By Katherine Jamtgaard. NORFOLK, Va. — The App State women’s basketball team fell short to Old Dominion, 78-71, on Jan. 15
“Today was a tough loss on the road for our team,” said head coach Alaura Sharp. “We played a pretty good first half but unfortunately had a slow start to the second half and gave them the momentum. As a team, we are disappointed in how we rebounded the ball. We need to find a different level of grit and toughness to win on the road.”
Three Mountaineers netted double-figures, led by senior Zada Porter, who matched her career-high 23 points, which she originally set on Jan. 2 at South Alabama. Porter also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, matching her career-high that was originally set on Feb. 24, 2023 against ULM. Porter dished out six assists, which was two short of her career-high of eight. Wednesday’s game marked the second game this season where Porter was the team’s top scorer and top rebounder.
Junior Rylan Moffitt made a career- and team-high five blocks in addition to scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Moffitt came within one of her career-high of 16 points, which she set on Jan. 27, 2024 at JMU. Senior Emily Carver netted 14 points for the Black and Gold. Fellow senior Eleyana Tafisi dished out a team-high nine assists, coming within one of her career-high of 10, which she set during the 2023-24 campaign.
App State (8-8, 4-2 SBC) netted 44 points in the paint and 27 points off the bench. The Mountaineers shot 49.1% from the field.
Porter was quick to put the Mountaineers on the board with a layup in the paint. ODU (13-5, 5-1 SBC) managed to tie the score once in the first quarter with a pair of freebies before Porter made another layup to push the Black and Gold ahead, 4-2. The Mountaineers went on a 14-2 scoring run over 4:18 to establish a 16-4 lead. The run included a pair of layups from Carver, 3-point buckets from senior Mara Neira and Tafisi, as well as a pair of Tafisi freebies. As ODU chipped away at the deficit, Porter got to the hoop for her third layup, nailing 3-of-3 from the field over the course of the period. Carver, who netted 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter, went on a 6-0 run of her own, making a pair of layups and draining a pair of freebies. App State closed the period with a 24-13 lead after shooting 75% from the field and 100% from the line.
Moffitt opened the second quarter with a jumper to extend App State’s lead to 26-13. The Mountaineers faced a scoring drought over 4:32, as ODU narrowed the deficit to four with a 9-0 run. Carver snapped the Black and Gold’s scoring drought with a layup, assisted by Porter. Porter then made a layup of her own with an assist from Tafisi to keep the Mountaineers ahead, 30-22. Porter made another layup to keep App State up, 32-26. Senior Asjah Inniss contributed a free throw and Moffitt closed out the period with a layup in the paint. App State took a 35-29 lead into halftime. Over the course of the quarter, Moffitt and Porter combined for eight of App State’s 11 points, while Tafisi dished out four of App State’s five assists.
Early in the third quarter, ODU cut App State’s lead to four, but Carver got around the defense for a layup to keep the Mountaineers ahead, 37-31. The Monarchs found momentum and took their first lead of the game, 39-37, with an 8-0 run. A jumper from Porter, who netted nine points over the course of the period, knotted the score at 39 all. ODU pulled ahead, 44-39. A three-point play and layup from Porter cut ODU’s lead to two (46-44). Moffitt and Porter made back-to-back layups to push App State ahead, 48-46. Old Dominion managed to edge ahead with a 3-point bucket and established a 55-48 lead as the Mountaineers faced a late scoring drought. Despite a 3-point bucket from Inniss, ODU closed the quarter with a 58-51 lead.
In the fourth quarter, freshman Hekla Nökkvadóttir completed a three-point play to cut into the Monarchs’ lead, 60-54. Moffitt, who netted nine points during the period, made a pair of layups, completed a three-point play, and landed a jumper for the Mountaineers. Senior J’Mani Ingram made a late layup of her own to cut the deficit to 73-68. Despite a last-second 3-point bucket from Porter, the Mountaineers fell short, 78-71.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will head to Huntington, WVa. to take on Marshall at 1 p.m. on Saturday. App State returns to Boone for a four-game homestretch, which will start with a rematch against Old Dominion at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 23.
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