The App State women’s basketball team fell to Georgia State, 64-56, after a hard-fought battle Thursday night.

Redshirt senior Janay Sanders netted a team-high 20 points, while sophomore Emily Carver tallied 14 points and shot 3-of-5 from the 3-point line. Junior Faith Alston dished out a team-high seven assists.

Over the course of play, the lead changed between the Mountaineers and Panthers 18 times, 11 of which happened in the first half. App State posted 20 points off turnovers and 32 points in the paint.

After a slow start, the Mountaineers (8-12, 4-5 SBC) caught up to the Panthers (9-13, 3-6 SBC) in the first quarter as Carver, graduate student Brooke Bigott and Sanders contributed to an 8-0 scoring run. The Mountaineers and Panthers swapped the lead throughout the remainder of the period.

Early in the second quarter, Carver drained a trey to put App State up 24-19. A 3-point bucket from freshman Alexis Black and jumper from Sanders kept the Black and Gold ahead, 29-25, but Georgia State kept pace, refusing to let App State pull too far ahead. A Sanders layup tied things up at 31 all, and sophomore Zada Porter kept things tied at 33-33 with a layup of her own. A final layup from Sanders gave App State a 35-33 edge going into halftime.

Carver and Sanders combined for all 12 of App State’s points in the third quarter with Carver drilling two treys and a pair of free throws and Sanders contributing two layups.

A jumper from Sanders put the Mountaineers within one of Georgia State’s lead in the fourth quarter, and an Alston layup gave the Black and Gold a 51-50 edge, but Georgia State was quick to respond. With Sanders drilling two from the charity stripe, the Mountaineers were back within one, trailing 54-53. Sanders tied things up with a made free throw before pushing App State ahead 55-54 with another. A late trey from Georgia State’s Mikyla Tolivert gave the Panthers a 59-55 lead with 50 seconds left in the game. Despite a free throw from Carver, the Panthers sunk five free throws to put enough distance between them and the Mountaineers for a 64-56 win.

The Mountaineers return to Boone to host Louisiana at 2 p.m. on Saturday for Alumni Weekend and doubleheader with the men’s team. Prior to the game App State women’s basketball alumni are welcome to an event at the McKinney Alumni Center.