Women's Basketball to Host High Point on Saturday Afternoon

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville women's basketball team gets back into Big South Conference play Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs host High Point at Justice Center starting at 2 p.m. Saturday's game will be broadcast locally on ESPN Radio (1310-AM) with the pre-game show beginning at 1:30 p.m. The game will also be video-streamed and can be seen for a small fee at www.uncabulldogs.com.

Asheville (7-5, 0-1 BSC) is coming off a disappointing 81-69 home loss to Radford Monday night at home. The Bulldogs simply could not stop the Highlanders from scoring and had their two-game winning streak snapped with the loss.

"We just didn't get stops on defense," stated Bulldog coach Betsy Blose. "We're an improved basketball team from last season but our defense just has to get better. Our team cannot allow opponents to score more than 80 points and shoot better than 50 percent from the field. We're not going to win too many games when we play defense like that no matter what we do on offense."

Asheville has a tough challenge on Saturday with a tough High Point club (6-8, 0-1 BSC). The Panthers have a three-game losing streak but have played some very good teams in the process. High Point fell at home to defending Big South champion Liberty, 68-60 on Monday. They just missed upsetting national power Georgia last month before losing, 66-61.

"High Point has played a tough schedule and been in a lot of close games," commented Bulldog coach Betsy Blose. "They have a good team with a lot of different weapons both on offense and defense. They're a team with a lot of seniors that know how to win. We're going to have to play much better than we did on Monday night against Radford."

The Bulldogs continue to be led in scoring by senior guard Kendall Shepard with a 15.7 scoring average. Senior forward Lindsey Montgomery is also averaging 15.7 points per game after being put back on the team last month. She has played in six games and scored in double figures in all of them. Lindsey Thompson has a 14.8 scoring average. Kelli Riles is averaging a double-double with a 13.5 scoring average and 11.4 rebounding mark. She tops the Big South in field goal percentage at 62.5 percent.

Junior forward Shamia Brown leads the High Point attack with an 11.2 scoring average. She's shooting 50 percent (62-of-124) from the field. Mackenzie Maier has blocked 40 shots and knocked down 22 three-pointers. High Point knocked off Asheville twice last season. The Panthers won 77-63 at Justice Center and 78-49 at High Point.

"We had a tough time with High Point last season as they beat us pretty good both times," explained Blose.

BULLDOG NOTES

Asheville is 4-3 at home this season.

The Bulldogs have trailed at halftime in four of their last five games but are 2-2 in those contests.

Asheville continues to be an offensive juggernaut. The Bulldogs lead the Big South Conference in scoring (72.5), field goal percentage (42.1%), free throw percentage (72.5%) and are second in three-pointers made per game (6.4).

The Bulldogs have three of the top five scorers in the Big South. Kendall Shepard leads the league in scoring with a 15.7 average. Lindsey Thompson is second and 14.8 with Kelli Riles moving to fifth at 13.5.

Kelli Riles lead the Big South Conference in rebounding with an 11.4 average. She also tops the league in field goal percentage at 62.5%. Riles is fifth nationally in field goal percentage and ninth in rebounding.

Lindsey Thompson leads the Big South Conference and 11^th nationally in free throw percentage at 91.9 percent (34-of-37).