University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens Season at Home vs. Winston-Salem State
11.11.2011 | Women's Basketball
Bulldog coach Betsy Blose begins her 10th season as head coach of Asheville program. She's looking forward to the upcoming season.
"We look at it as a new era, a fresh beginning and the start of the transformation of this program," said Blose, whose squad finished 12-18 last season, including a 5-11 mark in Big South Conference play.
The Bulldogs lost their top two scorers off last year's team and will depend heavily on the inside talents of junior Kelli Riles, a 6-foot-1 forward who averaged a double-double last season (11.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game).
The perimeter game should be solid with 5-8 senior guard Lindsay Thompson (10.8 ppg, 62 3-pointers) and Grace Blaylock (59 3-pointers). Junior guard Breaira Barksdale averaged six points last year and led the team in steals with 50.
"We're so excited about the new arena," said Blaylock. "It's got such a great feel to it, and I know it's going to help recruiting."
If the Bulldogs require any extra motivation, it came from the Big South preseason poll, which predicted a last-place finish among the 10 schools.
"It's up to us to prove them wrong," said Blose. "I like this team. We're going to work hard and play smart and we'll look up at the end of the season and see where we finish."
Blose expects a tough challenge from Winston-Salem State.
"Winston-Salem State has a good team,"declared Blose. "They won 17 games last year and the conference they play is traditionally very good. We're going to have play well if we hope to win."
Asheville played one exhibition game and knocked off Bluefield on Monday night 81-63. Barksdale led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Riles had a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.
