By Matt Present. HICKORY, N.C. — App State Baseball rode strong arms on the mound and timely opportunities on the basepaths to a 9-4 win against Siena on Saturday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium.

The Mountaineers (5-1) clinched their second straight weekend series victory to open the 2024 campaign and will look to sweep Siena (0-5) in Sunday’s finale in Hickory. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Jackson Steensma, last year’s closer who has moved into the weekend starting rotation this season, earned his first win as a Mountaineer starter. He allowed just one first-inning run before shutting down the Saints over the next four innings and racking up five strikeouts.

sEVEN OF NINE aPP sTATE STARTERS REACHED BASE, OFFENSIVELY.

Head coach Kermit Smith turned to the bullpen for the final four frames and got solid work from Grey LaSpaluto, Everette Harris and Zach Lewis, who combined to allow three runs on three hits with three strikeouts.

Seven of nine starters reached base for App State’s offense, led by shortstop Adam Quintero’s 1-for-4 day that included his second home run of the year. He scored twice, drove in two runs and flashed the leather with a pair of unassisted double plays and a nice sliding grab to cut down a runner at second.

Banks Tolley went 1-for-3, reached base twice on a hit by pitch and scored three times. Drew Holderbach went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, and Tommy Walker drove in two and stole two bases.

App State took advantage of four Saints errors in the contest, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third and four more in the seventh and eighth innings with help from Siena fielding miscues.

After Siena jumped ahead on a first-inning solo home run, the App State bats picked up where they left off from Friday’s 15-run performance by plating two in the second inning on a Walker single that drove in Holderbach and Quintero for Walker’s first hit and RBIs of the young season.

The 2-1 advantage was all Steensma and Co. needed.

In the top of the fifth, Siena threatened to cut into App State’s lead when a runner tried to score from first on a double to left, but a perfectly executed Boyd-to-Quintero-to-Walker relay cut down the Siena runner in front of home plate to keep the Saints off the board.

After Siena tacked on a run in the top of the sixth, Quintero led off the bottom of the frame with a blast over the right-field wall to extend the Mountaineers’ lead to 5-2.

BOX SCORE: https://appstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx?path=baseball&id=8855

By David Rogers. RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released the state playoff brackets Saturday afternoon and there is a lot of local interest in the High Country.

The Pioneers’ women’s team sported a stellar 21-5 overall record and 9-2 Northwestern Conference record, including a dominant showing in the past week’s NWC conference tourney to win the championship, and were rewarded with the No. 1 seed in the NCHSAA Women’s 4A West Bracket. In the first round, Watauga will stay at home and host the No. 32 seed, South Iredell (Statesville) on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m., the men to follow at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Watauga’s other NWC tournament championship team, the Pioneer men, drew a No. 8 seed and will face No. 25 Reagan High School of Pfafftown, a suburb of Winston-Salem. That game will also be at Lentz Eggers Gym on Feb. 27, following the women’s contest.

In Reagan, the Pioneers’ men will face a team that put together a 14-11 overall record, 6-8 in the highly competitive 4A Central Piedmont Conference where they earned a fourth place finish. In the 4A West, Reagan is ranked No. 26, its position strengthened by a 10.8 strength of schedule. Watauga is ranked just three spots ahead of the Raiders, at No. 23, its gaudy record somewhat discounted in the rankings because a strength of schedule rating of only 2.8.

The winner between Reagan and Watauga will advance to face the winner of No. 9 Independence (Charlotte) and No. 24 Cox Mill (Concord).

When it comes to the North Carolina State Playoffs, the final seedings are only a suggestion of strongest teams and their positionings. Lower seeds coming out of strong conferences, especially those coming out of more urban leagues that may be stronger, top to bottom, frequently upset higher seeds. So, Watauga will have to come out firing on all cylinders.

The Watauga women’s team faces a similar situation as the No. 1 seed. Their No. 32 seeded opponent was the fifth place finisher in a strong 4A Greater Metro Conference with a losing overall record (9-17) and a losing conference record (5-8), but at least one of their conference wins was against a team ranked higher in the final conference standings (West Cabarrus).

The winner of the first round pairing of Watauga and South Iredell advances to a second round matchup with either No. 16 North Mecklenburg (Charlotte) or No. 17 Asheville.

