In its second conference meeting with Marshall on Thursday, the App State women’s basketball team fell to the Thundering Herd, 72-64.

Junior Faith Alston scored a team-high 17 points on the night, while sophomore Emily Carver netted 16. Both drained four 3-point buckets and nabbed two steals apiece. Alston also pulled down six rebounds, went 5-for-6 at the charity stripe, and dished out six assists. Redshirt junior A’Lea Gilbert led the team in rebounds, pulling down nine.

App State (8-14, 4-7 SBC) scored 15 points off turnovers and 11 off second chances.

The Mountaineers started out strong against Marshall in the first quarter, as graduate student Brooke Bigott, redshirt senior Janay Sanders, Gilbert, and Alston went on an 11-0 scoring run. Carver broke away for a fast-break layup to put App State up 13-2. Sanders sunk a pair of free throws and Alston drilled a late trey as the Mountaineers held the Herd to a mere nine points in the first quarter (18-9).

Treys from Alston and Carver, as well as buckets from freshman Alexis Black and sophomore Zada Porter, kept App State ahead 28-18 in the second quarter. Sanders added to the Black and Gold’s lead with a layup from the paint to put the Mountaineers up by ten (30-20). A Carver trey put the Mountaineers up 33-22 late in the period.

Bigott drilled a 3-point bucket to open the third quarter, despite Marshall’s efforts to catch up to the Mountaineers’ lead. The Thundering Herd found momentum and cut the deficit to 36-31. Layups from Gilbert and Carver kept the Black and Gold ahead, 40-33. Returning from the media break, Carver landed her third trey of the game as time ran out on the shot clock. Shortly after, Sanders made a jumper to put App State up 45-37. A trey from Carver kept the Mountaineers up 48-43, but the Herd cut the gap to 48-45 with a pair of free throws.

Marshall found momentum in the fourth quarter to gain the lead at 55-50, for the only lead change of the game, as the Mountaineers faced a scoring drought. Alston and Black sunk free throws as the Mountaineers trailed Marshall, 65-59. A basket from Bigott brought the Mountaineers within four (65-61) and another pair of free throws from Black put App State back within five, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Thundering Herd, as Marshall took the victory, 72-64.

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The Mountaineers will travel to Conway, S.C. to clash with Coastal Carolina on Feb. 4 at noon. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.