Late streak stops ASU women

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

It’s not how long a basketball team leads a game. It’s when.

Davidson trailed Appalachian State for 59:57.2 Saturday at the Holmes Center. Yet the Mountaineers did not lead Davidson for the final 2.8 seconds, and it ended up costing them.

Davidson’s Mercedes Robinson took an inbounds pass just inside the foul line and drained a shot that gave the Wildcats a 67-66 victory over the Mountaineers.

“That’s hard to swallow,” Mountaineers coach Adrienne Shuler said. “I don’t know what to say about that one because that was a real tough one to swallow.”

Robinson’s shot capped nearly a game-long comeback that started when Appalachian State took a 40-19 lead with 5:05 left in the first half. Appalachian State (5-17, 2-9 SoCon) had already taken a 24-14 lead, but went on a 16-5 run capped by a Whitney Tossie steal-and-layup to take its largest advantage of the game.

“Defensively, I thought we were very aggressive,” Shuler said. “We got to shooters and we got rebounds on the offensive end.”

But Appalachian State did not score in the final 5:05 of the first half and settled for a 40-29 halftime lead. Davidson (13-9, 7-4) kept chipping away at the Mountaineers’ lead until finally tying the game 59-59. The Wildcats tied the game again at 65-65, but Tossie hit a foul shot with 10.4 seconds left. She missed the second shot, but the Mountaineers held a 65-64 lead.

“We had a 21 point lead, but before half we had to play though it and not be content with the lead,” Tossie said. “We didn’t have that kind of a lead all year. I guess we couldn’t keep up the intensity. We have to learn as a team you have to keep the intensity.”

Davidson rebounded and took two shots at the basket before the ball went out of bounds. The Wildcats retained possession and Robinson broke into an open area of the lane, where she got the ball and gave Davidson the lead.
Appalachian State had one final shot at the basket, but Sam Ramirez missed her 25-foot 3-pointer.

It would be foolish to blame Tossie for the loss, especially since she scored 22 points and hit 7-of-9 from the foul line. Tossie also had four assists and two steals in 34 minutes.
Instead, the Appalachian State offense committed 30 turnovers, 18 of them in the second half.

“We turned the ball over at crucial times,” Shuler said.

Brittany Mixon added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Mountaineers. GiGi Thomas added nine points.

Davidson got 13 points off the bench from Julie Paquette and Kelly Cassie. Danielle Hemerka added 12 points and Alex Thompson scored 10 despite hitting 3-of-10 from the field.

And Robinson? She finished with six points and pulled down eight points.
Appalachian State plays at Furman Wednesday night. Tossie said the Mountaineers will have to have short memories concerning their loss to Davidson.

“We’ve got to be ready to come back to (Sunday’s) practice run,” she said.

Davidson 67, Appalachian State 66

Davidson (13-9, 7-4)
Robinson 3-6 0-0 6, Hemerka 5-14 2-6 12, Thompson 3-11 2-2 10, Hamilton 0-2 0-0 0, Housley 0-9 3-5 3, Laune 1-1 0-0 2, Lax 2-7 0-0 4, Cassie 5-10 1-3 13, Paquette 5-7 3-4 13, Cary 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 25-69 13-22 67.

Appalachian State (5-17, 2-9)
Cunningham 3-6 0-0 7, Mixon 4-8 3-4 11, Thomas 4-14 0-0 9, Spencer 0-2 0-0 0, Tossie 7-15 7-9 22, Colbert 2-4 4-4 8, Ramierez 2-3 0-0 6, Hernandez 2-8 0-0 4, Randolph 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 14-17 66.
Halftime score—ASU 40, Davidson 29. 3-point goals—Davidson 4-22 (Cassie 2-3, Thompson 2-7, Cary 0-1, Hamilton 0-1, Lax 0-2, Hemerka 0-2, Robinson 0-2), ASU 4-10 (Ramierez 2-3, Thomas 1-1, Tossie 1-3, Hernandez 0-3). Rebounds—Davidson 47 (Hemerka 11), ASU 40 (Mixon 11). Assists—Davidson 13 (Robinson, Thompson 3), ASU 9 (Tossie 4). Turnovers—Davidson 23, ASU 30. Total fouls—Davidson 16, ASU 21. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.