University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball Falls in Double Overtime, 72-64
03.14.2008 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? No. 2-seed Radford survived No. 7-seed UNC Asheville's upset bid, pulling out a 72-64 victory Friday afternoon at the Justice Center, in the first double overtime contest in the history of the Advance Auto Parts Women's Basketball Championship. Radford (22-10) moved on to meet the winner of Friday's third quarterfinal contest, between No. 3-seed Winthrop and No. 6-seed Charleston Southern. The semifinal game will be televised by SportSouth, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Guards Johnette Walker and Taleia Moton led the victorious Highlanders with 17 points each. Walker set a Big South Women's Basketball Championship single-game record by making all nine of her free throw attempts and also added six steals. Vandy Pullen also reached double digits, totaling 14 markers. Jessica Monroe's second career double-double, consisting of 16 points and 10 rebounds, was not enough to prolong Asheville's (12-18) season, as the Bulldogs lost in a rematch of the 2007 Big South Women's Basketball Championship title game. Asheville came back from a 13-point second-half deficit, but fell to the Highlanders, despite 12 points by Ashton Barton and 10 more by Arescia Moore. I"'d like to congratulate Radford. They've had a great year, and I'd like to wish them well," commented UNC Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "That was a great game. I'm so proud of this team. We've been through a lot of adversity all year, but we've never quit. It's like cutting down the nets for me, because my players have always given everything they've had. That's what it's all about. I'm really proud of Ashton [Barton] and Stacy [Shepard], my two seniors.” Moton tallied a three-point play on Radford's opening possession of the second overtime, giving the Highlanders a lead they would not relinquish. Barton pulled the Bulldogs to within 63-62, sinking a layup with 1:42 left. However, the Highlanders finished up the contest with a 9-2 run. Asheville tallied overtime's first five points, sinking a pair of field goals within the opening 50 seconds. The Bulldogs never trailed during the first extra session, but Radford's Walker notched five consecutive points, leveling the score at 56 apiece after the first overtime. Radford, which shot just 20.0 percent (7-of-35) in the first half, found its shooting touch after the break. The Highlanders scored 20 points to Asheville's six during the first 6:44 of the stanza. Moton scored seven points during the half-opening run, including back-to-back layups which gave Radford a 38-25 edge. The Bulldogs immediately answered, cutting their deficit to 40-39 at 6:41, when Monroe's putback capped a 14-2 run. Radford bolstered its advantage to five points before Asheville fashioned another surge. This one, a 7-0 burst, enabled the Bulldogs to reclaim the lead, 46-44, on Moore's tip-in with 2:12 remaining. Five consecutive markers by the Highlanders, three of which came from the charity stripe, put Radford back on top, 49-46, at the 53.1-second mark. UNC Asheville sent the game to an extra session by scoring the final three points of regulation, including a game-tying layup by Barton with 12 seconds remaining. It marked the first time a Big South Women's Basketball Championship contest had gone to overtime since Feb. 28, 2001, when Charleston Southern nipped Radford, 65-60. Asheville ran out to a 9-2 lead to start the game, keeping Radford off the scoreboard for nearly seven minutes at one point. The Highlanders' first advantage did not come until the 8:40 mark, when the second of Kymesha Alston's consecutive field goals lifted Radford to a 13-11 lead, wrapping up an 11-2 surge. The Highlanders' edge reached four points, before Monroe recorded the stanza's final five markers. Her old-fashioned three-point play at 1:33 lifted the Bulldogs to a 19-18 halftime lead.
