University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Mars Hill in Exhibition Tilt on Wednesday Night
11.02.2010 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville women's basketball team gets a chance to play in a game finally when the Bulldogs play their one and only exhibition game Wednesday night against Mars Hill at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. The game will be video-streamed and can be seen for a small fee at www.uncabulldogs.com.
Fans can get into the game for free or any Bulldog game between now and Nov. 13 with a donation to Helpmate. Fans can donate paper towels or $5 gift cards to Ingles or Target. Helpmate is an organization that helps women who have been victims of domestic violence.
Betsy Blose begins her ninth year as head coach of the Asheville program. She is anxious to improve on last year's 8-22 season.
"We're excited about the year," commented Blose. "We've had a great preseason as our players have really worked hard and gotten better. There's still plenty of work to do before the season starts but the effort has been terrific."
A commitment to the fundamentals has been present in early-season Asheville practices.
"I want us to get back to the basic fundamentals on what this program was built on when I got here in the spring of 2002," stated Blose. "We're going to improve our defense and continue to be solid in the rebounding department. I want us to have discipline, and our work ethic to be second to none this year."
Blose believes one of the keys to this year's club is the ability to hit the three-point shot.
"We need to be a really good three-point shooting club this season," explained Blose. "We've got an inexperienced post game that is going to take some time to develop, so we're going to have to be able to shoot the basketball from long range. We have the shooters who can do it but they need to do it with consistency with every game."
Blose believes Mars Hill will be a good test for Asheville's young team.
"Mars Hill is a well-coached team that will be a tough game for us on Wednesday," said Blose. "We always enjoying playing them and this will help prepare us for the regular season."
Asheville opens its final season at Justice Center on Saturday, Nov. 13 against Montreat at 2 p.m.
