Appalachian survived an injury scare a late run by the Samford Bulldogs to improve to 8-1 in SoCon play. Appalachian is now back in first place by a half game over Chattanooga, who lost on the road to Davidson. Chattanooga and Davidson are now both 8-2 in league play. Davidson is the only team that has defeated both Appalachian and Chattanooga.
The Mountaineers led by as many as 16 points at two different occasions in the second half, but Samford finally started to connect on some late three pointers and benefited from several Appalachian turnovers in the last two minutes of the game. Freshman Maryah Sydnor iced the game with two free throws to all but finish the Bulldogs. Samford, last years tournament champion, now finds itself in a tie for fifth place with Elon at 6-4 in league play.
Early in the first half, Anna Freeman went down with an ugly ankle injury and did not return to the game. Freeman was able to walk on the ankle in the second half during timeouts. Appalachian travels to fourth place Furman on Saturday. All three of Furman’s conference losses have come since January 7th, to Davidson, Chattanooga and Samford.