Other 4A men’s teams of interest include:

• No. 18 South Caldwell @ No. 15 East Forsyth
• No. 1 Myers Park vs. No. 32 Mallard Creek
• No. 2 Lake Norman vs. No. 31 Parkland
• No. 3 Weddington vs. No. 30 East Mecklenburg
• No. 28 T C Roberson @ No. 5 North Mecklenburg

Other 4A women’s teams of interest include:

• No. 30 South Caldwell @ No. 3 Charlotte Catholic
• No. 10 Alexander Central vs. No. 23 Southwest Guilford
• No. 2 Lake Norman vs. No. 31 Cuthbertson

Other Regional Men’s Teams in State Playoffs:

• 3A – No. 1 Hickory vs. No. 32 West Charlotte
• 3A – No. 9 Freedom vs. No. 24 South Point
• 3A – No. 7 A C Reynolds vs. No. 26 North Davidson

Other Regional Women’s Teams in State Playoffs:

• 3A – No. 19 Freedom @ No. 14 North Davidson
• 3A – No. 11 Hibriten vs. No. 22 Hickory
• 3A – No. 7 Ashe County vs. No. 26 Franklin
• 1A – No. 17 Avery County @ No. 16 Rosman

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — There was a lot of “good” and hardly any “bad” — but it is hard to dismiss the “ugly” in the Watauga men’s basketball Northwestern Conference tournament championship win on Feb. 23, 63-56, over Alexander Central.

One onlooker among the standing room only, jam-packed Lentz Eggers Gym opined afterward, “That was some of the best high school basketball and some of the worst high school basketball by a single team in the same game.”

The Good

As junior point guard Maddox Greene told High Country Sports after the game, “We wanted to come out strong. Put the pedal to the metal, so to speak.”

And they did.

With 1:34 to go in the first quarter, the Pioneers led the visiting Cougars, 25-4. Watauga’s punishing defense had Alexander Central suffering a more than five-minute scoring drought. Meanwhile, the Pioneers were running their up-tempo, transition offense to near perfection.

By halftime, Watauga established a daunting, 37-16 lead. At the end of the third quarter, the Pioneers were ahead, 51-31, appearing to be running away with the result.

The Ugly

But then, the wheels of the all but assumed victory wagon started squeaking, perhaps even howling. The Pioneers got cocky and complacent. In short, they grew careless and the Alexander Central quintet took advantage.

Instead of playing “keep away” and burn time off the clock to protect the 20-point lead, the Pioneers put up some reckless shots from behind the arc (that did not go in) and lost possession, numerous times. With a couple of minutes left to play, Alexander Central had shrunk the deficit to just seven points and the packed Cougar stands behind their favorite sons’ bench started whispering, “Can we possibly pull off this unlikely, come-from-behind thriller?”

Fortunately for the Pioneers, there were some big shots that finally went in to keep the lead at around 10 points and with time winding down, Alexander Central was forced to foul. Almost all of those trips to the charity stripe were by Greene, who finished the night making 7-of-10 free throw attempts, accounting for a good chunk of his 17 points. And it was those calmly made free throws that proved the final dagger for the Cougars.

In one fourth quarter timeout, Pioneer head coach Payne said he told his guys, “Just settle down and finish this with good decisions.”

Pioneer senior guard Wyatt Kohout shot 50 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-10 attempts), on his way to a game-high 19 points. Forward Jackson Pryor recorded a double-double, with 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Kohout and Pryor were both named to the all-tournament team, Greene garnered tournament MVP honors.

Few in the building will forget Watauga’s dominating, “statement” lead through three quarters of play. They may or may not remember the near collapse in the fourth quarter.

Payne said he was proud of the team’s ability to cope with adversity, even if some of it was self-inflicted. He noted that several of the guys have been with the program in its rebuilding phase and are now seeing the fruits of their labors. Long time coach and athletic administrator in the region, Marc Payne, stated that Watauga’s 21 wins this season is a program record and that this was the second Northwestern Conference tournament championship for the Pioneers in program history. The first, according to longtime WATA radio announcer Mike Kelly, now retired, came in 1971-72.

The Pioneers now await the Feb. 24 release of the North Carolina 4A State Playoffs pairings. As the No. team in the Northwestern Conference, they are assured of at least a fairly high seed and a first round home game on Tuesday. That will take place after Watauga women’s first round home game, the guys probably to start at 7:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With a sprinkling of college scouts in the standing room only crowd on Feb. 23 in Lentz Eggers Gym, Watauga junior point guard Kate Sears put on a show, teammate Julie Matheson buried back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Pioneers jumpstarted, then fellow guard Kaitlyn Darner picked up any slack with 3-of-4 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. Without question, the Watauga Pioneers left little doubt as to who the best women’s basketball team in the 3A/4A Northwestern Conference was, dispatching a plucky Hibriten side, 68-46.

