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University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Charleston Southern
Women's Basketball Falls at Charleston Southern, 85-74
01.17.2011 | Women's Basketball
The Bulldogs (8-8, 1-4 BSC) trailed by 25 points in the first half but rallied to close to nine midway through the second half but just couldn't get any closer.
Asheville was led by Kelli Riles with her ninth double-double of the season as she scored 19 points and had 13 rebounds. Kendall Shepard finished with 16 points. Lindsey Montgomery scored all 13 of her points in the second half. Lindsey Thompson added 12 points on four 3-pointers.
"We did a nice job coming back in the second half but you can't spot a team like Charleston Southern a 25-point lead and expect to come back," commented Bulldog coach Betsy Blose. "We didn't do a good job defending in the first half and we let Katie Tull and Helen Terry get going on offense and that put us in a big hole. Charleston Southern was also quite physical with us in the first half and we just didn't match that."
CSU (9-9, 3-2 BSC) led from start to finish. Terry scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes to help get the Lady Bucs going. Her 14 points helped the home team jump in front 24-16 midway through the half.
Then Tull got hot. She scored 17 of CSU's next 19 points as the Lady Bucs stormed to a 43-18 lead. The senior guard knocked down three straight 3-pointers and then scored on a three-point play on the next possession. Tull ended the run with a long trey as Lady Bucs led by 25 with 4:42 left in the half.
The Bulldogs got six points from freshman Brittney Bowser in the final three minutes as Asheville crept to 49-30 at halftime.
"We missed a lot of easy shots that hurt us in the first half," stated Blose. "If we could have made a couple of those shots, we could have been a little closer at halftime."
Asheville stormed back in the second half. The Bulldogs trailed 59-35 after a trey by Tull before the visitors went on a 17-2 run to close to 61-52 on a Montgomery lay-up at the 12-minute mark. Montgomery had eight points during the run and was just relentless inside. Asheville also forced six CSU turnovers during the run.
The Bulldogs were within 64-55 at the 11-minute mark but CSU was very efficient on offense over the next five minutes. The Lady Bucs went on an 18-10 run as they got points from five different players to build an 81-62 lead.
Asheville would get no closer than the final margin.
"I am very proud of our team for battling back like we did," said Blose. "We didn't quit and made a game of it in the second half. It's just hard to come back from so many points down. We'll learn from this game and get better."
Asheville is back at home Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs host Winthrop at Justice Center starting at 2 p.m.
