University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball Begins Practice
10.05.2011 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville women's basketball team has begun practice for the 2011-12 season this week.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-18 season that saw them improve their win total by four games from the previous season. Head Coach Betsy Blose looks for that improvement to continue this year.
"We're excited about the upcoming season," stated Blose "I really like the chemistry of this year's club. We have a nice mixture of veterans and newcomers. Everyone is pushing each other to get better. This team is very determined to have a great year."
Blose is also pleased about the health of this year's club at this point.
"All 13 of our players are healthy and have been fully involved with pre-season drills," declared Blose. "We haven't that the past few years and that's certainly a positive going into the upcoming season."
And Blose and her team likes where they've been practicing. The men's and women's basketball team will be playing in brand new Kimmel Arena this year. The 3,200 seat facility is a state-of-the art arena.
"Playing our games in our new arena has everyone excited," declared Blose. "We want to establish some new traditions playing at Kimmel. There's a real sense of pride in our program right now, and we're anxious to play some games here."
Asheville returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's club. The Bulldogs have four freshmen who should all compete for playing time.
Asheville will play an exhibition game at Kimmel Arena on Monday, Nov. 7 against Bluefield College starting at 5:30 p.m. The Bulldogs open the 2011-12 regular season at Kimmel on Saturday, Nov. 12 vs. Bluefield College at 2 p.m.
