University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Presbyterian
Bulldogs Drop Road Match To Blue Hose, 62-54
01.16.2012 | Women's Basketball
CLINTON, S.C. - On a night where junior forward Kelli Riles moved into eighth place all time in rebounds at UNC Asheville the Bulldogs dropped a 62-54 decision to Big South Conference foe Presbyterian College on Monday evening.
Shonese Jones led the Bulldogs in scoring once again as the freshman scored 16 to lead Asheville. Fellow freshman Leah Wormack scored 14 with Grace Blaylock and Lindsey Thompson scoring eight apiece.
Asheville falls to 6-11 overall and 2-4 in the Big South while Presbyterian improves to 8-8 on the year and 2-3 in league play.
Riles, needing just two boards to move into eighth place, pulled down a team-high 12 for the Blue & White. She now has 634 for her career.
PC had four players score in double figures, with Mariah Pietrowski leading the way with 16. Karlee Taylor scored 14, Dria David scored 12 and Shonda Burnside scored 11 to round out the top scorers for the Blue Hose.
Turnovers were key once again for the Bulldogs, who recorded 19 in the contest. PC scored 23 points off of those miscues, while Asheville scored 11 off of 11 Blue Hose turnovers.
Blaylock started the game with a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up in the early goings, but PC would respond quickly. The Blue Hose went on a 22-to-7 run after that initial trey and led 22-10 at the 11:31 mark.
Asheville would close the gap to 27-25 on a pair of free throws by Thompson with 4:36 to go until the break, but the Blue Hose would end the half on an 11-to-1 run and would lead 38-26 at the half.
The Bulldogs would rally in the second and pulled to within three points of PC on two separate occasions over the first eight minutes of the frame. With 12:17 to go in the game Asheville pulled to within 44-41 of the Blue Hose, but the Bulldogs could not sustain their momentum.
The Blue & White would go scoreless until the 4:51 mark, breaking the nearly eight-minute scoring drought on a layup by Wormack. Asheville was able to cut the lead to 56-51 with just under a minute to go, but PC was able to hit their free throws to ice the game, winning by the final of 62-54.
The Bulldogs will host Garnder-Webb in a Big South Conference showdown set to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Kimmel Arena. Asheville will also be hosting an alumni game that morning, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
More than 20 former players have signed up to come back, including 2007 Big South Tournament MVP Amanda Elder, 2003 Big South Rookie of the Year Kristal Hood and 2004 Big South Rookie of the Year Brittany Hendley.