BONUS PHOTOS at bottom of article

The pre-game scuttlebutt was that representatives of App State, James Madison, Davidson, and Wake Forest — and maybe others — were in attendance to watch Sears & Co. perform in the NWC Tournament Championship game. Sears, who has been on various schools’ respective radars since as early as her 6^th grade season with Blowing Rock’s middle school team, did not disappoint. She poured in 28 points, grabbed 15 rebounds (13 on the defensive end, depriving Hibriten of second chance opportunities), and distributed the ball unselfishly to teammates for seven assists. She shot 50 percent from the field, stuck 4-of-7 from behind the arc, and made 6-of-7 free throws. Unsurprisingly, she was named tournament MVP.

Darner’s 3-pointers accounted for the majority of her 15 points on the night while Matheson’s 63 percent shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 from long range, were part of a 13-point total for her evening’s work. Their performances earned both Darner and Matheson selections to the all-tournament team, joining Sears.

Elsewhere, sophomore forward Laney Shook cleared the boards for seven rebounds and scored five points. Charlotte Torgerson (4 points) and freshman Blair Haines (3 points, coming off the bench) rounded out the Pioneer scoring.

To describe Hibriten as “plucky” is an understatement. After upsetting heavily favored Ashe County in the tournament semifinals, the Panthers figured to be a stiff challenge, at least, for the Pioneers. The one-two punch of senior guard Emma Poarch (15 points) and freshman guard Aamori Patterson (11) were joined in double figures scoring by forward Jada Brown (10), who is one of the state’s top triple jumpers in track and field. Both Poarch and Patterson earned spots on the all-tournament team.

Watauga head coach Bill Torgerson was enthusiastic after the game about what is Pioneers had accomplished with the NWC tournament championship.

“The players really delivered one of their best performances of the year in one of the most important games,” note Torgerson. “Hibriten has some really talented shooters and scorers and lots of players did things really well that won’t show up in the box score. Take Diane McGlamery and Gracie Lawrence, for example. Both of them did a really good job of defending inside and not requiring help and that allowed the rest of our players to contest shooters. And a player such as Laney Shook had two really strong rebounding games in the tournament that helped us win.”

Watauga’s first year head coach could not contain his admiration for what Sears is accomplishing.

“Kate Sears played really well and has a lot of extra things to navigate,” said Torgerson. “There were quite a few college coaches at the game and everyone is always telling her, ‘give me thirty tonight Kate.’ So, that’s a lot for a teenager to navigate and she delivered with a strong shooting night, an amazing night on the boards, and did a great job of finding her teammates.

Finally, he added, “I was really happy for Kaitlyn Darner and Julie Matheson to make the all-tournament team. Julie really gave us a big spark in the championship game knocking down a couple of early 3-point shots. Kaitlyn also shot it really well and played excellent defense. She also got some key deflections and steals in the tournament. When we’re playing zone and trying to get to shooters, she and Charlotte Torgerson make a great defensive team.”

The Pioneers now await who they will face in the first round of the state playoffs. As the top 4A seed from the Northwestern Conference, they are assured of at least one home game on Tuesday, Feb. 27, with tipoff at Lentz Eggers Gym scheduled for either 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m., depending largely on from where their opponent will need to travel.

BONUS PHOTOS

All photographic images by David Rogers

By Jacob Plecker. RALEIGH, N.C. – After numerous delays and time changes, the App State Mountaineers finally took the field at the Wolfpack Classic and struck for four runs in the first inning to jump in front early against the Cleveland State Vikings. Then, Sejal Neas took over in the circle and mowed down the Viking bats, leading the Mountaineers to a 4-2 win on Friday.

The Vikings (2-4) struck first with an RBI single, but six straight baserunners in the bottom of the inning allowed the Mountaineers (5-4) to plate a four-spot in the inning to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Two-RBI singles by both Peyton Darnell and Olivia Cook helped spark the Black and Gold to the crooked number in the first.

With a lead after her first inning of work, Sejal Neas pitched marvelously en route to her second win of the season. Overall, Neas left six runners on base while also retiring 14 of the final 15 batters she faced to close the game. She was resilient all game in the circle as she escaped multiple jams, including stranding two in scoring position in the second inning to keep the Vikings off the board.

The Mountaineer offense loaded the bases in two separate innings and had at least one runner on in every inning, putting pressure on the Vikings all game. Six different players recorded at least one hit in the weekend-opener with Kayt Houston’s two-hit day leading the way.

How it Happened

In Neas’ fourth start of the season, it was Cleveland State who got the scoring started on Friday as they strung together a pair of hits to open play. Neas bounced back strongly after allowing the run, tallying her first of five strikeouts on the game to end the inning.

