STATESBORO - Appalachian State used a 13-2 second-quarter run to pick up a 70-52 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over host Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Mountaineers (13-12, 7-7 SBC) handed the Eagles (7-19, 2-13 SBC) their fifth straight loss and also a setback in their final home game of the 2018-19 season. Georgia Southern heads out on the road for its final three games of the year, and must win on Thursday at Little Rock to keep its hopes of qualifying for the 2019 Sun Belt Conference tournament alive.
The Eagles hit five of their first eight three-pointers to build a 23-21 lead at the end of the first quarter. Georgia Southern still led by two three minutes into the second quarter when Appalachian State embarked on their 13-2 run over a five minute stretch that gave the Mountaineers a 39-30 lead just two minutes from halftime. Appalachian State led by seven at the break, quickly pushed that lead to double digits within the first three minutes of the second half and the Eagles could never get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Tatum Barber and Alexis Brown each collected 18 points to lead the Eagles offensively, while Tierra Wilson's 18 points led a trio of Mountaineers in double figures - Ashley Polacek added 17 points and Lainey Gosnell chipped in 15 points. The Sun Belt's leading rebounder, Bayley Plummer, had 16 rebounds for Appalachian State.
Eagles of the Game
Barber and Brown each hit six shots from the field en route to their 18 points apiece. Brown hit 4-of-8 threes and added a pair of free throws, while Barber went 3-of-8 from long range and even hit a four-point play late in the first half.
Key Moment
Coming out of halftime, Polacek hit a three to put the Mountaineers up 44-34. Tatum Barber answered with a jumper with 8:11 left in the third quarter, but the Eagles went scoreless over the next five minutes, allowing Appalachian State to keep their double-digit lead.
Stat of the Game
The 20 turnovers were the third time in the last four games the Eagles have turned the ball over 20 or more times. GS is averaging 19.0 turnovers per game during its current five-game slide, after averaging 14.2 turnovers per game in its previous five games.
Head Coach Kip Drown
On the strong first quarter
"I thought we had good tempo, we moved the basketball, we were able to get out and get some stuff in transition a couple of times."
On the turnovers
"We had this problem earlier in the year, I thought we had moved past it. We had 20 turnovers tonight. We really pride ourselves in trying to keep that number at 13 or 14. We turned it over three times early in the first quarter, they kinda got up, but we took care of it and we started getting some better looks. But it kinda piled up on us in the second half a bit."
Next Up
Georgia Southern will travel to Little Rock, Ark., to take on the Trojans in a Kids Day game at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 28th, from Little Rock.
