University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Western Carolina
Catamounts Top Bulldogs, 79-66 on Education Day
12.17.2014 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Western Carolina placed four players in double figures as the red-hot shooting Catamounts downed UNC Asheville 79-66 in non-conference action at Kimmel Arena Wednesday afternoon.
The Education Day event brought a season-high of 1,305 fans to Kimmel Arena for the 11:30 a.m. start.
Asheville (3-7) was led by a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds from freshman center Bronaza Fitzgerald. Sophomore guard Tianna Knuckles added 16 points, while Shonese Jones finished with 11 points.
WCU (6-4) won for the fourth time in its last five games. Lindsay Simpson led the Lady Cat effort with a season-high 20 points. Justin Taylor finished with 16 points, while Makensey Campbell chipped in 14 points. She went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Western Carolina shot a sizzling .571 (28-of-49) from the field and 50 percent (9-of-18) from beyond the arc. They also went 14-of-17 (.824) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs lost despite out-rebounding the Catamounts, 44-22. Asheville out-scored WCU, 27-7 on second-chance points.
However, the Lady Cats had a season-low 5 turnovers and outscored the Bulldogs 23-6 on points off turnovers. WCU also outscored Asheville 21-2 on fast-break points.
The Catamounts led 41-33 at halftime Simpson scored 13 points I the first half, knocking down three 3-pointers. WCU went 15-of-30 from the field in the opening half. Asheville shot just .333 (11-of-33) from the field.
In the second half, the Bulldogs trailed 50-46 after Knuckles down a long trey at the 15:17 mark. WCU went up by 12 at 69-55 on a lay-up from Taylor.
The Bulldogs made one more run and scored the next eight points to close to 69-63 on a trey from Jones at 3:21.
But the Catamounts scored the next five points to push the lead to 74-63 as WCU earned its sixth straight win over Asheville.
UNC Asheville is in action Sunday afternoon when the Bulldogs play their final regular-season non-conference contest at USC Upstate starting at 3 p.m.
