Chris Boyce Varsity Sports

The Appalachian State University women's basketball team fell down early to Wofford College Tuesday night and never recovered, losing 73-49.

On a night marked by Senior Night, the final home games of Appalachian State seniors Jamie Gagliano, Natasha Lettsome and Sharonda Green, the Mountaineers struggled mightily against the Terriers both offensively and defensively.

The Terriers were led by forward Jenny Nett who had a game-high 21 points and Stephanie Adelaine who added 11 points and six rebounds.

Appalachian State was led in the loss by Lettsome who recorded 17 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and four steals.

Wofford jumped on the Mountaineers early, scoring six straight points to open the game 6-0.

The lead swelled to 10 points after a Lucy Hines' layup made the score 18-8 in favor of Wofford.

Nett took over with around three minutes to play in the first half, hitting a jumper to make the score 30-20 Wofford, and then after a Jamie Gagliano free-throw, netted two free-throws followed by a three-point basket to extend the Terriers' lead to 14 points, 35-21.

The score at the half was not much better; 35-22 in favor of Wofford.

In the second half, the Terriers opened the half on a 5-0 run, but this time Appalachian responded, and Lettsome's basket plus the foul culminated a 10-0 ASU run and put the Mountaineers down by eight with 15:20 left to play, 40-32.

After a layup by Wofford guard Natalie Walsh, Appalachian State freshman Aisha Bryant nailed a three-pointer to put the Mountaineers down by seven points, 42-35 a deficit that further shrunk after a layup by Gagliano with a foul on Wofford's Stacey Parris tacked on.

Gagliano missed the free throw but Bryant stole the ball on the Terrier's ensuing possession and fed it to Lettsome for the fast-break lay in, putting the Mountaineers behind by only three points, 42-39.

The three-point deficit would be as close as Appalachian State would get however, and the Terriers would go on to outscore the Mountaineers 14-3 over the next four minutes taking a commanding 56-42 lead at the 7:58 minute mark.

The Terriers expanded their lead to 18 points after a Jenn Stasie jumpshot with 2:24 left to play made it 66-48 and by the time the final buzzer had sounded, led by their largest lead of the game at 24 points, 73-49.

"We made a really nice run and had the game within striking distance but then made some critical turnovers and didn't get the defensive stops we needed and it was too much to overcome," said Appalachian State head coach Barbie Breedlove.

Appalachian State's woeful shooting was universal, shooting only 15.8 percent from the three-point line and finishing with a 32.3 total field goal percentage.

Even more critical was a 33.3 percent free-throw shooting percentage throughout the game. This will be a key area of concern for Appalachian State going into the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament this Thursday.

Said Lettsome after the game, "In order for us to win we have to be shooting about 85 percent from the free-throw line. Free-throw shooting will be imperative in the tournament."

One of the key reasons the Terriers pulled away the second time from the Mountaineers was their adjustment offensively, working it inside to post players like Adelaine and Hines instead of Nett who was being focused on by the Mountaineer defense.

"We didn't pressure passers enough and they started throwing lobs on us," said Breedlove.

"To pressure passers you've gotta have defensive help side and then you've got to have people in front position. We just didn't pressure those passers enough."

"In the first half we didn't do the best job of getting in her (Nett) face, but in the second half we were all over her. When we put more pressure on her, that opened up the post more," said Gagliano.

Both Gagliano and Lettsome reflected on their last home game experience as Mountaineers.

"It definitely was special," said Gagliano.

"You always know that your last home game is looming in the distance and when it's finally here you don't really know how to handle it. It's wonderful and terrible all at the same time."

"I guess it hasn't really hit me yet that I'm a senior and this is my last home game because I didn't get emotional," said Lettsome.

"I just wanted a win just like any other night. It felt good to be recognized in front of everybody and the fans."

James Nix - Clubs and Intramural Sports

Simply unstoppable.

