Late rally falls short as UNCG falls to Appalachian State, 58-53

BOONE, NC – The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team used a season-high 21 points from Gini Grimsley including eight points in the final three minutes but couldn’t find a way to stop Appalachian State’s Whitney Tossie, as the Spartans fell, 58-53 in SoCon women’s basketball action on Tuesday night.

UNCG (5-21, 3-12 SoCon) was led by Grimsley, who was one off her career-high with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-9 from the three-point line. Jasmine Dixon had a team-high nine rebounds in the loss. The Spartans shot 36.2 percent from the floor on 18-of-50 shooting and won the battle of the boards, 44-34.

“This was a winnable game,” said coach Lynne Agee. “We had too many long stretches without baskets and again had a hard time finding and containing their shooters late in the game. Our turnovers really hurt us tonight, we gave them 26 points off of turnovers and that will be corrected as we move forward.”

Appalachian State (7-19, 4-11 SoCon) had three players in double figures and was led by a season-high 26 from Whitney Tossie. She was 9-of-14 from the floor and also tied Appalachian State’s all-time steals record with seven steals.

Appalachian State opened the second half on a 4-1 run to regain the lead before the squads began trading buckets, with the lead changing several times before the Mountaineers pulled ahead 35-31 at the 11:59 mark.  Whitney Tossie began to warm up and led a 14-2 run to put the Mountaineers up, 43-31.

GiGi Thomas and Whitney Tossie scored 22 of Appalachian State’s first 23 points of the second half before Sam Ramirez scored a basket at the 5:09 mark. UNCG’s Meghan Chamberlain ended a nearly nine minute drought without a field goal with a bucket in the paint to cut the lead to 47-33 at the 7:12 mark of the second stanza.

UNCG tried to chip away at the lead late in the game and sued three-pointers from Mullins and Grimsley got the lead down to 51-46 but it was too little too late as the Spartans dropped their sixth consecutive game.

The Spartans and Mountaineers struggled to open the game, going a combined 1-11 through the first five minutes of the game. Appalachian State was able to take the early lead behind a three-pointer from Whitney Tossie to go ahead 9-2 while holding UNCG without a field goal until the 10:31 mark.

The Spartans were able to play catch-up and found a little bit of a spark in the paint from Meghan Chamberlain and Kendra Smith off the bench. The duo tallied back-to-back baskets in the paint to tie the game at 12-12 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half.

The Mountaineers went on a 6-2 run to take a four point lead but a quick steal from UNCG’s Ashley Mullins gave the Spartans a little momentum as they were able to rattle off three consecutive three-pointers to tie the game at 23-23 with just under three minutes remaining. Free throws from Brittany Frazier and a jumper from Gini Grimsley sent UNCG into the lockerrom ahead, 27-25.

Gini Grimsley led all scorers with 11 points off the bench including going 3-of-4 from behind the arc. The Spartans and Mountaineers were close in all statistical categories with UNCG shooting 32.1 percent on 9-of-28 shooting and holding a slim 21-20 rebounding margin.

The Spartans conclude their road swing with a game at backyard rival, Elon on Saturday. First tip is scheduled for 2 pm at Elon’s Alumni Gym. UNCG then heads home to end the regular-season with home contests against Wofford and Furman on Feb. 28 and March 1.

AGATE
APPALACHIAN STATE 58, UNCG 53

UNCG (5-21, 3-12)
GRIMSLEY,Gini 8-13 0-0 21; MULLINS,Ashley 3-7 0-0 9; HYSON,Lakiah 1-5 3-4 5;DIXON,Jasmine 1-2 2-2 4; CHAMBERLAIN,Meghan 2-4 0-0 4; FLOYD,Monique 1-2 1-2 3; FRAZIER,Brittany 0-4 3-4 3; LING,Ashley 1-3 0-0 2; SMITH,Kendra 1-2 0-0 2; GIRSTAUTAITE,Agne 0-1 0-2 0; BROOKS,Kemena 0-4 0-0 0; BANNER,TaShama 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 9-14 53.

APPALACHIAN STATE (7-19, 4-11)
TOSSIE, Whitney 9-14 7-7 26; THOMAS, GiGi 5-17 2-2 12; RAMIREZ, Sam 5-12 1-2 12; COLBERT, Robin 2-6 3-6 8; CUNNINGHAM, Courtney 0-1 0-0 0; MIXON, Brittany 0-7 0-0 0; HERNANDEZ, Frances 0-4 0-0 0; SPENCER, Brittney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-61 13-17 58.

3-point goals--UNCG 8-21 (GRIMSLEY,Gini 5-9; MULLINS,Ashley 3-7; BROOKS,Kemena 0-3; BANNER,TaShama 0-1; HYSON,Lakiah 0-1), Appalachian State 3-12 (COLBERT, Robin 1-2; RAMIREZ, Sam 1-4; TOSSIE, Whitney 1-1; HERNANDEZ, Frances 0-2; THOMAS, GiGi 0-3). Fouled out--UNCG-None, Appalachian State-None. Rebounds--UNCG 44 (DIXON,Jasmine 9), Appalachian State 34 (TOSSIE, Whitney 9). Assists--UNCG 10 (MULLINS,Ashley 3), Appalachian State 10 (COLBERT, Robin 3). Total fouls--UNCG 16, Appalachian State 13. Technical fouls--UNCG-None, Appalachian State-None. A-331

- UNCG -