University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Women's Basketball Stuns Coastal Carolina, 69-60
01.07.2012 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Lindsey Thompson scored 18 points and dished out eight assists as UNC Asheville won its first Big South Conference game of the year by downing Coastal Carolina 69-60 at Kimmel Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (5-9, 1-2 BSC) rallied from an 11-point first half deficit to outscore the Chanticleers (9-3, 2-1 BSC) 30-20 in the second half to give the visitors their first BSC loss of the year.
Freshman Leah Wormack tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kelli Riles just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Coastal Carolina was led by Angelica Henry with 17 points. Three players had 10 points as Shatia Cole, Olivia Irick and Courtney Grambley all had 10 for CCU.
"This is a great victory for us today against a really good Coastal Carolina team," admitted Bulldog coach Betsy Blose. "We did a nice job battling back in the first half and our defense was super today."
Asheville took control of the game midway through the second half. Coastal Carolina led 39-35 before the Bulldogs scored 17 straight points and held the Chanticleers scoreless for more than seven minutes to take a 52-39 lead.
Wormack scored seven straight points to begin the run as Asheville led 42-39. A trey from Thompson and a lay-up from Gentry Manley pushed the margin to 47-39.
Thompson sank another long trey and a lay-up from Riles finished the run as the Bulldogs led 52-39 with eight minutes remaining.
Coastal Carolina went 0-for-10 from the field and made five turnovers during the Asheville run.
The Chanticleers finally scored on two free throws from Grambley and that sparked a CCU rally as it closed to 56-50 on a trey from Irick with 3:44 left.
But the Bulldogs responded with seven straight points, the last four from Thompson as Asheville led 63-50. CCU could get no closer than the final margin.
Asheville's leading scorer Shonese Jones was held to eight points but she collected a career-high 11 rebounds and had four steals.
The Bulldogs controlled the boards with a52-34 advantage as they out-scored the Chanticleers, 39-18 in the paint.
In the first half, CCU held Asheville scoreless for close to five minutes as the visitors scored 10 straight points to build a 17-7 lead. Five different players scored for the Chanticleers during the run. Henry's long trey at the 8:32 mark gave Coastal its biggest lead at 20-9.
Asheville battled back and made a late run got cut into the Chanticleers lead. The Bulldogs would outscored the visitors 10-3 in the final three minutes to close to 30-29 at halftime. Asheville got buckets from Manley and Jones in the final 20 seconds to get some momentum into halftime
UNC Asheville hosts Charleston Southern Monday night at Kimmel Arena at 7 p.m. Coastal Carolina journeys to Gardner-Webb for a Big South battle at 7 p.m.
