Women's Basketball Falls to Western Carolina, 81-78 - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site

Nov. 29, 2006

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Ashley Pellom scored 20 points as Western Carolina held off UNC Asheville, 81-78 in non-conference women's basketball action at Justice Center Wednesday night.

The Lady Catamounts (4-3) held off a dramatic Bulldogs comeback down the stretch. The game wasn't decided until Katie Baldwin's last-second three-pointer rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.

UNC Asheville (2-4) was led by junior guard Ashton Barton who tied a career-high with 25 points. Brittany Hendley added a career-high 21 points, while Amanda Elder finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Hendley had a season-high seven assists.

Monique Dawson contributed 19 points for WCU. She was 13-of-15 from the free throw line and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the second half. Lauren Powell added 14 points. Chevon Keith chipped in 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

The game was tied 17 times and had 19 lead changes. WCU led 70-69 when Erin May sank a three-pointer with 1:44 left to put the Cats in front 73-69. The teams exchanged free throws to make it 74-70 before Pellom sank two charity tosses to put WCU up 76-70 with 39 seconds left.

Baldwin kept the Bulldogs close with a trey to cut the lead to 76-73 at the 28-second mark. A free throw from Powell make it 77-73 before Hendley hit another long trey for Asheville to carve the lead to 77-76 at the 20-second mark.

Dawson hit two free throws to push the lead to 79-76 before Barton came back and hit two free throws to make it 79-78 with 10 seconds remaining.

Dawson was fouled again at the 7-second mark and she calmly hit both free throws for an 81-78 lead. Asheville quickly came down and found Baldwin from 23 feet out. The senior guard, who wasn't supposed to play Wednesday night, got a great look but the shot just rimmed out.

The Lady Cats were 23-of-29 from the charity stripe for 79 percent and were 16-of-19 fro 84 percent. The Bulldogs sank a season-high 10 treys in the game. It was the second most treys made by UNC Asheville in a game in school history.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that had each team take a six-point lead. Hendley knocked down three early treys for Asheville as the Bulldogs led 24-22 with 12 minutes left in the half.

Western Carolina began to get its inside game going and got 10 first half points from Dawson as the Lady Cats built a 33-27 lead with seven minutes to go in the half.

The Bulldogs stormed back behind Barton. She scored 10 points in a five-minute span as Asheville surged to a 41-36 lead late in the half. Pellom hit a shot for WCU as the first-half buzzer sounded to allow the Cats to close to 41-40 at halftime.

Western Carolina shot 51 percent (16-of-31) from the field in the first half, while Asheville was 14-of-33 for 42 percent. The Bulldogs knocked down six treys in the opening half, while the Lady Cats made just one. Barton finished with 15 points in the opening half, while Hendley had 13.

UNC Asheville hosts Presbyterian Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.