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University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
Women's Basketball Falls to Winthrop 71-64
01.22.2011 | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
The Eagles (9-8, 3-2 BSC) won despite trailing by 15 points in the first half. Winthrop's defense only allowed five field goals in the second half. The Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 36-21 in the second stanza.
Asheville (8-9, 1-5 BSC) was led by senior guard Kendall Shepard with 20 points. Breaira Barksdale added five points off the bench. Lindsey Montgomery enjoyed a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Kaitlyn Rubino added 15 points for Winthrop.
Asheville led 55-51 with 7:01 left as Barksdale scored on a lay-up. The Eagles then held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the next five minutes as Winthrop went on a 10-2 to take the lead for good at 61-57. McClanahan scored eight points during the run.
Asheville crept to 61-59 on two free throws from Barksdale but a lay-up from Rubion and three free throws from McClanahan pushed the lead to 66-59. The Bulldogs made one more charge to cut the lead to 67-64 as Barksdale scored on a lay-up with 38 seconds remaining.
Winthrop would allow the Bulldogs to get no closer as the visitors hit its final four free throws of the game to seal the win. The victory was the Eagles fourth straight at Justice Center.
The Bulldogs jumped in front early as they hit four of their first five 3-point attempts to race to a 30-15 lead.
Winthrop slowly began to get back into the game over the final 10 minutes of the first half. Rubino scored 11 points in the final 10 minutes to allow the Eagles to close to 39-35 with less than a minute to go. The Bulldogs scored the final four points of the half as Grace Blaylock hit a lay-up at the buzzer to give Asheville a 43-35 halftime lead.
Shepard scored 17 for Asheville in the opening half. Montgomery posted 11 points and eight rebounds in the first half.
Winthrop had a 38-33 rebounding advantage over the Bulldogs and out-scored Asheville 34-20 in the paint.
"We got off to a great start but to Winthrop's credit they slowed us down and got the job done," stated Asheville coach Betsy Blose. "We've got to start to learn to win some home games. Winthrop's defense was outstanding in the second half."
UNC Asheville hosts Longwood College Monday night at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. Winthrop has a league game at High Point Monday evening beginning at 7 p.m.
