ASU dumps Paladins
From staff reports

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Appalachian State shot 53 percent from the field and scored 42 points in the second half to beat Furman 60-55 at Timmons Arena Wednesday night.

The Mountaineers, coming off a terribly disappointing one-point loss to Davidson last Saturday, trailed by 10 points to the Paladins (8-17, 3-11 SoCon). Furman broke open a tied game with a 10-run run to take a 28-18 lead at halftime.

Appalachian State (6-18, 3-10) managed to tie the game at 36-36 and tie the game at 36-36 on a Brittany Mixon layup. The Mountaineers took their second lead of the game with a Brittney Spencer jumper from just inside the arc in the right corner. GiGi Thomas extended the lead to four points with a stickback of her own free throw, and Sam Ramirez hit a jumper to give ASU a 45-39 lead with five and a half to play.

Ramirez went on to lead the team with 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the floor. She dished out three assists and pulled down three boards to go with her two steals.

The 9-0 run was capped off by a pair of Whitney Tossie free throws, which gave ASU a 47-39 lead. A pair of steals and layups by Ramirez and Robin Colbert stretched the lead to a new game high at 12 points just under the three-minute mark.

ASU was 17-of-30 from the field in the second half and finished 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Head coach Adrienne Shuler picked up her fifth win against her former team. Shuler was an assist coach for the Paladins from 1995 through 2002.

ASU was 8-for-17 from the foul line.

Tossie finished the game with 13 points, all in the second half, on 5-for-8 shooting along with a game-high nine rebounds.

The senior swiped a pair of steals to move within eight of the Appalachian career record.

Mixon scored four points and pulled down four rebounds while Thomas reached double-figures for the ninth time in 11 games, with 12 points. The sophomore added five rebounds, an assist and a block to her totals.

Hot shooting from the Paladins cut the lead to five points with just over a minute remaining, but the Mountaineers sank the necessary free throws down the stretch to hang on to the victory.

Appalachian State hosts Elon Saturday at 2 p.m.