UNCG moves to quarterfinals with 62-44 win over Appalachian State

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament with a 62-44 win over Appalachian State in first round action from the North Charleston Coliseum on Thursday evening.

The Spartans, who had never won a first round game in their two previous tries, advance to take on top-seeded Chattanooga on Friday.

UNCG (7-23) was led by Kemena Brooks who tallied 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field she was also 2-of-2 from the free throw line and extended her streak to 15 consecutive free throws made. Jasmine Dixon was UNCG’s next leading scorer with nine points and seven rebounds.

Appalachian State (8-22) was led by freshman Sam Ramirez who tallied 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting including four consecutive three-pointers late in the game. UNCG was able to hold the SoCon’s third leading scorer Whitney Tossie to no field goals and three points in her final collegiate outing.

“We did not look like the No.9 seed today, “said coach Lynne Agee. “We did some great things and were really hitting on all cylinders. We made the plays that we needed to make at the times we needed to make them and it was really a total team effort.

UNCG shot 39.2percent on 20-of-51 shooting and pulled down 36 rebounds and had a season-high 17 steals to go with 15 assists.

UNCG extended their lead to 40-23 within the first four minutes of the second half and got some clutch play from Monique Floyd who on her first attempt of the half completed a three-point play.

Appalachian State was able to get a lift from Robin Colbert who hit her first attempt of the half and the Mountaineers forced UNCG into several miscue but couldn’t’ do anything with the ball on the other end of the floor.

The Spartans picked up their defense and used back-to-back blocks which led to two quick baskets in transition but Sam Ramirez hit two three-pointers from the right side to cut the lead to 46-36 and the ASU defense kept UNCG without a field goal for over six minutes but UNCG locked down on defense and three pointers from Gini Grimsley and Kemena Brooks sealed the win.

The Spartans got off to a little bit of a slow start but were able to shake off the jitters and were able to force the Mountaineers into a few early miscues and took a 10-8 at the 11:40 mark of the half.

Jasmine Dixon led the charge for UNCG in the paint and had six points to lead UNCG midway through the half. UNCG continued to give Appalachian State fits on the defensive end and forced three quick turnovers which led to several baskets in transition and kept the 19-11 lead with UNCG.

UNCG closed the half on an 8-2 run sparked by their outstanding free throw shooting. Hyson and Grimsley were each 4-for-4 from the stripe and six of UNCG’s final eight points came from free the line.

The charity stripe proved crucial for the Spartans as Appalachian State recorded nine team fouls which put UNCG on the line six times and they converted each time going a perfect 12-of-12 from the stripe for the first time this season compared to Appalachian 1-for-3 effort in the firsts half.

UNCG shot 34.9 percent in the first half on 10-of-29 shooting from the floor while the Mountaineers shot 27.6 percent on 8-of-29 shooting and held a 22-19 rebounding edge.

The Spartans will continue action at the SoCon Tournament with tomorrow when they take on top-seeded Chattanooga with an approximate tip time of 12:30 pm.

AGATE
UNCG 62, APPALACHIAN STATE 44

UNCG (7-23, 4-14 SoCon)
BROOKS,Kemena 4-9 2-2 13; GRIMSLEY,Gini 2-6 4-4 9; DIXON,Jasmine 4-7 1-2 9; HYSON,Lakiah 1-7 6-6 8; FRAZIER,Brittany 3-7 0-2 6; FLOYD,Monique 2-3 0-1 4;LING,Ashley 1-4 2-2 4; CHAMBERLAIN,Meghan 2-3 0-0 4; MULLINS,Ashley 1-2 0-03; WOMACK,Johanna 0-0 2-2 2; GIRSTAUTAITE,Agne 0-0 0-0 0; SMITH,Kendra 0-20-0 0; BANNER,TaShama 0-1 0-0 0; WADELINGTON,S 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 17-21 62.

APPALACHIAN STATE (8-22, 5-13 SoCon)
RAMIREZ, Sam 6-14 0-0 16; COLBERT, Robin 4-9 0-1 9; MIXON, Brittany 2-7 1-15; THOMAS, GiGi 2-12 1-2 5; SPENCER, Brittney 1-2 2-2 4; TOSSIE, Whitney 0-23-4 3; CUNNINGHAM, Courtney 1-2 0-1 2; LAKE, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0; RANDOLPH,Whitney 0-1 0-0 0; MILL, Karina 0-0 0-0 0; HERNANDEZ, Frances 0-7 0-0

Halftime: UNCG 33-17; 3-point goals--UNCG 5-11 (BROOKS,Kemena 3-4; MULLINS,Ashley 1-2;GRIMSLEY,Gini 1-3; LING,Ashley 0-1; HYSON,Lakiah 0-1), Appalachian State5-19 (RAMIREZ, Sam 4-9; COLBERT, Robin 1-2; THOMAS, GiGi 0-2; RANDOLPH,Whitney 0-1; HERNANDEZ, Frances 0-5). Fouled out--UNCG-None, AppalachianState-None. Rebounds--UNCG 36 (DIXON,Jasmine 7), Appalachian State 39 (CUNNINGHAM, Courtney 8). Assists--UNCG 15 (HYSON,Lakiah 6), Appalachian State 9 (COLBERT, Robin 3). Total fouls--UNCG 12, Appalachian State 16. Technical fouls--UNCG-None, Appalachian State-None. A-420

- UNCG -