Buccaneers' rally falls short in first round

Charleston Southern made a valiant second-half comeback but came up short as Appalachian State advanced to the second round of the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament with a 62-47 victory Thursday before 782 at CSU Fieldhouse.

The Buccaneers cut an 18-point second half deficit to 45-43 with 6:45 left. But App State finished with a 17-4 flourish to advance to the second round against Fairfield, a 69-55 winner over Towson.

Charleston Southern finished its season at 17-14 while Appalachian State, with the school's first-ever postseason victory, improved to 20-12.

The Buccaneers found themselves in a big hole early in the first half as they could not find an answer for Ashlen Dewart, a 6-3 freshman out of Spartanburg. Appalachian State raced out to a 17-3 lead and kept the margin in double figures for most of the half.

Dewart, who showed in pregame warmups an ability to hit from outside, didn't have to venture from underneath the basket as she had 15 points and seven rebounds by the half. Dewart was a perfect 6 for 6 from the floor and 3 for 3 from the free-throw line in the first half.

But Dewart got in foul trouble in the second half, and the Bucs were able to make a run with Dewart on the bench.

"She's a very good offensive weapon. We watched her play at Dorman (High School)," said CSU coach Julie Goodenough. "Unfortunately, we didn't execute our defensive plan against her until the second half."

Goodenough said she was encouraged by the Bucs' rally, but careless fouls allowed the Mountaineers to stretch the lead back out.

"We played a great 16 minutes in the second half," Goodenough said.

Dewart finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Appalachian State, which outrebounded CSU, 53-35.

Charleston Southern was led by Katie Tull, who hit 3 of 11 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Tull, one of the country's top 3-point shooters, reached 100 for the season. But the Bucs only shot 21.9 percent from the floor and hit only 7 of 37 (18.9 percent) from 3-point range.

Goodenough said it was a tough week for her team after losing in the first round of the Big South Tournament. But she said the first-ever postseason appearance in women's basketball gave the school national recognition and will help in recruiting.

"It was a phenomenal experience for us," Goodenough said. "I'm very proud of the players. Friday we turned the switch off. Then I called them Monday to practice. We had two days to prepare. It was weird mentally.

"I'm not going to make any excuses. I think the future is bright for our team."

Appalachian State (62): Williams 7, A. Freeman 7, Ashlen Dewart 18, Weldon 4, Sam Ramirez 12, Canesha Edwards 10, C. Freeman 4.

Charleston Southern (47): Schwagmeyer 3, Terry 5, Wasmer 8, Katie Tull 12, Decarvalho 6, Alston 2, Jones 5, Rush 6.

Halftime: ASU, 35-19.