come any closer or claim a lead
for the rest of the game.
Everett gave the Mountaineers trouble all day,
as she finished with 19 points on 80 percent shooting and nine rebounds.
Everett, Shawnica Hill, Tiffany Lanier and Rachel
Loiacono combined to score 59 of the Eagles’ 77 points. |
Aisha M. Bryant led
all Mountaineer scorers, tallying 17 points in 24 minutes of action,
and Lindsay Smith added 12, rounding out the only two double-digit
scores for Appalachian.
“Georgia Southern is playing so well,” said Appalachian
head coach Adrienne Shuler. “I think they are the best team
in the conference. They have a lot of speed and quickness on the
perimeter and are a very well-balanced team.”
In what was the most lopsided stat of the night, Georgia Southern
made 30 trips to the foul shot line while Appalachian could only
muster four.
This stat proved to be the difference between winning and losing.
Without including made foul shots, Appalachian outscored Georgia
Southern 61-58.
“I think [the number of foul shots] was a combination of us
not being ready to play defensively and not being ready to play
tonight,” Shuler said. “Part of our game plan going in
was stopping the penetration and keeping them off the boards. We
just didn’t do a very good job of that. They were really aggressive
taking it to the basket, and we were just out of position all night.”
The Eagles were able to penetrate for much of the game due to the
foul trouble that Appalachian got into early. Joy Davis fouled out
after only 8 minutes of play.
Once Davis, who at 6’4” is the tallest player for either
team, was out of the lane the Eagles had no problems driving to
the basket or posting up.Joining Davis on the bench with five fouls
were feisty Jessica L. Jank and Tiffani J. Johnson.
The Mountaineers trailed by 20 points with a minute to play. During
the final minute, Smith made two three-pointers and Kiki Conyers
hit a long jumper to make the final deficit a more respectable 12
points.
The loss marks the fourth consecutive conference loss.
“We [had nine straight losses] at the beginning of the season,”
Shuler said. “We’re just going to have to keep fighting
because it’s not going to come overnight. Our team has to keep
their heads up and keep plugging, and that’s my job as coach
to get them to bounce back.”
The Mountaineers travel to Greensboro Feb 3. to play the Furman
University Paladins. The team hopes to avenge a heartbreaking 71-69
loss Furman handed them in Boone Jan. 4. |
|
|
For an up tp date sports calendar below and
box scores click below!
|
|
 |
 |
