ASHEVILLE, N.C.?UNC Asheville women's basketball team finishes its regular season on Friday night as it travels to Winthrop for a 7 p.m. game. The game can be heard live on uncabulldogs.com and will be video streamed on bigsouthsports.com.
The Bulldogs (10-18, 7-8 Big South) hope to end a two-game road losing streak and keep alive hopes for a fourth place finish in the Big South standings. Asheville can finish anywhere from fourth to seventh in the league standings. The Bulldogs will have to wait until Monday before seeding for next week's tournament to be announced.
Winthrop (13-14, 7-7 Big South) can also finish anywhere from fourth to seventh as four teams are bunched up in the middle of the standings.
Liberty has already won the regular season crown and will be the top seed in the Big South Tournament which begins in High Point on March 13. Radford and High Point are battling for the second and third spots while fourth through seventh in every much up in the air between UNC Asheville, Winthrop, Gardner-Webb, and Coastal Carolina. Charleston Southern is currently eighth but has hopes of moving up.
Bulldog seniors Ana Baker and Jessica Monroe have been playing well down the stretch. Monroe had 13 points in seven rebounds in her last outing against Radford. Baker had a stretch of 15-straight double-figure scoring games snapped as she had nine points against the Highlanders. Baker continues to lead Asheville in scoring at 13 points per game, which is fourth best in the conference.. Sophomore Lindsey Montgomery is averaging 8.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in Big South games. She is fifth in the Big South in field goal percentage and blocked shots.
The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory at Coastal Carolina on Monday. Ashley Fann leads the team scoring 12.7 points and grabbing 8.8 rebounds per game. Tiffany Rodd is scoring 10.7 points and is hitting 2.4 three-pointers per game. The Eagles are eighth in the league in scoring but are second in rebounding margin and made three-pointers per game.
The Bulldogs have faced the Eagles more than any other opponent. The teams have split 54 meetings with each side winning 27 times. Coach Blose has beaten Winthrop more than any other opponent owning a 9-5 mark against the Eagles. Winthrop overcame a slow start to beat the Bulldogs 56-47 in Asheville on Jan. 31, but have not swept the season series since the 2002-03 season.
