Chris Boyce Varsity Sports

The Appalachian State women's basketball team came up a few big baskets short of upsetting third place Georgia Southern University in Southern Conference (SoCon) action Saturday afternoon at Holmes Convocation Center, falling 82-70 to the Eagles.

The Eagles' Danna Simpson dominated the Mountaineers with a potent variety of outside shooting and slashing drives, finishing the game with a team-high 23 points.

Appalachian State's Natasha Lettsome finished with a game-high 25 points in the losing effort.

The game was much closer than the final score indicated and the Mountaineers (4-17, 2-10 SoCon) found themselves only two possessions down with 2:12 left to play in the game.

After a sloppy first half of play involving 37 turnovers (23 of which belonged to ASU) and 14 points from Lettsome, the Mountaineers entered the second half trailing by only five points, 38-33.

Georgia Southern (15-6, 9-3 SoCon) extended their lead to 48-40 at the 15:54 minute mark and Jessica Everett's jumper a minute later gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at 10 points, 50-40. With Appalachian trailing 55-46 at the 12:35 minute mark, Appalachian State head coach Barbie Breedlove called a timeout and implemented a full court press to disrupt the Eagles' offense.

The press was immediately successful resulting in a Natasha Lettsome layup, but the Eagles quickly adjusted, drilling a three-pointer and later with less than ten minutes to play, a three-point play by Danielle Quinn.

Quinn's layup plus the foul gave Georgia Southern a commanding 65-54 lead, but the Mountaineers had one last charge left to make. Appalachian State used a 13-4 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to two points highlighted by a three-pointer followed by a steal and fast-break layup by Appalachian State's Tiffany Johnson.

That would be as close as the Mountaineers would get to Georgia Southern and the Eagles rolled off a 13-3 run to close out the game.

With Natasha Lettsome and Jamie Gagliano shooting a combined 16 of 23 from the field, Appalachian State's guards struggled, missing numerous shots at the end of the game and shooting only seven for 27 from the field and hitting an icy 18 percent from the three-point line for the game.

After the game Breedlove and Gagliano commented on the team's shooting woes. "We've got to get our guards scoring more," Said Breedlove. "They had good looks at the basket tonight but they just didn't score as much as we needed today from the perimeter."

"We've got a lot of good guards but a lot of them are inexperienced. We need balanced scoring. It's pretty important because if they can shut down the inside right now then they can shut us down and thatÕs not going to help us win," said Gagliano.

Appalachian's offensive struggles at the end of the game could be attributed to rushed shots by the Mountaineers.

"We were taking some quick shots," said Gagliano. "We'd been patient that far into the game and I think that was what was making the difference for us. We havenÕt had very patient offense so far this year.Ó

In addition to the impatient shot selection on the Mountaineers behalf, Georgia Southern's sizzling free-throw shooting played a big part in theyÕre closing 13-3 run.

"They hit their free throws and that was the big thing," Said Breedlove. "We were in a situation where we had to foul and they just knocked down their free throws."

Breedlove, despite the loss, was happy with the effort her team displayed against Georgia Southern.

Said Breedlove, "The only thing that wasn't good about today was the outcome. Everything else was good. We played with great intensity and we played hard.

"I was proud of the product we put on the floor today."

GSU Sports Information

Georgia Southern was held to a 39.7 shooting percentage from the field and was out-rebounded for only the sixth time this season Saturday afternoon in a 68-64 Southern Conference (SoCon) loss to Appalachian State in a nationally televised game on ESPN2.

The Eagles, who entered the matchup after consecutive wins over SoCon South Division leaders College of Charleston and Wofford, fell to 9-12 overall and 5-5 in the SoCon. Appalachian State improved to 8-15, 5-5.

"I thought we played poorly from start to finish," said Georgia Southern head coach Jeff Price. "We need to understand that when we are not shooting well, we need to do other things."

In a first half that featured nine lead changes, Todd Shipley got the Eagles going by connecting on four three-pointers in the final 4:29 of the half. Shipley's last trey and a jumper by Sean Peterson, gave the Eagles their biggest lead Ð- a four-point advantage Ð- before Appalachian's Noah Brown pulled the Mountaineers to within 29-28 with a three-pointer with just five ticks showing on the first-half clock.

Seven more lead changes followed in the second half, as neither team held more than a five-point advantage. A Kashien Latham jumper gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game, 40-35, with 14 minutes and 39 seconds remaining.

ASU then responded with six straight points before the Eagles answered with five points in-a-row, the last two on an alley-oop dunk by Julius Jenkins off a feed from Sean Peterson at the 11:02 mark. Just as quickly, the visitors retaliated, assuming a five-point lead, 57-52, on layups by Donald Payne and Josh Shehan. Appalachian never trailed again, knocking down 9-of-10 free throws in the last 4:17 of the contest.

"We tried to show them several different looks defensively," said Appalachian head coach Houston Fancher. "Our goal was to challenge every shot they took."

Peterson and Shipley each finished with 12 while Jenkins, Faulk and Latham all added 10. Frank Bennett posted the fourth 10-rebound game of his young career.

Jonathan Butler paced Appalachian with 14 points, including 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Charles Dearmon scored 11 points. Payne chipped in 10 and pulled down eight rebounds for the Mountaineers, who out-rebounded Georgia Southern 41-31.

