Ladies’s Basketball Opens 2025-26 Marketing campaign with Western Michigan

BOONE, N.C. – The App State girls’s basketball crew opens the 2025-26 marketing campaign with a conflict towards Western Michigan on Monday within the first installment of this season’s MAC-SBC Challenge. Tipoff is about for six:30 p.m. within the Holmes Convocation Center.  
 
Monday’s house opener is SYC Night and free pizza will likely be obtainable for college kids whereas provides final. Season and single-game tickets can be found for buy at appstatesports.com/tickets. The recreation will even be obtainable to stream on ESPN+. 
 
2024-25 Season Review
In her first season on the helm of this system, head coach Alaura Sharp led App State to its finest Sun Belt begin in program historical past with a 9-3 document from Dec. 29 to Feb. 5. The Mountaineers additionally recorded a pair of four-game win-steaks, in addition to the primary 100-point recreation within the Sharp period, defeating Clinton College, 101-44, on Nov. 20, 2024. App State additionally noticed SBC Preseason First-Team honoree Emily Carver develop into the twenty ninth Mountaineer to surpass 1,000 profession factors within the Black and Gold. 
 
Returning to the Mountain
Three Mountaineers return from final 12 months’s roster. Senior Elena Pericic collected Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference Third Team honors, turning into the eleventh Mountaineer to earn a SBC preseason nod since App State joined the league in 2014. Pericic appeared in all 30 video games and made 28 begins final winter, capturing 42.3% from the arc, 42.1% from the sphere, and 75.0% from the road. The Rijeka, Croatia native averaged 8.3 factors and 4.5 rebounds per contest. Fellow senior Emily Hege returns after showing in all 30 video games and making 22 begins throughout the 2024-25 marketing campaign. Hege scored a season and crew excessive 14 factors, capturing 83.3% from the sphere and 75.0% from the arc, towards Georgia Southern on Jan. 25, 2025. She additionally grabbed a season excessive six rebounds on events towards Coastal Carolina (Jan. 11, 2025) and Old Dominion (Jan. 23, 2025). Also returning is graduate scholar Zoë McCrary, who appeared in three video games final winter, averaging 4.0 rebounds per contest for App State. 
 
New to the Mountain 
Six transfers and three freshmen be a part of the Mountaineers’ ranks this winter. Graduate scholar Jada Burton joins the Mountaineers as a guard after making stops at Dodge City and Western Carolina. While at Western Carolina, Burton recorded this system’s first triple-double (12 factors, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds) and averaged 9.6 factors, 5.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per recreation throughout the 2024-25 marketing campaign. 
 
Joining the Black and Gold’s senior class as a guard is Emma Smith. Smith spent three seasons at Denver, the place she surpassed 1,000 profession factors and averaged 12.0 factors and 4.8 rebounds per contest. Junior guards Marta Gutierrez and Daisia Mitchell come to Boone after stops at Vincennes and Mt. SAC, respectively. In her time at Vincennes, Gutierrez helped the Trailblazers to a Region 24 semifinal look and began 28 of the 30 video games she appeared in final 12 months. Mitchell, who performed at Mt. SAC for 2 seasons, led the Mounties to a 2025 3C2A state title and picked up numerous accolades for her efforts. 
 
The Mountaineers’ sophomore class options guard Jayden McBride and ahead Feryal Defne Atli. McBride spent her freshman season at Georgetown, the place she made 12 begins, showing in 24 video games, and averaged 4.5 factors and a couple of.5 rebounds per recreation. Atli performed at West Virginia throughout the 2024-25 marketing campaign and has a number of years of expertise taking part in for the Türkiye National Team. App State’s freshman class is made up of guards Isa Roman and Riley Stoker, and ahead Addie Biel. 
 
In addition to Croatia, which is represented by Pericic, Türkiye and Spain will likely be represented this 12 months by Atli and Gutierrez, respectively.
 
MAC-SBC Challenge 
The Mountaineers are 2-2 total in MAC-SBC Challenge contests (1-1 within the Holmes Center). App State defeated Ohio, 71-64, within the inaugural MAC-SBC Challenge recreation on Nov. 11, 2023 within the Holmes Center. The Mountaineers went on to defeat Western Michigan on Feb. 20, 2024 earlier than falling brief to Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois within the 2024-25 version of the competition. 
 
Series History vs. Western Michigan
App State recorded its first encounter with Western Michigan on Feb. 20, 2024, within the second half of the inaugural MAC-SBC Challenge. The Mountaineers defeated the Broncos, 78-68 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Four Mountaineers netted double-figures, led by Emily Carver, who contributed 16 factors. Faith Alston netted 15 factors and dished out a crew excessive 4 assists. Carver and Zada Porter mixed for six of App State’s 12 treys. Rylan Moffitt grabbed a crew excessive six rebounds for the Black and Gold. For the length of the sport, App State managed the lead and shot 47.3% from the sphere, 42.9% from the arc, and 77.8% from the charity stripe. Additionally, the Mountaineers held the Broncos to 3 treys and 7 offensive rebounds. 
 
The Mountaineers enter Monday’s contest with a 1-0 edge in its sequence with WMU. 
 
Scouting Western Michigan
Western Michigan opens the 2025-26 marketing campaign below the path of first 12 months head coach Kate Acter. Acter beforehand served for six seasons as the top coach of the Loyola Chicago girls’s basketball crew and was tabbed for the WMU job after the retirement of the Broncos’ earlier coach, Shane Clipfell. 
 
Six Broncos return from the 2024-25 squad, led by senior guard Alli Carlson and graduate scholar middle Lauren Audino. Carlson averaged 8.4 factors per recreation, capturing 38.5% from the sphere and 40.5% from the arc final 12 months. She additionally grabbed 3.4 rebounds per contest, dished out 2.8 assists per recreation and made 1.8 steals per recreation. Audino shot 54.9% from the sphere and 62.8% from the charity stripe, averaging 4.5 factors per recreation final 12 months. 
 
Alongside Carlson and Audino, redshirt senior ahead De’Ahana Richardson, junior guard Nile Muguira Orbe, sophomore ahead D’Myjah Bolds, and sophomore guard Alli Harness return from the 2024-25 squad. Richardson and Orbe are the one Broncos which have beforehand crossed paths with the Mountaineers of their first assembly again in 2024. In addition to WMU’s returners, seven newcomers be a part of the Broncos. 
 
Western Michigan was picked ninth within the 2025-26 MAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll and completed the 2024-25 season with a 12-18 document (8-10 MAC). 
 
On the Horizon 
The Mountaineers’ season-opening homestretch continues with a 6:30 p.m. recreation towards Bob Jones on Thursday. App State will then host Davidson at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 and Wofford at 2 p.m. on Nov. 16. Tickets for all three video games can be found now at appstatesports.com/tickets. The video games will even be capable to stream on ESPN+.