That is the only way to describe the Appalachian State University AHO Men's Rugby Club after its shutout victory over former North Carolina Rugby Union (NCRU) Division I state champion, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

The AHO squad took the field Sunday with an undefeated record and the important home-field advantage on its side.

Within the first seconds of the game ASU proved why it is undefeated when Anthony Kerey scored the team's first try.

Shortly thereafter, Kerey scored the team's second try, giving ASU a 10-0 lead early in the game.

"Those weren't my tries, they were the team's tries," said Kerey. "It wasn't a one-man thing, I am just the one who carried the ball across."

By halftime, Chris Mafucci had scored the team's third try, and along with Darren Betbeder's two conversion points, ASU was up 17-0.

"With the sloppy conditions we want to try and consolidate the play a little more," said ASU head coach David Rogers. "We need better control to stay strong in the second half."

The sloppy conditions that Rogers mentioned were from rain on Saturday that had left puddles on the field. A constant drizzle resided for most of the game.

The second half started almost exactly like the first, when Stuart Smith scored a try off of an assist by Thad Teague.

Wilmington's continued failure to score led to a lose ball being picked up by Smith. The ball got to Maffucci who carried it in.

This would be the last time ASU would score in the game. With good defense, it proved to be enough to give ASU the 27-0 win. "It's always satisfying when you beat last year's state champions," said Rogers.

"It was a good, fun, clean game as far as I'm concerned," said Kerey. "There was no violence, fighting wise, and it was just a good day."

"We didn't suffer that much from travel fatigue," said Wilmington head coach Bruce Gillinghan. "At this point it's injuries. Appalachian was quicker to the ball and made a few more creative moves than we did. They played real well and they deserved to win."

Rejoining the AHO ranks this game was Teague, who suffered an early injury in the season opener against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Teaue proved to be a valuable aspect to the team's win, playing well on both defense and offense.

When asked about his injury Teague said, "It's doing all right. I'm still a little stiff; I should be better by the next game."

ASU's next game will be against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The game will be played in Boone on Saturday.

A win against Chapel Hill, the only other undefeated team in the state, will make ASU the top-ranked team in the NCRU. It will then host the second-place team in the Mid-South Rugby Union (MSRU).

However, if Chapel Hill puts a stop to the ASU winning streak, then the club would travel to play the first-place team of the MSRU.

The club faced no serious injuries against Wilmington, which should aid it against Carolina.

During one of the club's practices last week, Rogers had coaches from the regionally renowned Charlotte Rugby Club work with the team.

"It helped tremendously," said Rogers. "I saw some of what they went over show up in today's game. We'll continue to work on our rucking and continuity skills in preparation for next week against Chapel Hill."

compiled from goasu.com

The Appalachian State University women's indoor track and field team won the Southern Conference championship with a two-point victory against Western Carolina University in Johnson City, Tenn., while the men's team finished in second place behind the Virginia Military Institute.

ASU Cross Country and Track & Field Coach John Weaver was named the SoCon Women's Coach of the Year.

The ASU women finished the meet with 130 points, beating out Western Carolina, who finished with 128. The title is the program's eighth and first since 1994.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga finished third with 101 points, followed by East Tennessee State University (52), Furman University (36), Georgia Southern (19), VMI (16), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (8), The Citadel (4), and Davidson College (2).

1999 NCAA 1500-meter outdoor champion and four-time All-American Mary Jayne Harrelson led the Mountaineers to three individual championships.

Harrelson recorded an NCAA championship provisional qualifying time of 2:08.40 in the 800-meters, breaking the conference record of 2:12.96 and beating the field by seven seconds.

Harrelson also won the mile with a 4:59.20 time. She came back from nine seconds back on the final leg of the distance medley relay to earn the win for the team.

Junior Heather Needham, freshman Tyler Caudle and sophomore Alice Stople set her up.