Neas’ strikeout to limit the damage proved vital as the Mountaineer offense immediately paid off her work with four first-inning runs. First, it was Houston who roped a single into left field to start the game and Grace Barrett reached first on a fielder’s choice to put two runners on with no one out. Darnell then stepped to the plate and cleared the bases with a hard-hit single into the center that scored Houston. Barrett came around to score on the play as well, using aggressive baserunning to capitalize on a Viking error to give App State the lead.

Walks to both Killian Roberts and Taylor Thorp loaded the bases in the first inning for Olivia Cook, who delivered a single into right that plated two. Cook’s opposite-field approach helped drive in her sixth and seventh runs this year.

The Vikings eventually got out of the inning, but six baserunners, three hits and four runs from the Mountaineers gave App State its first lead of the game after one.

Now with the lead, Neas came back out in the second and kept the Vikings at bay, stranding two runners in the inning. The Vikings’ first two runners reached base and were moved to second and third with just one out, but Neas’ ability to miss barrels led to two straight weak fly balls that ended the threat and maintained the three-run lead after two.

Fired up after Neas’s solid inning of work, Abby Cunningham drew a walk to lead off the second inning after a seven-pitch battle. Grace Barrett then singled to center and Darnell reached base for the second time of the game to load the bases for the second consecutive inning. But just as Neas did in her half of the inning, Viking starting pitcher Holzopfel stranded the bases loaded to keep the Mountaineer lead at three.

The first two Vikings reached base in the third inning, putting another runner in scoring position against Neas. Neas got the next hitter to ground the ball back to her and she calmly fired to third to get the lead runner for the first out. Despite the nice play on defense, Gilkerson singled into right field to bring in Cleveland State’s second run. Gilkerson’s single would be the second-to-last runner that reached against Neas in the game.

Neas retired the Vikings in order in the fourth inning, racking up another strikeout in the process, which allowed the Mountaineer bats to come back to the plate. Looking to add on, Houston smoked a double to the left-field fence to lead off the inning, putting a runner in scoring position with no one out. It was Houston’s eighth double of the young season.

Holzopfel did well to escape the Mountaineer rally in the fifth, but the Vikings couldn’t crack Neas in the fifth as she worked around a one-out walk to retire the side in the fifth.

After a one-out walk in the fifth, Neas settled in and retired each of the last eight hitters she saw. An eight-pitch sixth inning and a clean seventh inning capped off her fourth complete game and second win of the season.

The Mountaineers’ hot start and another solid outing from the defense helped lead App State to its fifth win in the last six games. Neas needed just 99 pitches to complete the game.

Friday Notes
Home runs
App: N/A
CSU: N/A

WP – Sejal Neas (2-2): 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
SV – N/A
LP – Melissa Holzopfel (2-2): 6 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs (0 earned runs), 5 walks, 5 strikeouts

Up Next
App State continues play at the Wolfpack Classic with a doubleheader on Saturday. App State will take on Iona for the first time ever in game 1 while a rematch with Cleveland State caps off the day. First pitch against Iona is slated for 1 p.m.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With all five starters finishing the game in double figures, Watauga survived the onslaught of a hot-shooting Freedom team in the first half of their Northwestern Conference tournament semifinal, defeating the Patriots, 76-63, to advance to the Feb. 23 tournament championship game against Alexander Central.

Freedom’s Braxton King shot 50 percent from behind the 3-point arc (7-of-14) to record a game-high 23 points, but broad-based scoring from the host Pioneers — especially in the second half and the decisive fourth quarter — proved too much for the Patriots. The Pioneers were led by junior guard Maddox Greene’s team-high 20 points, with key contributions from Josiah Railey (16 points), Jackson Pryor (14), Wyatt Kohout (13) and Cade Keller (10).

The athletic Freedom team — which featured a 15-man rotation even though the starters played the lion’s share of the minutes — shot 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from behind the 3-point arc in the first half to take tense, 32-11 lead into intermission. Watauga edged ahead to close out the third quarter with a tentative, 47-46 lead, then used a combination of pressure defense and up tempo offense to gain separation in the fourth quarter, outscoring their guests, 29-17, in the final frame.

Perhaps the most telling statistic reflecting the oppressive defense brought to the floor by the Pioneers: Freedom committed 22 turnovers on the night, compared to just five by the sure-handed Watauga team.

Railey just missed recording a double-double by pulling down nine rebounds to go with his 16 points, four assists and five steals. Point guard Greene not only had the team high 20 points, but also a game-high eight assists in distributing the ball to his ball-hawking teammates.

When a reporter suggested that Watauga might have been a bit lackadaisical in the game’s opening frame and the first half, head coach Bryson Payne had another perspective.

