University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Basketball at N.C. Central on Friday
11.26.2014 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville women's basketball team heads to North Carolina Central Friday afternoon for a non-conference contest with the Eagles starting at 2 p.m.
The Bulldogs (1-3) picked up their first victory of the season Monday night with a 71-48 triumph over Barton College. Shonese Jones led the Asheville effort with 22 points, while Jeannie Buckner pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds in the win.
North Carolina Central is also 1-3 on the year with all of its losses coming to Big South Conference opponents, including a 71-63 defeat to defending league champ Winthrop Tuesday night. The Eagles one win was a 64-59 road victory at Western Carolina in the first game of the year.
This will be Asheville's second game against a MEAC opponent this young season as the Bulldogs fell at North Carolina A&T last week, 64-47.
“We were glad to get a win on Monday night after a road stretch and now we are back on the road again to another tough MEAC opponent,” stated Asheville coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick. “We had some great individual performances and moments of great execution, along with some areas we need to clean up before Friday.
“North Carolina Central works extremely hard on the glass and has an all-around good basketball team,” added Kirkpatrick. “We are looking forward to the challenge and will have to play very solid basketball to give ourselves an opportunity.”
The teams met last year at Kimmel Arena with the Eagles leading from start to finish and winning, 76-65. They forced the Bulldogs into 27 turnovers and controlled the paint as they outscored the home team, 42-18 in that category.
Senior guard Shonese Jones leads Asheville in scoring with an 11.5 average. Senior forward Jeannie Buckner tops the club in rebounding with a 7.3 mark.
Asheville returns home on Monday night to open Big South Conference play against Charleston Southern at Kimmel Arena starting at 7 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
UNC Asheville is 0-2 on the road this year.
The Bulldogs three losses have come to teams with a combined record of 10-2.
Shonese Jones has 1,073 career points and needs just 10 points into 12th place on the school's career scoring list.
Asheville has a 6-2 all-time record vs. N.C. Central. The Bulldogs won in their last appearance at N.C. Central as they defeated the Eagles, 67-56 on Dec. 29, 2010.
