University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
South Carolina State
Bulldogs Rally Past South Carolina State, 84-69
12.15.2010 | Women's Basketball
Riles finished with her sixth double-double of the season as she scored 22 points and collected 16 rebounds. Shepard went 7-for-11 from the field, 3-of-4 from the three-point line and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Grace Blaylock added 12 points for the Bulldogs, while Lindsey Montgomery had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The win was the Bulldogs (5-3) second straight victory, while the South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-4.
South Carolina State was led by Whitney Kiles with 15 points. Trinese Fox added 10 points.
The Bulldogs trailed 40-31 at halftime but out-scored the visitors 53-29 in the second half to earn the victory.
"We played much better in the second half than we did in the first obviously," stated Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "Kelli Riles was just sensational tonight. She's been playing so well. Kendall Shepard played extremely and has been a real leader for us this season.
"We just did a better job in every area of the game in the second half," added Blose. "Our effort was fine in the first half but we were a little sloppy and didn't play as good a defense as I would have liked. However, in the second half we really took charge and got contributions from a lot of different players."
The Bulldogs trailed 40-31 at halftime and 42-31 early in the second half. However, Asheville went on a 19-5 run in the middle part of the second half to seize control of the game and grab a 56-51 lead with 10:20 left. Riles scored eight points during the run, while Shepard added seven as Asheville took the lead for good.
The home team put the game away with a late 8-0 run to race to 73-59 advantage with 3:05 remaining. Breaira Barksdale finished the run by going 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She finished 7-of-7 for game and had nine points.
Asheville shot 55 percent (15-of-27) from the field in the second half. The Bulldogs were also hot from the three-point line (6-of-11 for 54%) and free throw line (17-of-19 for 89%) in the second half.
South Carolina State controlled the first half as the Lady Bulldogs broke a 14-14 with a 14-4 run to lead 28-18. The visitors had good balance in the run as they got points from six different players to build a lead. They got three-pointers from Brijan Turner and Knotts to help fuel the run.
Asheville tried to rally but hurt itself with 10 first-half turnovers and missing three free throws in the final five minutes of the half. Riles helped keep the Bulldogs close with eight points and six rebounds. Shepard had seven points in the opening half for the home team.
South Carolina State shot a season-high 53.3% (16-of-30) from the field in the opening half. The Lady Bulldogs also had seven steals in the half.
Asheville starts a three-game road trip at Marquette Saturday night starting at 8 p.m.
