CONWAY, S.C. – Aja Blount scored a season-high 26 points and
Miriam Recarte added 13 points, including five free throws in the final 30 seconds, as Coastal Carolina earned a 70-67 win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center.
With the scored tied 58-58, the Chants turned to Blount, who scored seven points in an 8-0 run as Coastal went ahead 64-58, its largest advantage of the game. Then, Recarte closed the door on any comeback attempt by making 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to avenge an 81-74 loss to the Mountaineers last month. Blount got 20 of her points in the second half.
The 5-11 graduate student, also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Recarte, a 6-2 graduate student, scored 10 of her 13 points in the last quarter when Coastal outscored the Mountaineers 22-16.
Deaja Richardson also had 13 points for the Chanticleers, who improved to 11-12 overall and 6-6 in the conference with the win. Guards
Helena Delaruelle and
Jordyn Newsome added seven points apiece.
Senior guard Janay Sanders tied a career-high with 26 points for App State, which lost its fourth game in a row to fall to 8-15 overall and 4-8 in the Sun Belt. Emily Carver, who had a career-high 27 points in the Mountaineers seven-point win over Coastal earlier in the season, was held to just eight points.
The difference came at the free throw line where Coastal made 22-of-29 attempts, with Blount converting all nine of her attempts. Recarte made 5-of-6 and Richardson made 5-of-7. In contrast, App State made six fewer at 16-of-21, with Sanders making 10-of-11.
The two teams got things started by going back-and-forth in the first quarter. Sanders, who already had eight points to lift Appalachian State to an early 21-18 lead in the first period, continued to be the catalyst for the Mountaineers in the second quarter. She added eight more points as her team opened up a nine-point advantage at 36-27 and led at the half by 36-29.
However, Coastal did not fold, as Blount scored six points on a 9-0 run for the Chanticleers as they took a momentary lead at 44-42 in the third period. But a minute later, App State went on a 7-0 surge to regain the lead by 51-48 after three quarters, as Coastal went without a field goal for the last five minutes of the period.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Blount and Recarte early in the final period put Coastal back in front at 56-52 and set the stage for the tight finish.
Coastal shot 42 percent from the field overall (21-of-50) and hit six treys, with the most important ones coming on consecutive attempts from frontline players Blount and Recarte. The Chanticleers only made two more field goals in the last 7:30 of the contest, but they made 10-of-13 free throw attempts over that stretch.
Coastal will begin a four-game road swing next week, beginning with a game at Marshall at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday. The Chants will then head to Southern Miss, Troy, and Georgia Southern before closing the regular season with home games against Georgia State and Old Dominion.
For complete coverage of CCU women's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