“I don’t know whether I would call our performance lackadaisical early on,” said Payne. “They were just hitting some tough shots. No. 12, King, hit four threes in the first quarter and three in the second quarter. Some of those shots, when a player is hot, you just live with. I told the guys at halftime to just be consistent. Defend. We just have to hope that someone is not going to make those kind of shots throughout the game.”

In fact, the Patriots made just 3-of-10 from long range in the second half, to reinforce Payne’s halftime message.

“We just tried to stay consistent with our transition offense and, ultimately, that is how we were able to pull away,” added Payne. “I thought Freedom played really well. I don’t think they did a whole lot differently than in the regular season, they just played better, with more confidence. It was a battle. I know we won by 13, but it was closer than that for most of the game. We were never really comfortable until maybe the last 20 seconds.”

Payne admitted to a bit of nervousness when Pryor got into foul trouble in the second quarter.

“You never want to see Pryor have to leave the game and sit because of foul trouble, but I thought Brady (Lindenmuth) came in and gave us some good minutes in relief, especially in starting the second half, clearing the boards,” said Payne.

Railey said afterwards that the Pioneers may have taken Freedom more lightly than they should have.

“I think we underestimated them a bit,” said the junior guard. “We beat them twice in the regular season, so maybe we didn’t think we would have any trouble. At halftime, we said we had to step it up. As far as adjustments, that shooter, No. 12, was really racking them up in the first half so we put Maddox (Greene) on him defensively, to lock him up.”

With the win, Watauga improves to 20-5 overall and 9-1 in conference. They will now play the winner of the other semifinal Alexander Central, on Feb. 23. Tipoff should be approximately 8 p.m., following the women’s final pitting Watauga against Hibriten.

Key Performances

• WAT – Maddox Greene: 20 points, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4 rebounds
• WAT – Josiah Railey: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals
• WAT – Jackson Pryor: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
• WAT – Wyatt Kohout: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
• WAT – Cade Keller: 10 points, 2 assists
• FDM – Braxton King: 23 points
• FDM – Elijah Davidson: 13 rebounds, 5 points
• FDM – Gavin McNaughton: 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists
• FDM – Kobe Johnson: 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists

By Zach Smith. BOONE, N.C. — Coming off a dominant victory over Georgia State in their last outing, App State looked to build momentum with a win over Old Dominion on Feb. 22. The Mountaineers were unable to do that, falling to the Monarchs, 81-62.

App State saw three players log double-digit points. Junior Emily Carver netted a team-high 14 points, while senior Faith Alston and sophomore Alexis Black each scored 10. Rylan Moffitt and Mariah Frazier each grabbed eight rebounds, while Alston dished out six assists.

Old Dominion was led by a 17-point, eight-rebound performance from Brenda Fontana. En’Dya Buford also scored 17, while Simone Cunningham and Mimi McCollister scored 10 apiece to round out the Monarch scoring effort. Cunningham tacked on a team-best 10 rebounds to secure a double-double.

App State scored the game’s first five points before ODU took their first lead of the contest with an 8-0 run of their own. The Mountaineers countered with back-to-back three-pointers to jump back in front — but that proved to be their final lead of the evening. The Monarchs out-scored App State by eight through the rest of the first quarter, and took a five-point advantage into the second.

The second period remained a close contest.  The Mountaineers never fell behind by more than six points in the frame, bringing the game within a point on two separate occasions. Late in the half, App State had a chance to tie the contest as En’Dya Buford was called for a tech after committing a shooting foul. Behind by four, The Mountaineers knocked down three of their four shots from the stripe, securing a one-point deficit at the halftime buzzer.

Things fell apart quickly for App State out of the locker room. ODU scored 21 of the first 24 points of the second half, turning the game on its head early in the third quarter. The Mountaineers hit just two shots from the floor in the stanza, and ODU out-scored the home side by 16 in that time. 

Things didn’t get much better in the final ten minutes to play. For the second quarter in a row, App State hit just two shots from the field. Old Dominion defeated the Mountaineers by 19, securing their 19th victory on the 2023-24 campaign.

App State head coach Angel Elderkin praised the visitors for their performance, postgame.

“I say a lot ‘chance favors the aggressor,’ and I thought Old Dominion was super aggressive,” Elderkin said. “Hats off to them in terms of the job that they did defensively. Our offense has been on fire lately, and they really put that fire out tonight.”

Elderkin went on to talk about what changed out of the locker room at the start of the second half.

“Their three-point shooting ability,” Elderkin said. “They’re a team that averages five made threes [per game] and they hit us for 10. In the first quarter they came out hot. We felt good in the second quarter because we held them without one. Everything that could go wrong in the third quarter went wrong.”

“Our offense has been on fire lately, and they really put that fire out tonight”

App State saw shooting struggles for the first time in recent contests. Elderkin spoke on the cause of her team’s scoring difficulty against Old Dominion’s conference-best defense.

