App State grounds Eagles
By Steve Behr

Appalachian State broke a four-game losing streak with a solid 68-59 victory over Georgia Southern Saturday at the Holmes Center.

Brittney Spencer scored a career-high 20 points for the Mountaineers, who are the No. 8 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament. Appalachian State begins its tournament against Furman Thursday at 3 p.m. The winner takes on host Chattanooga Friday.

“It looked like we were an experienced team tonight,” Mountaineers coach Darcie Vincent said. “We made some mistakes, but we didn’t buckle. It kind of stinks because you wish you were back in January. This wasn’t a great execution of a game, but we played with intelligence.”

It was also the final home game for senior Brittany Mixon, who finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Sam Ramirez added 13 points and seven assists, while Canesha Edwards scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Mountaineers.

Georgia Southern got 13 points from Jessica Geiger.

Appalachian State (8-21, 7-13 SoCon) led most of the game, but Georgia Southern (16-13, 11-9) tied the game 51-51 on a Geiger basket with 5:15 left in the second half. Then the Eagles suddenly stopped scoring, while the Mountaineers went on a 9-0 run to take a 60-71 lead with 1:08 left. Georgia Southern missed six shots and turned the ball over two more times.

Once Appalachian State surged in front, the Mountaineers made seven straight foul shots, allowing Mixon to be pulled from the game with 34 seconds left with Appalachian leading 64-56.

Georgia Southern hit 9-of-21 shots from the 3-point arc, but Appalachian State countered by making 18-of-21 from the free throw line. Spencer converted 7-of-8 and Edwards made 6-of-7 from the foul line.

“I was very pleased with our patience on offense,” Vincent said. “Our screens were phenomenal. At halftime we talked about getting shots in transition because Georgia Southern is good in transition. You can’t take a quick shot, because they’re going back down the other way. In the second half, we did a better job of making their offensive players play defense.”

Appalachian State led from almost the very start and built a 20-12 lead in the first half. Georgia Southern rallied to trail 28-27 by halftime. Georgia Southern led briefly 49-48 with 7:00 left in the game on a Jamie Navarro 3-point basket, but Edwards converted a three-point play to put the Mountaineers back in front 51-49.

“We focused on our confidence and working to get good shots,” Spencer said. “We wanted to play the entire 40 minutes and leave it out on the court.”

Appalachian State 68, Georgia Southern 59
Georgia Southern (16-13, 11-9)
Ogburn 0-4 4-4 4, Geiger 5-14 2-2 13, Navarro 1-1 0-0 3, Rivens 2-5 0-0 6, Melson 1-7 0-1 2, Nelson 3-7 0-0 9, Tate 0-1 3-6 3, Ivy 4-5 0-0 8, Williams 4-9 1-2 11. Totals 20-53 10-15 59.
Appalachian State (8-21, 7-13)
Edwards 2-6 6-7 10, Mixon 7-18 0-0 14, Spencer 6-11 7-8 20, Ramirez 5-12 2-2 13, C. Means 0-0 0-0 0, S. Means 3-4 0-0 6, Mill 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 1-2 3-4 5. Totals 24-53 18-21 68.
Halftime score—ASU 28, GSU 27. 3-point goals—GSU 9-21 (Nelson 3-6, Rivens 2-4, Williams 2-5, Navarro 1-1, Geiger 1-2, Melson 0-3), ASU 2-9 (Spencer 1-2, Ramirez 1-5, Mixon 0-1, S. Means 0-1). Rebounds—GSU 32 (Ogburn 9), ASU 34 (Edwards 9). Assists—GSU 15 (Rivens 5), ASU 14 (Ramirez 7). Turnovers—GSU 21, ASU 17. Total fouls—GSU 16, ASU 13. Fouled out—GSU, Navarro. Technical fouls—ASU, Mixon. Att.—718.