University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Charleston Southern
Women's Basketball Edged by Charleston Southern, 90-87
02.06.2010 | Women's Basketball
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern placed six players in double figures to rally past UNC Asheville 90-87 in Big South Conference women's basketball action at the CSU Fieldhouse Saturday evening.
The Bulldogs battled and played hard for 40 minutes but just came up short. Lindsey Thompson led Asheville with a season-high 18 points. Lindsey Montgomery finished with 18 points, while Kendall Shepard added 16. Chioma Okoli contributed 11 points.
All five CSU (12-10, 4-5 Big South Conference) starters scored in double figures, led by Kelsey Wasmer who scored a game-high 20 points. She also had a game-high six assists and three steals.
Katie Tull and Tina DeCarvalho each knocked down four three-pointers and scored 14 points. Ali Schwagmeyer recorded her first double-double of the season and the sixth of her career with 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, and LeChell Rush added 12 points. Shay Jones came off the bench and scored 12 points with 10 of them coming from the free-throw line (10 of 11).
The two teams battled back and forth with neither one being able to pull ahead for the first seven minutes. CSU took a 19-13 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half after using an 8-2 run.
The Bulldogs charged back and used a 12-0 run to take a 25-19 lead with eight minutes to play. The huge run propelled Asheville, and the road squad kept pushing ahead until the team led 50-36 at halftime.
UNC Asheville had all the momentum heading into the locker rooms, but it was Charleston Southern who stormed out of the gates in the second half. It took just three minutes for the home team to tied the game at 50.
A trey by Thompson halted the huge comeback by Charleston Southern, and the two teams again exchanged leads for the opening minutes of the second stanza. With the Buccaneers leading 67-65 midway through the half, Asheville charged ahead and used a 12-2 run to take a 77-69 lead with just five minutes to play in the game. Montgomery fueled the comeback with eight points.
Wasmer and Rush powered yet another CSU comeback, and the home squad took an 80-79 lead with 2:33 to play.
Montgomery and Wasmer exchanged buckets, and Jones gave CSU the lead for good when she broke an 83-83 tie by making a free throw with 56 seconds to play. The CSU defense locked down in the closing minutes and Tull and Wasmer iced the game from the line to give the home team the 90-87 victory.
Asheville plays at Coastal Carolina Monday night at 7 p.m.