“I think it was a lot to do with their athleticism,” Elderkin said. “I don’t think we got as many clean, open shots, I think they’re there on the catch. They do a good job of defending the three-point line and they do a good job of just guarding the basketball.”

As a team, App State shot at just a 27 percent mark, compared to ODU’s impressive 46 percent clip. The Monarchs outrebounded the Mountaineers, 54-35, and dished out 17 assists, topping App State’s eight.

With the victory, Old Dominion are winners of four of their last five games. The Monarchs hold sole possession of fourth place in the Sun Belt, a position that would earn them a double-bye in the conference tournament. ODU travels to Atlanta Feb. 24 to face Georgia State for their last road test of the regular season. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m., and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.

App State’s loss drops them to a 7-8 record in conference play. The Mountaineers remain in position to skip the first round of the Sun Belt tournament, and need just one win or a Georgia Southern loss to secure that position. App State returns to play Feb. 24 against James Madison for Senior Day. The game is slated to tipoff at 2 p.m., and can be streamed on ESPN+.

By Jacob Plecker. NORFOLK, Va. — With Old Dominion ahead by two at the 10:10 mark in the second half, CJ Huntley’s hustle play off a missed free throw led to an open three-pointer by Terence Harcum, giving App State a one-point lead. That dagger from long distance sparked a 21-6 run from the App State Mountaineers as they raced past ODU for an 82-67 road win on Feb. 22.

App State’s (23-5, 13-2 SBC) road conference win marks win No.13 in Sun Belt play this season. That breaks the previous record for Sun Belt wins in a season set in 2021-22. It also secures the first winning season on the road for the Mountaineers since the 2009-10 campaign. With Thursday’s win over Old Dominion (6-22, 2-13 SBC), the Mountaineers are one of just 10 Division I teams with at least 23 wins.

Hartley’s hustle was all the spark the Mountaineers needed.

Terence Harcum’s 18 points after intermission fueled App State’s second-half barrage as he buried four threes in the final 20 minutes, including three in the first 10 minutes — leading to a 22-point game. Harcum has played in two games at Chartway Arena and posted 28-point and 22-point performances, giving him an average of 25 points a game in Chartway Arena in his career.

The Mountaineers buried nine of 18 threes they attempted on the night, marking the second consecutive game that App State has shot 50 percent from behind the arc. Three players hit multiple threes: Harcum, Donovan Gregory, and Myles Tate.  Harcum’s four threes were his eighth game this season with at least three made from behind the arc leads the team. App State has won 11 straight games in which they shoot at least 40 percent from three.

Offensive rebounding played a huge role in App State’s 23rd win of the season as the Mountaineers used 16 offensive rebounds to get 19 second-chance points. CJ Huntley kept multiple possessions alive in the game, picking up six offensive boards, which is a season-high.

The Mountaineers shot 50 percent (9 of 18 attempts) from behind the arc.

Overall, two players recorded double-digit rebounding performances, with Tre’Von Spillers tallying his eighth double-double of the season. His eight double-doubles this season are the most by a Mountaineer in a season since Isaac Johnson tallied eight in 2019-20.

How It Happened
It was ODU who kicked off the scoring in the Mountaineers’ final road trip of the year as Chaunce Jenkins hit a three to open play at Chartway Arena. But Spillers quickly got his night going, scoring two easy buckets to get App State on the board and tie things up at five by the 16:53 mark.

Both teams struggled to score as play hit the first media break, with neither team tallying a basket for over three minutes. Myles Tate and Christopher Mantis broke the drought. Mantis’ 3-pointer gave App State its largest lead of the game to that point, at five.

ODU retook the lead at 12-10 by the 10:06 mark of the first half but Gregory’s finish through contact in the lane brought the Mountaineers back ahead by one. The Monarchs, who have played their opponents tough recently despite the poor record, worked back ahead by three as play hit the under-eight timeout. Jenkins’ 10th point of the first half sent things to the break.

Myles Tate and Christopher Mantis broke the scoring drought.

After Jordan Marsh buried two free throws, Harcum’s first points of the game pushed the Mountaineers back ahead by two by the 4:07 mark. A put-back bucket by Spillers jumped the lead up to four as the final media timeout came. The Mountaineers were +15 in the first half with Spillers on the court, feeding off his energy on the offensive glass to get easy baskets.

The lead changed hands seven times in the first half but Spillers’ put-back gave App State the spark it needed to finish the stanza. After two free throws from Tyrone Williams, the Mountaineers scored the final four points to close the half with its largest lead of seven, capped off by Tate’s step-back three.

