University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball Set to Host South Carolina State on Wednesday Night
12.14.2010 | Women's Basketball
Fans can get into the game for free by bringing a toy to donate to Toys for Tots. Any fan bringing a toy will receive a free general admission ticket for any men's and women's basketball game between now and Dec. 16.
Asheville (4-3) is coming off an 86-75 win over Furman Saturday afternoon at Justice Center. The Bulldogs got double-doubles from sophomore forward Kelli Riles and senior forward Lindsey Montgomery to get the victory. Riles scored a career-high 21 points and collected 15 rebounds. Montgomery, playing in her first game of the season, tallied 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
"We played very well against a good Furman team and posted a great win," commented Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "I thought we played some good basketball for 40 minutes, and I really liked the way we held our poise down the stretch. We hit free throws, executed on both offense and defense and just got the job done."
Another challenge awaits the Bulldogs in South Carolina State (3-3). SCSU comes into the Justice Center with a two-game winning streak where it has held its opponents to just 33 points per game. Asheville edged the S.C. State Bulldogs last year in Orangeburg, 67-60.
"South Carolina State is playing some great basketball," stated Blose. "They're very athletic and play tremendous defense. We'll need to play like we did on Saturday to have a chance at winning."
Asheville is being led in scoring this season by junior guard Lindsey Thompson with a 19.0 average. Kendall Shepard is averaging 17.7 points per game. Kelli Riles is averaging a double-double with 11.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per outing.
South Carolina State is led in scoring by guard Whitney Wiley with a 10.8 average.
Wednesday's game is the final home game of 2010 for Asheville. The Bulldogs finish the calendar year with three straight road games as they'll play at Marquette Saturday night and then play at Mercer (Dec. 22) and N.C. Central (Dec. 29). Asheville's next home after Wednesday will be on Jan. 3 when the Bulldogs open Big South Conference play vs. Radford.
BULLDOG NOTES
UNC Asheville is 3-2 at home this season.
Kelli Riles has five double-doubles on the season. She leads the Big South in rebounding (11.3) and is 13th nationally in that category.
Asheville has three of the top eight scorers in the Big South Conference. Lindsey Thompson leads the league and is 26th nationally in scoring with a 19.0 average. Kendall Shepard is right behind her with a 17.6 mark. Riles is eighth in the league in scoring with an 11.7 average.
Lindsey Thompson leads the Big South and is 10th nationally in three-pointers made with a 3.1 per game mark. She also leads the league in free throw percentage (93.5%) and is 10th nationally in that category.
UNC Asheville continues to lead the Big South in scoring with an average of 75.5 points per game and also tops the league in field goal percentage at 42.2%. The Bulldogs are second in three-pointers made at 6.4 per game.
UNC Asheville and South Carolina have played four times before with the series tied at 2-2. Each team has won once at each other's home-court. SSCU won at Justice Center two years ago, 67-64.
