University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Mars Hill
Women's Basketball Rolls to 92-72 Exhibition Win over Mars Hill
11.06.2009 | Women's Basketball
The Bulldogs were led by Lindsey Montgomery and freshman guard Grace Blaylock's 15 points each. Kendall Shepard and Lindsey Thompson finished with 11 points apiece. Thompson collected eight rebounds and had four assists Chima Okoli added 10 points.
The Lady Lions were paced by Britti Young's game-high 25 points. Bria Smith contributed 17 points, while Taylor Deal had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"We really shot the ball well tonight," commented Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "For an exhibition game, I was pleasantly surprised how well we shot. We had real nice balance in our scoring, and beat a Mars Hill that is well-coached and will win a lot of games this season."
However, turnovers and the Bulldogs' defense will be focal points in practice this week.
"We made way too many turnovers (28) and a lot of them were just careless," stated Blose. "We've got work to do on our defense, as well."
Asheville took control of the game early in the first half when it went on a 13-0 run to race to a 20-9 lead. Blaylock hit two long treys and two buckets from Okoli keyed the run.
The Bulldogs shot an amazing 70 percent from the field in the first half. Blaylock was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from long range for 12 points. Montgomery went 5-of-6 from the field for 10 points. Thompson added 11 points and was 4-of-8 from the field.
Asheville built the lead to as many as 20 points in the opening half at 47-27 on a Montgomery lay-up with 2:30 to go in the half. Mars Hill made a late run with seven straight points to close to 47-34 at halftime.
Young, saddled with foul trouble in the opening half, still managed to score 13 points for Mars Hill.
In the second half, the Lions crept to 11 at 51-40 on a lay-up from Smith at the 17:47 mark. Asheville quickly responded with a 14-2 run to lead 65-42 with 15 minutes left. Six different players scored for the Bulldogs in the run.
Asheville shot a 55 percent (32-of-58) from the field for the game. They shot 50 percent (8-of-16) from the three-point line and 77 percent (20-of-26) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs controlled the boards with a 52-34 advantage. Kiana Rainey led the Asheville rebound effort with nine boards. Okoli had seven rebounds and five assists. Montgomery finished with seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Bulldogs open the 2009-10 season at home on Saturday against Newberry starting at 4:30 p.m. Mars Hill plays one more exhibition game at Wake Forest Monday night at 7 p.m.
