ASU comeback sinks Paladins
From staff reports

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — It took a while for Appalachian State to get rolling. When the finally did, Mountaineers did, Furman was the team they rolled over.

The Mountaineers, seeded eighth in the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, came all the way back from a 16-point, second-half deficit, and beat Furman 63-60 in the opening game of the tournament Thursday afternoon.

The Mountaineers, who ended up losing to No. 1 seeded Chattanooga on Friday, reached that quarterfinal game by shooting 58.6 percent from the field in the second half, hitting 17-of-29 shots. Appalachian State also held Furman (12-18) to 34.5 percent shooting in the half.

“The only thing we did differently was focus on the game plan,” Mountaineers coach Darcie Vincent said. “We were nervous to be here and with us having mostly freshmen and sophomores. In the second half, we got our starters back out there and they made some shots. We went to our match-up zone and it made a difference.”

It didn’t look like the Mountaineers would even see Friday. Furman bolted out a 32-18 first-half lead and extended it to 48-32 with 11:17 left in the game.

But Appalachian State started its comeback with a quick 6-0 mini-run with back-to-back 3-point goals by Sam Ramirez. She finished the game with 19 points, scoring 17 of them in the second half.

After Furman scored, the Mountaineers kept chipping away at the Paladins’ lead, slicing it to 53-48 on a Catherine Williams layup with 5:14 left. A Ramirez layup tied the game 56-56 with 2:09 left, and a Canesha Edwards bucket put the Mountaineers up 58-56 just 50 seconds later.

Brittany Mixon scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Mountaineers. Edwards had just four points, but pulled down 10 rebounds. Spencer had 10 points and six assists, while Ramirez added seven assists in playing 40 minutes. Furman got 21 points from Melissa Liebschwager and 14 from Lee Stephens.

“I knew I had to start doing something,” Ramirez said. “In the first half, I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t hitting anything. I knew I had to concentrate and the shots just started falling.”

Appalachian State also won the rebounding war 39-28 and committed just 15 turnovers.

Appalachian State 63, Furman 60
Furman (12-18)
Johnson 2-11 2-2 6, Dowell 0-6 0-0 0, Stephens 3-7 6-6 14, Liebschwager 6-9 5-5 21, Baker 2-7 0-1 4, O’Conner 3-4 0-0 7, Berry 0-0 1-2 1, Troutman 0-0 0-0 0, Booker 3-10 1-1 7,. Totals 19-54 15-17 60.
Appalachian State (9-21)
Williams 4-4 0-0 8, Mixon 5-11 7-10 17, Edwards 2-3 0-0 4, Spencer 4-12 2-2 10, Ramirez 7-16 1-2 19, Hernandez 0-2 0-0 0, S. Means 1-3 3-4 5, Mill 0-0 0-0 0, C. Means 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 13-18 63.
Halftime score—Furman 32, ASU 18. 3-point goals—Furman 7-13 (Leibschwager 4-6, Stephens 2-2, O’Conner 1-2, Dowell 0-3), ASU 4-12 (Ramirez 4-8, Spencer 0-4). Rebounds—Furman 28 (Baker 5), ASU 39 (Eedwards 10). Assists—Furman 10 (Liebschwager 3), ASU 17 (Ramirez 7). Turnovers—Furman 12, ASU 15. Total fouls—Furman 16, ASU 18. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.