University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Bluefield
Women's Basketball Downs Bluefield 81-63 in Exhibition Action
11.08.2011 | Women's Basketball
Breaira Barksdale led Asheville with 14 points and four steals. Grace Blaylock added 13 points as she knocked down four long 3-pointers. Junior forward Kelli Riles added 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
Alexandria Gillard led the Lady Rams with 16 points. Takiyea Rouse added 11 points.
"Our defense was good tonight, and we had the opportunity to look at a lot of different combinations," commented Bulldog coach Betsy Blose. "We're still a work in progress but it was nice to win as we had a lot of contributions from everyone who played this evening."
Asheville's defense was suffocating in the first half as it limited Bluefield to just 19 percent (8-of-41) shooting from the field. The Bulldogs led from start to finish in the opening half as they scored the first eight points of the game en route to a 36-19 halftime lead.
Barksdale and Riles combined for 14 points in the opening half. Riles had 10 rebounds in the first half.
Blaylock knocked down two long 3-pointers early in the second half as the Bulldogs expanded the lead to 50-23.
Bluefield rallied in the second half behind 13 points from Gillard to close to 77-63 with one minute left before the Bulldogs scored the final four points for the win.
Asheville's bench gave the home team a real lift as it out-scored the visitors 39-23 for the game. Freshman Shonese Jones scored nine points and Blake Cokes added eight.
Barksdale did a nice job penetrating the Rams' defense. She went 5-of-6 from the field and knocked down a 3-pointer.
UNC Asheville opens the 2011-12 season at Kimmel Arena Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs face Winston-Salem State at 2 p.m.
