Women's Basketball Ashton Barton Named to Big South Preseason All-Conference Team; Bulldogs Picked 3rd

CONCORD, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville women's basketball team was picked third in the Big South Conference Preseason Poll for the 2007-08 season. The league announced its poll and preseason ranking at their annual media day on Tuesday at the Embassy Suites Hotel.

In addition, senior guard Ashton Barton was named to the Big South Conference Preseason All-Conference team.

Radford, which knocked Liberty out of the 2007 Advance Auto Parts Women's Basketball Championship Semifinals on a last-second lay-up by Kelli Darden, garnered 16 first-place votes and 162 points from the panel to win the 2008 title. The Lady Flames hold the No. 2 spot with nine first-place votes and 156 points. UNC Asheville,was predicted to finish third (113 points), while 2007 regular-season champion and WNIT participant High Point was voted fourth (81 points). The Winthrop Lady Eagles, which as a No. 8 seed upset No. 1 seed High Point in the Big South Tournament a year ago, finished in fifth-place with 80 points, while Coastal Carolina was sixth with 77 points. Charleston Southern rounds out the preseason poll in seventh-place with 31 points from the panel.

The Bulldogs won their first ever Big South Conference championship last spring and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Asheville finished with a 21-12 overall record but graduated four seniors from last year's team.

“I am surprised that we're picked third because we graduated some key players from last year's team,” stated UNC Asheville coach Betsy Blose. “However, I think this shows some new respect for our program and we're very proud of that fact.

“We have a very talented team but we're young and inexperienced,” added Blose. “Defending a championship is a new role for our program but we're looking forward to that challenge.”

Barton is a senior guard from Rosman and was UNC Asheville's leading scorer last year with a 12.9 scoring average. She was second on the team in rebounding with a 5.3 mark and knocked down 35 three-pointers. Barton missed the last part of the season with an injury.

“I'm really pleased for Ashton to get this preseason honor,” commented Blose. “She's a player we're going to need to keep healthy this year. Ashton is a talented player who knows how to score in so many different ways.”

Practice for the 2007-08 season begins this weekend. UNC Asheville opens up exhibition play against area foe Mars Hill at Justice Center on Nov. 1. The Bulldogs open the regular season against Montreat on Nov. 12.

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Women's Basketball Ashton Barton Named to Big South Preseason All-Conference Team; Bulldogs Picked 3rd

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