University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Asheville Outlasts Coastal to Build Win Streak To Eight
12.14.2015 | Women's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 63 – Coastal Carolina 52
Teams: Asheville (8-1, 2-0 BSC)
Coastal Carolina (4-5, 0-2 BSC)
Location: HTC Center/Conway, S.C.
CONWAY, S.C. – The UNC Asheville women's basketball team pushed its winning streak out to eight games with an 11-point road victory at Coastal Carolina Monday night. Asheville is now tied for first place with High Point at 2-0 atop the Big South Conference.
THE TURNING POINT
After going 20 minutes without the lead, Asheville sparked a 14-0 run off of a Khaila Webb jumper with 5:14 left to play in the third quarter. This unanswered run gave Asheville a four-point advantage that they would build on for the rest of the game.
NOTABLES
-When the team's top scorer, Tianna Knuckles, picked up two quick fouls in the first three minutes of the game, freshman Sonora Dengokl stepped in and led the Bulldogs with 14 points and five rebounds. Paige Love also achieved double-digits with 11 points on the night.
-The Bulldogs capitalized on 31 fouls from the Chanticleers to produce a 23 point boost from the free throw line. The Asheville offense went 18-of-37 from the field to finish the night shooting 48 percent. The Bulldogs recovered from an uncharacteristic first half of shooting 33 percent from the field with a 63 percent shooting efficiency in the second half.
-The Bulldog defense contained Coastal to 52 points on a 27 percent shooting efficiency. Prior to tonight's game, the Chanticleers were second in the conference in scoring offense (75.0 points per game) and number three in field goal percentage (42.4%).
-Asheville's 21 points in the fourth quarter parallels their 23-point fourth quarter effort in their close conference win over Presbyterian to start BSC play. The Bulldogs have scored at least 16 points in the fourth quarter of each of their eight wins this season.
- Tonight's win builds Asheville's current win streak to 8-1, the best in the program's NCAA Division I Era. The only time the Asheville program has had a better start to a season was the 1984-85 campaign that started 9-1 while the Bulldogs still competed at the NAIA level. The Bulldogs' NAIA National Championship season in 1983-84 opened with just a 3-2 start before going on to win it all.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH BRENDA MOCK
On the matchup- “This was a tough challenge tonight. Both teams were extremely competitive, and the desire to win the game was evident on both sides of the ball. I am proud of our team for pulling out a victory and overcoming mistakes to get the result on the road.
On Furman- “We will continue to improve both individually, and collectively. We have a lot of work to do before facing Furman on Friday at home.”
UP NEXT
-Following tonight's win, Asheville will return home to Kimmel Arena on Friday, December 18 at 11:30 a.m. to face non-conference rival Furman. Friday will also be Education Day for the Bulldogs, when they will host 19 local elementary schools.
