Pregame:
The Mountaineer women (1-1) continue their season with their second home game this evening against Big South opponent Gardner-Webb. The Mountaineers fell in a heartbreaker to Virginia Tech six days ago in Blacksburg. Appalachian is led by senior Anna Freeman who is averaging 27 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Anna is also a perfect 12/12 from the free throw line this season. Courtney Freeman is second on the team in scoring with 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. The Mountaineers have owned Gardner-Webb in the past, and this game also looks to get ugly after the disappointing loss last week.
Gardner-Webb will be playing its second road game of the season after falling to UNC-Greensboro this past weekend. The Runnin’ Bulldogs w0n their first three games of the season, all at home, over Lipscomb, Tennessee Temple and Montreat, by at least twenty points or more in each game. Against UNCG, both teams shot under 33% from the field, under 15% from three point range, and under 55% from the foul line. The two teams also combined for 56 turnovers. Catrina Green led Gardner-Webb with 20 points and 17 rebounds in the loss. On the season, Green is averaging a double-double, with 13 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Jessica Heilig adds 10.8 points and 4 rebounds per game while Jasmine Dale pours in 11.5 points per game.
Postgame:
As we imagined, Appalachian dominated Gardner-Webb from the start. Gardner-Webb scored the first point of the game, and it was their only lead as Appalachian cruised to a 84-43 win. The Mountaineers had Gardner-Webb doubled up for most of the second half before the final margin was decided. Gardner-Webb shot poorly throughout the night and could not keep up the with the pace the Mountaineers forced. Gardner-Webb had 34 turnovers of the night, with Appalachian scoring 41 points off of those mistakes. Appalachian also dominated in the paint, with a 54-26 edge.
The Mountaineers were led by the Freeman duo, Anna and Courtney who combined to score 49 points on the night. Courtney led all scored with 26 points, leaving her only 71 points away from 1,000 point mark for her career. At her current pace, Courtney could score her 1000th point in the Mountaineers next home game on December 3rd against Georgia Southern. Anna Freeman added 23 points and continued her ways of filling up the stat sheet, adding ten rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Anna hit all four of her free throw attempts to remain a perfect 16/16 on the year. Anna is also on pace this year to score her 2,000th point late in the season. At her current pace, she would need to average 22.3 points per game to score her 2,000th point in the first game of the conference tournament. Anna is currently averaging 25.7 points per contest.