Marshall coach Juli Fulks reacts to a call during a Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball game against James Madison on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
Marshall coach Juli Fulks reacts to a call during a Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball game against James Madison on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
A team with a 9-18 record, including a 4-11 league mark, usually wouldn’t garner much attention from the squads ahead of it but Marshall might be an exception.
The Thundering Herd, 10th in the Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball standings, turned in an eye-opening 76-58 victory over fifth-place Appalachian State Wednesday in Boone, North Carolina.
“We want to build some momentum going into the tournament,†MU coach Juli Fulks said. “We just keep getting better and getting more people involved, the better we’re going to be.â€
Marshall fell behind 7-0 before rallying for a 26-point lead against the Mountaineers (13-13, 9-6), a team the Herd lost to 68-64 on Jan. 18 at the Cam Henderson Center. Last week, the Herd beat Old Dominion 73-70. The Monarchs (14-13, 6-8) are eighth in the league. ODU had beaten Marshall 80-75 Jan. 11 in Norfolk, Virginia.
“We’ve been in every game this season,†Fulks said. “We feel confident we can play with anybody.â€
Ten of Marshall’s losses have been by single digits, with eight being by six points or fewer.
The Herd, which visits Georgia State (14-13, 7-8) at 2 p.m. Saturday, dominated Appalachian State. A key was defense, or rather defenses.
“We essentially ran three different types of defenses,†Fulks said. “Once we figured out what we were going to do on defense, that was really a good flow.â€
Marshall’s defensive changes caused the Mountaineers trouble. Appalachian State made just 4 of 22 shots from 3-point range and 23 of 54 overall. The Mountaineers also committed 15 turnovers and were outrebounded 32-31.
“We started a little slow in the zone,†Fulks said. “We were a little worried we weren’t going to be able to zone them. The way they play and the types of players they have we thought it would be hard. We were prepared to switch to man to man and go back and forth on defense.â€
The Herd also switched up its attack a bit on offense.
“On offense last time, they switched to a matchup zone and we didn’t attack that very well,†Fulks said. “This time we had a really good plan and we understood how we were going to score. Everybody was a little more settled.â€
Ailynn Hayes led Marshall with 29 points, the ninth time the Sun Belt’s leading scorer has topped 20 points this season. C.C. Mays scored 16 points, the sixth consecutive game she’s netted 15 or more.
