#articleRelated { display: none !important; } The College of Charleston women's basketball team hung on despite a furious Appalachian State Rally that forced overtime to pick up its 13th win this afternoon in front of 327 fans at the John Kresse Arena.

The Cougars go over .500 for the season with their 13-12 overall record and 10-9 conference mark. Appalachian State drops its sixth straight and goes to 10-15 and 7-11. The win sends the Cougars over .500 for the first time this season since winning the opening game against Charleston Southern Nov. 19th. Charleston has now won its last six of seven games.

Charleston raced out to a 25-9 advantage in the first half thanks to nine points from freshman Erica Irick before Lindsay Smith broke a six minute ASU scoring drought with a three-pointer from the corner at the 5:03 mark. Appalachian ended the stanza with a 12-5 run of its own to close within nine points at 30-21.

ASU's rally continued early in the second half when it used two Eboni Kirby free throws to tie the contest at 37-apiece with 13:50 remaining. A Smith jumper gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the day at 52-51. The lead changed hands three more times before Kiki Conyers drained a 15-foot jumper from the right wing to knot the game at 62. Charleston had the ball with several seconds to go to attempt the go-ahead shot but turned it over the last second to force overtime.

In overtime, ASU led twice, but a deep three-pointer by CofC's Rachel King at the 2:18 juncture put the Cougars ahead for good. King later drained three-of-four free throws in the final two minutes to ice the win for Charleston, as the Cougars held ASU without a shot on the Mountaineers' final four possessions.

With a team-high 16 points, Smith moved past the 1,000-point mark for her career, making her just the 16th Mountaineer in program history to reach that milestone. Conyers also added 16 points, 10 of which came during the second half and overtime.

Jaime Bennett and Kirby each collected nine rebounds to pace the Mountaineers.

Charleston was led by 19 points each from Irick and Bryant. Tiffany Green knocked down 12 to follow. Green's eight rebounds paced the Cougars as well.

The Cougars shot 39.4 percent from the field while the Mountaineers shot 35.1. Appalachian State out-rebounded Charleston 48-40 but had 32 turnovers compared to 21 for the Cougars.

Appalachian State concludes its two-game road trip Feb. 21st at Georgia Southern. Tip is set for 7 PM. The Cougars travel to Savannah State for a 7:00 PM match-up the same day.