Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Set to Open on Friday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? For the second consecutive year, the Justice Center on the campus of UNC Asheville will be the site of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. The tourney begins on Friday with three quarterfinal games starting at 2 p.m.

Action continues on Saturday with semifinal games starting at 6 and 8 p.m. The championship game will be played on Sunday afternoon starting at 2 p.m. The semifinals and finals will be televised regionally by SportSouth.

Tickets are still available for the tournament. Adult Tournament Passes are $25 for the entire championship. Student and senior-citizen fares are $15. Individual session tickets are $10, while student tickets are $6. For more information, contact the UNC Asheville Ticket Office at 251-6904 or go on-line at www.uncabulldogs.com.

The host UNC Asheville is the defending champion as the Bulldogs won their first ever title last season when they downed Radford, 67-57.

It's been a tough year for Asheville in 2007-08 as the Bulldogs enter the tournament with a 12-17 overall record and are the seventh seed for the tourney with a 3-9 league mark. Injuries have crippled Betsy Blose's club as Asheville has played with just seven players over the past six weeks. However, the Bulldogs picked up an impressive win at third-seeded Winthrop last Wednesday night, 63-60. Asheville takes on second-seeded Radford in the quarterfinals Friday at 4:30 p.m.

“We're the defending champions, and we're going to try to defend that championship this weekend,” stated Blose. “It's not going to be easy with just seven players but our effort has been great all year long. We're going to take it one game at a time and see what happens.”

Former Rosman star Ashton Barton is UNC Asheville's leading scorer with a 13.4 average. She's fourth in the Big South in scoring and leads the Bulldogs in three-pointers made with 60. The senior guard is among the league leaders in free throw shooting at 79.6 percent.

Asheville lost twice to Radford this season. The Bulldogs fell on Feb. 2 at Radford, 69-48 and then dropped a 70-58 decision at Justice Center on Feb. 26. Asheville shot just 32 percent in its last game against the Highlanders and were within striking distance most of the game.

“We have a tough match-up in the opening round with Radford,” commented Blose. “Radford is a very good team that's won 21 games. We're going to have to play smart and shoot the ball better than we did the last time against them.

“It's tournament time though and anything can happen,” added Blose. “We do have the advantage of playing at home and that should help us on Friday.”

The tournament tips off at 2 p.m. when third-seeded Winthrop (19-11, 7-5 BSC) takes on sixth-seeded Charleston Southern (8-21, 3-9 BSC). At 7 p.m., fourth-seeded High Point (14-14-, 6-6 BSC) battles fifth-seeded Coastal Carolina (16-11, 4-8 BSC).

Liberty, who won 10 straight Big South Conference championships before losing in the semifinals last year to Radford, is the top seed with a 26-3 overall record and 11-1 mark in league play. They have a bye into the semifinals and will take on the High Point-Coastal Carolina winner on Saturday at 6 p.m. The UNC Asheville-Radford winner faces the Winthrop-Charleston Southern winner Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

“You have to look at Liberty as the favorite,” declared Blose. “They've only lost three games all year and that's very impressive.”