University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Asheville Women Fall to Radford 70-58
02.26.2008 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C.? Chioma Okoli scored 18 points and Ana Baker scored 10 points for UNC Asheville but it was not enough as Radford took a 70-58 victory over the Bulldogs at the Justice Center on Tuesday night.
Okoli who posted a career high 20 points in her last outing went 5-for-9 from the floor and 3-for-6 from three point range to lead the Bulldogs (11-16, 2-8 Big South) in scoring for the second straight game. Baker added 10 points and five assists as she has been in double figures in four-straight games.
Radford (20-9, 7-3 Big South) was led by Johnette Walker who scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and was 7-for-10 from the charity stripe. Vandy Pullen finished the game with 16 points.
The game saw a combined 49 personal fouls, four players out, and a combined 61 free throw attempts.
"We are a team that has no room for error. We can not get into foul trouble and we can not afford to get out rebounded," said Asheville head coach Betsy Blose. "Chioma (Okoli) had another great night. She is improving with each game. She was really the only player we had tonight who had the confidence to take and make shots."
Asheville began the game with a 9-5 advantage but Radford went on a 10-2 run to take a 15-11 lead with 9:40 remaining in the first half and never trailed again. The Bulldogs made a run to cut the lead to 18-16 at the 6:33 mark of the half but once again RU went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead back to nine points at 26-18. The Highlanders would take a nine point advantage into halftime.
Radford had its largest lead at 14 points, 47-33, at the 12:41 mark but Asheville would not go away. Okoli scored the game's next five points to start a 12-4 run as the Dogs pulled to 51-45 with 9:09 to play. Okoli hit another three pointer with 6:31 left to once again pulled Asheville to within six points, but that would be as close as it would get in the game. RU went on a quick 6-0 run to extend the lead back to 12 with 5:28 to play and were never seriously threatened again.
Stacy Shepard's string of three-straight double-doubles came to an end as she had nine points and seven rebounds in just 21 minutes. She and Baker ended up fouling out of the game. It is the second time this season against Radford that Asheville finished the game with just five eligable players. Jessica Monroe ended the game with four fouls.
Kelli Darden and Denay Woods each fouled out for the Highlanders who had two more players on the court with four fouls each when the game ended.
The Bulldogs will play their final regular season home game of the season on Saturday as they host conference leading Liberty at 2 p.m. Radford will next host Winthrop on Saturday in a showdown for second place in the Big South.
