University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Blose Records 200th Victory; Dogs Beat Coastal 63-54
01.26.2008 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C.? Ashton Barton scored 19 points and Kendall Shepard added a career-high 15 points as UNC Asheville defeated Coastal Carolina 63-54 in front of a regional television audience helping Asheville head coach Betsy Blose earn her 200th career coaching victory.
Barton went 5-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-9 from the foul line to move into 12th place on Asheville's all-time scoring list passing Darlene Hewitt (1987-92). She now has 992 career points. Shepard went 6-for-12 from the floor with four assists and two steals. She has now been in double-figures in three of her last four games. Stacy Shepard posted her 10th career double-double with 11 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
"This was a great win for us," said Blose. "Our player are a lot more resilient than I am. I was worried all week about who was going to play but they came out and played good team basketball. Kendall really answered the challenge today and our seniors played very well."
Asheville (10-9, 1-1 Big South) jumped out to an early 16-4 lead at the 14:39 mark as the Bulldogs hit six of their first eight shots. Coastal (11-6, 0-3 Big South) clapped down the defense through the middle of the half holding the Dogs to just 4-for-20 shooting at 12 points the rest of the half. The Chanticleers pulled to within 25-24 with 1:51 left in the opening period. Barton hit one of her three three-point shots with 43 seconds left to send Asheville into the locker room up 28-24.
Coastal took its only lead of the game, 36-35, on a pair of Amanda Stull free throws at the 12:39 mark. Asheville answered with a 13-2 run highlighted by four points from Kendall Shepard and Arescia Moore's second three-pointer of the season. The Bulldogs took their largest lead of the game 53-40 at the 5:04 mark. The Chanticleers would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Stull had 16 points for the Chanticleers. Vicky Blanchard had a season-high 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Leading scorer Lacey Lyons was held to just three points.
Asheville shot 40.7 percent from the floor. Coastal who came into the game leading the Big South in made three-pointers per game went just 2-for-10 from long range. Both three pointers came in the final 2:26. Asheville opponents are just 2-for-16 from three-point range in the last two games.
