ASHEVILLE, N.C.?Women's basketball season begins Friday afternoon at the Justice Center as UNC Asheville hosts its annual Tip-off Tournament. The Bulldogs welcome Fairfield, Morgan State, and William & Mary to this year's tournament.
Games tip off at 2 p.m. on Friday with William & Mary facing Morgan State. UNC Asheville will face Fairfield at 4 p.m. The losers of both games will play at in the Consolation Game at Noon on Saturday while the winners play in the Championship Game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
All four games will be video streamed for a small fee on the Big South website at bigsouthsports.com. Live stats will be made available at UNC Asheville's website uncabulldogs.com.
Asheville is 5-1 in the three year history of the tournament. The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-18 season in which injuries forced the team to finish the season with just seven players. This year's roster has 13 players led by seniors Ana Baker and Jessica Monroe.
Baker has started 57 of 90 games in her career. She needs 48 steals this season to become Asheville's all-time record holder. Monroe started 28 of 30 games last season and is the Bulldogs' leading returning scorer from a year ago.
Asheville won its only exhibition game 88-50 over Mars Hill. Chioma Okoli led all scorers in the game with 20 points. Lindsey Montgomery scored 14 points and freshman Ipek Derici added 12 points.
The Bulldogs first opponent of the 2008-09 season will be Fairfield out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Stags went 22-9 last season and are picked to finish second in the MAAC behind Marist. Baendu Lowenthal is the team's leading returning scorer. She averaged 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds last season for the Stags.
William & Mary and Morgan State face off in the opening game. W&M went 7-11 in the Colonial Athletic Conference and 14-18 overall last season. The Tribe graduated its top two leading scorers. Courtney Portell who averaged 8.6 points per game last season and Tiffany Benson who led the Tribe in rebounding at 8.1 boards per game will lead the team this season.
Morgan State becomes the first visiting team to play in the UNC Asheville Tournament twice. The Bears lost to Asheville and Kennesaw State in their last trip to Asheville to start the 2006 season. The Bears went 19-12 last season advancing to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship Game. Corin Adams returns after averaging 16.6 points per game last season.
Tickets for the tournament are $10 for adults and $6 for children 17 and under.
