Eagles fly

past ASU women
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

For at least a half, Appalachian State was still holding out hope that it could beat Georgia Southern and claim a first-round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament.

But that was just for a half.

The Mountaineers were tied with the Eagles at halftime, but Georgia Southern rallied in the second half to claim a 79-63 victory at the Holmes Center. Appalachian State (8-21, 5-13 SoCon) had a chance to delay playing in the tournament until Saturday as the No. 6 seed.

Instead, the eighth-seeded Mountaineers play ninth-seeded UNC Greensboro (6-23, 4-14) Thursday. The winner plays top-seeded Chattanooga (26-3, 18-0) Friday. Mountaineers coach Adrienne Shuler said that calling Appalachian State’s loss to the Eagles disappointing was “an understatement.”

“We’ll wait and see where everybody falls and then we’ll play the hand we’re dealt,” Shuler said.

The Mountaineers fell by 13 points to the Eagles (17-12, 13-5) despite getting 27 points from Whitney Tossie. A senior, Tossie also dished out four assists, had five steals and four rebounds in 33 minutes played.

Appalachian Sate also got 11 points from GiGi Thomas and 10 from Courtney Cunningham, but the Mountaineers shot 38.5 percent from the field in the second half.

Georgia Southern hit 59.1 percent from the field in the second half in outscoring the Mountaineers 44-28.

“We haven’t able to put two halves together,” Tossie said. “It’s something that we’ve been trying to do this whole season.”

Things looked good for the Mountaineers when the game was tied 35-35 at halftime. Appalachian State hit 46.7 percent of its shots, while holding the Eagles to 37.1 shooting.

Georgia Southern regrouped in the second half and buried the Mountaineers by going on a 18-4 run to take a 53-39 lead that was never seriously threatened.

Appalachian State never came closer than eight (55-47), and the Eagles eventually took a 16-point lead (66-50) with 6:49 left in the game.

“We came out in the second half, and we were flat as pancakes,” Shuler said. “We had the ball first and usually you set the tone when you have the ball and we just didn't do a very good job.”

Georgia Southern got 21 points from Tiffany Brown, 17 from Shawnda Atwood and 10 each from J’Lisia Ogburn and Jessica Geiger.

The Eagles won the game despite turning the ball over 26 times — compared to 23 for the Mountaineers. Georgia Southern outrebounded the Mountaineers 40-29 and had 18 assists on the 26 baskets it made.

The Mountaineers turn their attention to UNC Greensboro, a team they beat 58-53 at the Holmes Center on Feb. 19. UNC Greensboro won the first game 56-54 in Greensboro on Jan. 21.

“We’ve got to come together and play together,” Tossie said. “We have to play four games straight, so we just have to go and hit it hard.”

Georgia Southern 79, ASU 63
Georgia Southern (17-12, 13-5)
Ogburn 4-8 2-2 10, Geiger 3-6 3-4 10, Whitney 0-5 1-3 1, Atwood 6-12 4-4 17, Melson 2-5 2-6 6, Brown 7-9 2-2 21, Navarro 2-3 3-3 8, Waterman 1-6 2-2 4, Rivens 0-1 0-0 0, Daley 0-1 0-0 0, Jessie 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-57 19-26 79.
Appalachian State (8-21, 5-13)
Cunningham 5-6 0-0 10, Mixon 3-7 0-0 6, Colbert 0-0 2-2 2, Thomas 5-13 0-0 11, Tossie 9-15 8-9 27, SPencer 0-1 3-4 3, Ramirez 0-11 0-0 0, Hernndez 2-3 0-0 4, Randolph 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 13-15 63.
Halftime score—ASU 35, GSU 35. 3-point goals—GSU 8-15 (Brown 5-6, Navarro 1-1, Atwood 1-2, Geiger 1-3, Rivens 0-1, Whitney 0-2), ASU 2-13 (Thomas 1-3, Tossie 1-3, Hernandez 0-1, Spencer 0-1, Ramirez 0-5). Rebounds—GSU 40 (Geiger 9), ASU 29 (Mixon 11). Assists—GSU 18 (Whitney 6), ASU 10 (Tossie 4). Turnovers—GSU 26, ASU 23. Total fouls—GSU 17, ASU 19. Fouled out—ASU, Mixon. Technical fouls—None. A—NA.