On the women's team, senior Shonte Pinkston repeated as the 55-meter champion in an NCAA championship provisional qualifying time of 6.90 and won her first 200-meter dash with a time of 24.63. Mountaineer senior Kirsten Bowden won the triple jump with a mark of 41'02.25" after finishing second in 2000.

In the long jump, senior Angela Pryor, although suffering from a dislocated shoulder, was able to leap to a second place effort of 19', 0.5".

La Shanna Poole won her first title in the weight throw with a conference record of 55'03.75". Poole finished second in the shot put.

Seven individual titles were brought home over the two-day competition in 16 track and field events.

VMI won the men's title with 146 points. The defending champion, Appalachian State, finished second with 130.

James Nix - Clubs and Inramural Sports

It was a disappointing weekend for the Appalachian State University men's club ski team.

The team traveled to Snowshoe W.Va., to take part in the 2001 Collegiate Snowsport Association (USCSA) Mid-Atlantic Regional and came home with a 12th place ranking.

"We didn't do as good as we could have," said club president Rob Byrd. "But we did decent."

ASU was one of four teams from the Southeast Collegiate Snowsport Conference (SCSC) to appear in Snowshoe this year. Also in the SCSC were Lees McRae College (LMC), the University of Virginia and Duke University.

LMC finished in first place and will be appearing in the USCSA National Competition, which will be held at Bogus Basin, Idaho next week.

Also finishing near the top were Pennsylvania State University, from the Allegheny Collegiate Snowsport Conference, and Alfred University from the Mideast Collegiate Snowsport Conference. Both of these teams will also go to nationals.

Byrd had speculated before the competition that the club would finish around seventh. That, unfortunately, was not the case.

Andrew Jochel finished in the top 15 and was ASU's top skier. He was followed by Mark Feichter and Byrd.

"Andrew did good," said Byrd. "He raced real hard and he looked good. He finished pretty good, his times were great, it's just the competition was more than we were used to."

In the SCSC, LMC has dominated, but not by much. In all of the races, the times were close. At the Beech Mountain race, two weekends ago, only four seconds separated the third place team and the sixth place team.

In Snowshoe, the times were even closer. According to Byrd, two tenths of a second separated several places.

The competition at Snowshoe was the tightest ASU has seen all year long. According to Byrd, last year at regionals, most of the teams were there because they were good enough to make it. This year, all of the teams except for a few were top notch. This surprised the Mountaineers, who had not expected such fierce competition.

"We could have done better," said Byrd. "There was just a lot of great competition. No one was just decent, every team had good racers."

Another factor that led to ASU's low placement in Snowshoe was the absence of Champman Porterfield, who spent the weekend at Mardi Gras.

Porterfield has been ASU's number three man all season long and could possibly have added that two tenths of a second.

Byrd, however, disagrees.

"We would not have done any better with Chapman," said Byrd. "I think we skied to our potential this weekend without him. I placed higher than him in the conference; his absence made no difference."

Aside from the twelfth place finish, the club had an enjoyable weekend.

"I've got to give it to Snowshoe," said Byrd. "They ran a perfect race. There were not glitches and everything went on without a problem at all. They did a wonderful job."

Dick Casey, who coached the ski club this year, took on a lot of responsibility in Snowshoe this year, according to Byrd.

"All the coaches weren't wanting to do the work," said Byrd. "Dick stepped up and did a lot of it. He was the referee for both days, he helped out with the times, and did a lot of work up there, more than anyone would have wanted to do."

As for next year, ASU will have to rely on its younger members. Porterfield and Feichter are both graduating seniors and Jochel will be transferring to a university in Montana next year.

"We've got a pretty good freshmen team this year," said Byrd, who is currently a sophomore.

"I think we'll do alright next year. It's going to be tough, we're losing three key players. "I think this year was out best chance at doing well at regionals, but who knows what next year will bring."

The younger members of the team will definitely have to step up next, but as for right now, ASU can look back at a successful season with pride.

"Overall, I think we had a great year," said Byrd. "We didn't do as well as we hoped at regionals, but we did good."