James Nix Clubs and Intramural Sports

The Appalachian State University Fencing Club held its own in several fencing tournaments it hosted at Varsity Gymnasium this past weekend.

Overall, ASU came away with two first-place, three second-place and two third-place victories. Members of several clubs in the United States Fencing Association (USFA) came to Boone to compete in this tournament.

The clubs represented this weekend included the Tripplotte Competition Arms (TCA), the Raleigh Fencing Club (RFC), the North Carolina State University (NCSU) fencing club, the Clemson University fencing club, the Touch Fencing Club (TCF), and the Morning Star Fencing Club (MSFC).

The tournaments were split into two days, Saturday and Sunday.

Three separate tournaments were held on Saturday. First was an Epee tournament featuring only fencers with a USFA rank of E or under.

The USFA ranks its members with a letter of the alphabet according to skill. The ranks range from E, the lowest ranking, to A, which is the equivalent of an Olympic athlete. Beginners or unranked members are labeled U.

The two other tournaments held were another Epee tournament and a Saber tournament. Both of these were open to all ranks. The main event was the open Epee tournament. Fencers ranked from U to C competed in this.

The tournament started with a round-robin competition to determine seeds for a direct elimination tournament that followed.

Eighteen fencers were divided into three pools and the results were tallied to divide the fencers into seeds. Mountaineer Brett Swaim placed first seed, followed by Nick Hallman of MSFC at second and James Spence of TCA at third.

Swaim said of receiving the first seed, "If I have any chance, it will be because I can stay on top longer, because I'm dealing with a higher class of fencers. It's going to be difficult."

Swaim was correct that it would be difficult for him and was eliminated in the quarter-final round by eighth-seeded Kitt Burch of NCSU. Spence was also eliminated in the quarter-finals by eleventh- seeded David Otter of ASU.

Hallman was only the one of the top three seeds to advance to the semifinal round where he was defeated by Otter. Otter won the final bout over fifth-seeded Brian Garmon of ASU, who defeated Burch in the semis.

Otter, who was ranked as a D in the USFA, moved up to a C as a result of winning the tournament.

"It was really hard," said Otter, breathing heavily after his win. "(Garmon) is much better than I am, so it's really something for me to beat him, especially since he has beaten me for the last two years."

"I wasn't with it tonight," said Garmon. "David (Otter) was the better fencer."

Earlier that day, the E and under Epee tournament was held. It opened up the same way as the open tournament had, with the round-robin with Swaim seeded first. George Kiwada of RFC seeded second, followed by Burch in third.

In the semi-finals, Swaim defeated fifteenth-seeded Brian Gilliam and Kiwada defeated Burch. Kiwada, who earned an early lead, held out to defeat Swaim in the finals. Kiwada received a D ranking as a result from his victory in this tournament.

"I thought I fought very well," said Kiwada. "In my bout with (Swaim), it mainly came to that I scored the first few touches and he had to try and make up the lead. Both of us are more defensive fencers, and that played to my advantage."

"If he had gotten the lead in the beginning, I think it could have gone the other way." "After he got a good lead on me, I figured I would try some new stuff," said Swaim. "I tried this goofy move that no one ever uses and got a hit, but that wasn't enough to win."

Also held on Saturday was an open Saber tournament. This tournament was held in the same fashion as the other two, but only six fencers, all from ASU, participated. ASU fencing coach Karl Marx won the tournament.

"Since our tournaments are run by all the members of the club, that gives me the chance to get out and compete," said Marx. "Competing in Saber is a great way to relieve stress, especially if youÕre the coach."

Two Foil tournaments were held on Sunday. As with the Epee tournament, one was E and under, the other open to all ranks.

Kate Carson-Groner of TCA seeded first in the E and under tournament, followed by Isaac Melton of TFC in second and Wayne Han of Clemson in third.

Melton and Han advanced and met each other in the semi finals where Melton prevailed.

In the finals, Melton faced eighth-seeded Edward Lidon. After a hard-fought bout, Lidon came out on top and earned a D ranking.

"I didn't think I would make it this far," said Lidon after the bout. "I came in eighth in the pools so I was kind of the underdog. He (Melton) was a good fencer, very solid. It was hard."

In the open tournament, James Brigman of TFC was seeded first, followed by Gilbert Bailey at two and Burch at three.

Bailey and Burch were both eliminated leaving Brigman the sole top seed in the semi finals. Seventh-seeded Mike Courchesne of ASU defeated sixth-seeded Steven Miller of TFC to advance to the finals.

Brigman defeated fourth-seeded Garmon in order to face Courchesne. In an extremely close bout, Brigman used a slight lead to his advantage to get the win.

"It was a hard fought bout," said Brigman. "But it was a lot of fun. I'd like to thank the college; there was a great tournout and some great fencing."

"(Brigman) did a great job," said Courchesne. "I think that by the end of it I had him figured out more than I did at the beginning, so next time, IÕll win."

The best part about ASU hosting fencing tournaments, according to Marx, is that the entire club takes part, not only as fencers.

The tournament is run by the club members, not just the coach and his assistants. Members help set up and clean up the area, as well as various other things throughout the tournament.

The officers keep statistics and direct the bouts. "There are other universities like Chapel Hill that constantly run tournaments," said Marx. "But that's 99.9 percent their coach and his graduate teaching-assistants.

"Here what I try and do is have the officers and all the individual fencers work in everything. At different points, everyone here is going to get to dabble in everything."