University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
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Western Michigan
Women's Basketball Rally Falls Short vs. Western Michigan
12.29.2009 | Women's Basketball
Asheville (3-8) trailed by 15 points with 12 minutes left but cut the lead to 59-53 with two minutes left. However, the Broncs were able to hold the Bulldogs scoreless and earn the victory.
Asheville was led by Kelli Riles with 11 points as she went 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. Lindsey Montgomery just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds. It marked the fourth straight game the junior forward had collected at least 10 rebounds in a game.
Western Michigan (5-7) used a 16-2 run late in the first half to pull away from the Bulldogs. The Broncs hit all four of their first-half three-pointers in the stretch, which began with Western Michigan trailing 18-16.
A three-pointer by Broncs' senior guard Molly Dwyer with 5:00 on the clock started a run of 11 unanswered points that included two threes by junior forward Kemmy Dominique and a lay-up by Cleary.
After a jumper by junior forward Kiana Rainey at 2:02, Dominique nailed another three and senior forward Jenny Loney scored on a lay-up to put Western Michigan ahead 32-20 with 34 seconds left.
One of the keys to the game was rebounding. WMU owned a 38-29 rebounding advantage. The Broncs had 22 offensive rebounds.
"We battled hard but once again we just fell too far behind," commented Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "The difference in the game was rebounding. We let them have 22 offensive rebounds and that really hurt us. We would play good defense on the first shot but couldn't get the defensive rebound."
Kendall Shepard dished out five assists for the Bulldogs and added nine points. Dana Wagner came off the bench to score seven points.
Asheville plays in the consolation round on Wednesday against either Lafayette or James Madison at 5 p.m.