Three-point shooting in the first half played well for App State as 25 percent of their first-half points came via the three-ball. Gregory’s season-high two first-half threes helped fuel the Mountaineers during cold stretches as he led the way in the first half with nine.

Defensively, the Mountaineers held the Monarchs to just 34 percent from the field and 27 percent from three. Because of this, the Mountaineers took a lead into the halftime break for the 17th time this season. Heading into App State’s visit to ODU, the Mountaineers were 15-1 when leading at the half.

Despite the Monarchs scoring the first points of the final half, it was Harcum who found his rhythm. He nailed two shots from long distance almost immediately after the break to give him 10 points for the game to that point. ODU fought to trim the lead to just two by the 14:57 mark, but a third Harcum 3-pointer ballooned App State ahead by five as he started to catch fire.

App State took a three-point lead into the first media timeout of the final half but the competitiveness of the Monarchs tied the game at 50 apiece with 11:52 to go in the final frame. Despite the spurt from ODU, the Mountaineers maintained their lead at the under-12-minute break courtesy of a Spillers steal and a Marsh driving layup through contact on a sweet finish.

ODU took its first lead since the score was 23-20 in the first half, using a 13-5 run to jump back in front after a Dani Pounds dunk. A four-point possession, however, brought App State back in front as a free throw from Gregory and a hustle play that led to Harcum’s fourth three of the half gave App State the lead heading into the under-eight timeout.

Huntley’s hustle was all the spark the Mountaineers needed to build separation as App State outscored the Monarchs by 12 before the next timeout. Huntley continued to leave his mark on the game as he threw down two huge hammers consecutively during the run to give him six points. A huge alley-oop jam from Spillers capped off the big stretch by App State as he and Huntley combined to jolt Chartway Arena in the final stages of the game.

The Mountaineers jumped ahead by as much as 17 late in the game, continuing to run away from the reeling Monarchs as they went on an extended 19-2 run down the stretch. Harcum continued his second-half heroics in Norfolk as he eclipsed 20 points for the game by the 2:17 mark.

When the final horn sounded, the Mountaineers had pulled away with a 15-point victory. The win marked App State’s 15th double-digit victory of the season. It was also App State’s 13th Sun Belt victory, which is the most Sun Belt wins App State has recorded since joining the league in 2014 and the most conference wins in a season since 2009-10.

Top Performers

• For the 16th time this season, all nine players who touched the floor for the Black and Gold recorded a point.
• Additionally, four players reached double-figures, which is the 34th game in a row App State has seen multiple double-figure scorers.
• Terence Harcum’s 18-point second-half barrage paced App State as he posted a game-high 22, marking his fourth 20-point game in conference play.
• Myles Tate’s near-perfect night helped him finish with 14 points but he also recorded five assists and six rebounds. Tate needs just one more assist for 100 this season.
• Tre’Von Spillers continued to be a force down low for head coach Dustin Kerns as his 12 points and 11 rebounds marked his eighth double-double of the year. Spillers’ effort and hustle were huge as App State outscored ODU by 26 points with Spillers on the floor.

Next Up
App State heads to Huntington, W. Va., for a battle with the Marshall Thundering Herd in what will be the Mountaineers’ third nationally televised game of the season. It will also be the second meeting in the last nine days between the Mountaineers and Thundering Herd. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Hibriten freshman Aamori Patterson lit up the scoreboard with 6-of-14 shooting from behind the 3-point line, including four in the first half, while senior teammate Emma Poarch made 16 consecutive free throws in the second half to account for all but two of her 18 points. The dynamic duo helped power the Panthers past regular season co-champions, Ashe County, 66-47, on Feb. 22 in the semifinals of the Northwestern Conference tournament.

With the win, Hibriten will face Watauga in the tournament championship game on Friday, Feb. 23, with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Lentz Eggers Gym.

Poarch, the Hibriten senior guard who head coach Maury Patterson described as the team’s floor leader, recorded a double-double on the evening with 11 rebounds to go with her 18 points. She was on the court for all but two minutes of the 32-minute contest. Patterson, the freshman guard, poured in a game-high 22 points, including 18 of those accounted for by her shooting from long range. Patterson also poached a game-high three steals.

Ashe County came into the conference tournament semifinal heavily favored after embarrassing Watauga in the regular season finale in West Jefferson to share the regular season title with the Pioneers. Hibriten was 5-5 in league play, losing twice to both the Huskies as well as Watauga, but also splitting the home-and-home series with Alexander Central and South Caldwell.

On this night at least, the Huskies could hardly find the bucket, shooting just 29 percent from the field (making just 17-of-58 shots) and good on only 3-of-17 attempts from behind the 3-point arc. Even worse, the shot only 43 percent from the foul line (10-of-23) and committed a whopping 17 turnovers.

