ASHEVILLE ? Jessica Monroe scored a career-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead UNC Asheville to a 62-52 women's basketball victory over USC Upstate in the Bulldogs' final non-conference game at the Justice Center on Tuesday night.
Monroe scored 13 of Asheville's (9-8) first 19 points and 15 points at halftime. Ana Baker just missed a double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds, and six assists while Ashton Barton returned to the line-up to score 11 points. Stacy Shepard had a career-high 16 rebounds to move into sixth place on Asheville's all-time rebounding list.
“We've got to define who we are,” said Asheville Head Coach Betsy Blose, whose team out-rebounded USC Upstate 60-46. “We've got some great chemistry, but at times it looks like we're still searching. We had a good effort from Jessica Monroe tonight. She just plays so hard. That's where it begins. I just believe we're going to finish things. It'll be ugly at times this year, but that's just the way it is. I'm happy, but I know there's so much more to work on.”
Kasey Thompson led USC Upstate (4-7) with 13 points. Kimberly Pitman, a former Avery High standout, started and scored eight points before fouling out. Upstate had three players foul out during the whistle-laden game. The teams combined for 45 fouls and Asheville went to the free-throw line 36 times.
Asheville shot just 32.8 percent from the floor, but got most of its offense from fast break points as the Bulldogs held a 12-2 advantage and held a 28-24 advantage in the paint.
Asheville began the game on n 8-1 run holding Upstate without a basket for the first six and a half minutes. The Spartans came back to tie the game at 11, but the Dogs built the lead back to six points at 19-13 with 6:22 left in the half. Asheville went into the locker room up 33-23.
The Dogs would lead by as many as 14 on two separate occasions in the second half. Upstate cut the lead to 59-52 with 1:26 left to play but that is as close as it would get. Asheville is now 7-1 at home this season while Upstate drops to 2-9 on the road.
The win was Blose's 85th victory at Asheville moving her into ninth place all-time among Big South coaches and was the 199th of her career. She will go for 200 when Asheville hosts High Point on Jan. 19, at 2 p.m.
