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| Women's team builds momentum, prepare
for conference tournament |
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
Although Aisha Bryant and Leslie Atalese were honored on Senior
Night, it was a pair of underclassmen that stole the show.
Fueled by sophomore Kiki Conyer’s 19 points and freshman Crystal
Barriner’s 17, Appalachian State University women’s
basketball thoroughly trounced College of Charleston Saturday, 88-69.
It was easily Appalachian’s best game of the season and the
team will look to continue to build on their momentum for the conference
tournament when they host Georgia Southern University tomorrow.
ASU implemented a full-court press in the first half that caused
17 first half turnovers and led to 20 Mountaineer points.
“I think our plan coming in was to be aggressive,” coach
Adrienne Shuler said after the victory. “We can get some easy
baskets off our defense because we have the personnel to create
some problems for teams.”
Although Appalachian led 38-28 with under a minute to play in the
first half, the Cougars made two open three-pointers before halftime
that trimmed the lead to just four points.
Appalachian made eight of their first 11 shots in the second half
to stretch the lead to 12 points. They were up by more than 10 for
the rest of the game.
“I thought we had a good run going into halftime and then
we let them back in the game by giving up two quick threes,”
Shuler said. “We’ve been very generous about getting
up and letting teams get back in the game. I was glad to see the
kids come back and fight the way they did in the second half to
really put it away.”
The Cougars' leading scorer, Patrice Bryant, picked up two fouls
in the first two minutes of play and was benched for most of the
half.
“That was one of our main focuses, to try and get their leading
scorer out," Conyers said. “She got in foul trouble early
and that’s what helped us come out with a victory.”
However, the Cougars were able to stay close because of Jennifer
Manard’s shooting. Manard came off the bench and played nine
minutes in the first half. She went 5-5 from the field and scored
13 points in only nine minutes of first half action.
Shuler and her staff decided to switch defenses on her during the
second half, and Manard shot 2-for-6 the rest of the game.
In a quote made famous by Norman Dale in the movie “Hoosiers,”
Shuler told Conyers to guard her so closely that she could “find
out what kind of gum she was chewing and then come back and tell
us.”
In the second half, Appalachian shot 60 percent while their defense
held CofC to 33 percent shooting.
And despite the 88 points being the most the team has scored in
two years, it was the team’s defense that got the praise after
the game.
“We play good defense, but I’ve never seen our team
move that way,” Michelle Conklin said. “Players were
everywhere. That was a big part of the victory because it got the
offense going.”
Conklin came off the bench to score 13 points and made all three
of her three pointers. Lindsay Smith rounded off the double-digit
scoring by chipping in 10.
The team was coming off two straight losses in which they played
the top two teams in the conference close, but failed to close out
a victory.
The team has struggled to pull out victories in the final minutes
against lower-ranked opponents, but against Charleston, the game
was never in doubt.
“Sometimes we play to the level of our competition, but tonight
we played our game,” Conklin said. “When we play our
game, we play well and it’s hard [to beat us].”
The game against GSU tomorrow will likely be a preview of the first
round of the Southern Conference tournament. The Eagles defeated
ASU 68-53 Dec. 6.
“We’re excited about going into this tournament because
we know we’re going to make some waves,” Conklin said.
“We’re peaking at the right time.”
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