Husky guard Lexie Dawson recorded her own double-double in the losing effort, with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Ally Greer pulled down 10 rebounds.

Hibriten head coach Maury Patterson was understandably pleased after the game.

“We worked hard for this,” he said. “Every practice. All credit goes to Jesus Christ and the girls. Emma Poarch is the floor leader and her (success) has come from her tremendous work ethic.”

Patterson’s freshman daughter, Aamori Patterson, was instrumental in helping the Panthers gain separation in the first half with her 3-pointers.

“I started out in one place and knew I really had to pick it up. I really wanted to do my part,” she said afterwards.

Hardly a week removed from surgery to repair a broken nose, by halftime against Ashe County Poarch had discarded her protective gear.

“I could hardly breathe,” she said, before admitting that her free throw performance of 16 straight catching nothing but net resulted from a lot of work. “I shoot a LOT of free throws, every practice.”

Including non-conference games, with the win Hibriten now sports an 18-7 overall record for the season while Ashe County dips to 16-8.

Key Performances

• HIB – Emma Poarch: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 16-of-16 from the free throw line. 3 assists
• HIB – Aamori Patterson: 22 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
• HIB – Karlee Starnes: 9 points, 5 assists, 2 steals
• HIB – Parker Boggs: 9 points, 3 assists
• HIB – Jada Brown: 6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals
• ASH – Lexie Dawson: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists
• ASH – Ally Greer: 10 rebounds, 5 points
• ASH – Abby Sheets: 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals
• ASH – Abby Eller: 6 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
• ASH – Paige Overcash: 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — A double-double by Kate Sears (22 points, 10 rebounds) along with key rebounding support by Laney Shook (9) and Kaitlyn Darner (6) allowed host Watauga to turn back a withering attack from Alexander Central on Feb. 21 at Lentz Eggers Gym, 45-42, in the women’s semifinals of the Northwestern Conference tournament.

With the win, Watauga will advance to the Feb. 23 championship game vs. the winner of the Ashe County and Hibriten semifinal to be played on Feb. 22.

Fresh legs may have been to the Pioneers advantage against the Cougars. As the No. 1 tournament seed, Watauga had a bye into the semifinals while Alexander Central played and defeated Freedom the night before in a quarterfinal matchup, winning 53-46.

Against the Pioneers, Alexander Central head coach Jon Presnell went with just a six-player rotation. In one sense it was successful in that the three players who were on the floor for the full 32 minutes of the contest each scored in double figures. Forward Kirstyn Herman recorded a double-double of her own with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while guards Meredith Wike and Malayah Adams tallied 11 and 15 points, respectively.

That said, Watauga head coach Bill Torgerson countered with a much deeper bench, deploying a 9-player rotation. Only three Pioneers were on the floor for more than 20 minutes, including Sears (32 minutes), Darner (28) and Charlotte Torgerson (26). While forward starters Shook and Julie Matheson saw a generous amount of floor time at 16 and 18 minutes, respectively, the Pioneers deeper bench saw strong contributions and floor time from Diane McGlamery, Gracie Lawrence, Blair Haines, and Izzy Torgerson.

“We felt it important to keep as many of our starters’ legs as fresh as possible, knowing that Alexander Central had played the night before and might suffer from a little bit of fatigue,” Torgerson acknowledged after the game. “Our bench players were important for this win.”

It was a see-saw battle throughout the contest, with the favored Pioneers unable to gain much in the way of separation.

“Alexander Central is very well coached, so they always bring a tough test for us,” said junior point guard and playmaker, Sears, after the game. “And that was the case tonight.”

With a one-point lead and nearly three minutes to go in the game, Watauga went into “keep away” mode, passing the ball around and forgoing several clear shots at the basket.

“We wanted them to foul us,” said Torgerson, later.

While the ploy was risky with so much time left, it turned out OK for the Pioneers, made possible by their being one of the better ball-handling teams in the Northwestern Conference, as evidenced by just eight turnovers against the hard-pressing Cougars.

They passed around the perimeter as well as inside and back outside and around again several times without taking a shot, obviously frustrating the Cougars as time clicked off the clock. Under a minute left, Alexander Central was forced to foul and that sent senior Charlotte Torgerson to the line, who promptly dropped two from the charity stripe to give Watauga a 3-point lead. With time winding down, a desperate shot by the Cougars to try and tie the game was rebounded by Darner, who quickly directed an outlet pass to Torgerson, who dribbled out the clock.

While the final scheduled time for the Championship matchup has not yet been announced, it is believed to be Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m., before the men’s championship final.