|
Radford dominates Appalachian |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 Junior forward Brittany Mixon drives to the basket Monday night in Holmes Convocation Center. Mixon scored nine points and had five rebounds in the 65-45 loss to Radford. Photo by Derek DeSha
|
by RYAN WIXTED
Sports Editor
The Appalachian State University women’s basketball team didn’t have an answer for an aggressive Radford University women’s squad Monday as the Mountaineers lost 65-45.
The Highlanders’ aggressive defensive pressure forced the Mountaineers to commit 29 turnovers and out rebound Appalachian 54-36.
“We didn’t play with a whole lot of mental toughness,” ASU head coach Adrienne Shuler said. “It showed in the score and it showed in what Radford was able to do.”
The Mountaineers struggled to get any offense from their top scorers. Sophomore guard Gigi Thomas was limited to only two points, and senior guard Whitney Tossie faced foul trouble all night, and was held to just five points.
Shuler said Tossie’s foul trouble hurt their team in several ways.
“It hurt. She only played five minutes the first half and we put her back in there and now she is playing a little more cautious, and that takes away from her game,” Shuler said.
Without Tossie in, the Mountaineers struggled to come up with any defensive stops that could have translated into easy offensive baskets.
Radford went on an 11-0 run with a little over four minutes left in the first half and never looked back.
Appalachian shot 32 percent from the field and was unable to get into any offensive rhythm in the second half. Radford freshman guard Taleia Moton led the defensive charge with eight steals.
“Their defense was pretty rough on us,” Mountaineer freshman guard Sam Ramirez said. “We tried to do what we could, but our turnovers hurt us and the ref’s calls hurt us too.”
Ramirez came off the bench mid way through the first half and provided an offensive spark, scoring nine points in the first half.
Appalachian didn’t have an answer for Radford senior forward Corrie Fertitta, who led the Highlanders with 15 rebounds.
Nevertheless, Shuler said the second chance opportunities the Highlanders had on the boards hurt the Mountaineers the most.
“They were out rebounding us. They had 29 [rebounds] at the half and we had 15,” Shuler said. “We knew coming in that was one of their things and they did exactly what we thought they did.”
Radford earned their second consecutive win over the Mountaineers; last year Appalachian fell to the Highlanders 68-56 in Radford, Va.
The Mountaineers will have plenty of time to dwell on this loss as they have 10 days off until they open up Southern Conference play against College of Charleston Dec. 14.
 |
Sports 
Show/Hide comments
