Davidson Dominates App State Down Low to Improve to 6-1; Sutphin Out with Injury

Sans their leading scorer Elle Sutphin, the Davidson Wildcats continue their best start in program history with a 64-41 victory over the visiting App State Mountaineers at John M. Belk Arena on Wed, Nov. 29. Millie Prior and Rosie Deegan carried the load for Davidson in Sutphin’s absence as the Wildcats were dominant down low to move to 6-1 on the season.
With Sutphin, a preseason All-Conference First Team Selection and last season’s All-Conference Second Team Selection, watching from the bench, Wednesday’s first quarter started off at a fast pace yet neither team could capitalize. Both teams ran quickly in transition but couldn’t get the shots to fall, as Davidson led 12-11 after one. Last time out, Prior notched her first career double-double at Davidson and on Wednesday, that same energy shifted the Wildcats offense. With her 10 points and 8 rebounds by halftime, she helping carry Davidson to a dominant second quarter and a 34-20 halftime lead against App State.
After the first 10 minutes saw Davidson shoot 1-8 on 3-pointers, the Wildcats changed their mode of attack. Prior led the second quarter offense which almost exclusively featured driving to the basket and getting shots up from the paint. On nearly every possession in quarter number two, Davidson either drove to the basket at will or had Prior or one of her teammates backing down the Mountaineer defenders before finishing or drawing the shooting foul at the low block. This offensive adjustment worked quite well as Davidson went from shooting 29 percent from the field in the first quarter to a 56 percent field goal percentage in the second quarter.
Even without the 6-foot-3 Sutphin, Davidson was still taller than the Mountaineers and utilized it to their full advantage. By the night’s end, Davidson had outscored App State 44-24 in the paint and had also outrebounded the Mountaineers 47-27. Davidson’s veteran leader, Rosie Deegan, played a large part in that with 10 made two-pointers on the night en route to a season-high 21 points. Deegan also grabbed seven boards as she stepped up in lieu of Sutphin’s scoring and rebounding prowess.
From there, Davidson kept App State an arm’s length away the rest of the game. Charlise Dunn, who was making her first start of the season due to Sutphin’s absence, took over offensively in the third, scoring 10 points and preventing App State from cutting into their deficit. Dunn entered the game as the team’s second leading scorer behind Sutphin and finished the night with 16 points along with seven rebounds. After three quarters, Davidson led 50-32 and then in the fourth quarter, they locked down defensively.
In pursuit of a furious comeback, the Mountaineers could only score four points in the first eight minutes of the final quarter. Maddie Plank’s vocal communication defensively for Davidson throughout the game continued into the fourth quarter as the Mountaineers scored just nine points in the fourth. Along with Plank’s communication, Davidson’s active hands were all over the passing lanes throughout the night and App State never looked fully comfortable in what amounted to their worst offensive performance of the season. Davidson point guard Issy Morgan disrupted dribble-handoffs and passes all night long so App State’s offense didn’t get going. Morgan finished the night with a solid all-around stat line of seven points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
As Davidson begins to look ahead to their next game against Longwood, potentially still without Sutphin, they can go in with confidence and the knowledge that they just outrebounded an opponent by 20 and outscored them in the paint by 20 as well while not having Sutphin.