University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Late Run Sinks Women's Basketball at Radford
02.24.2015 | Women's Basketball
RADFORD, Va. – The UNC Asheville women's basketball was held to 32.1 percent shooting from the field and fell on the road at Radford, 50-47 on Tuesday evening at the Dedmon Center.
Asheville (7-21, 6-13 BSC) led at the break 23-16, thanks to a 14-0 run to close out the first half, but Radford (17-11, 14-5) go hot in the second half, converting on 10-of-17 (58.8%) field goals to turn the game in their favor.
The Bulldogs were led by Tianna Knuckles' 11 points and Chatori Major's eight points off of the bench. Shonese Jones scored nine, while Brittany Gwyn contributed in a number of different ways. Gwyn finished the game with six points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
The Highlanders were led by 11 points from Janayla White, while Ayana Avery (nine) and Aisha Foy (seven) added all of their points in the second half.
“This was a hard fought game by both teams tonight. I credit Radford for making a couple of big plays in the last five minutes to seal the victory,” said head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick. “I couldn't ask too much more out of our defense except not to foul in crucial situations. We bailed them out a couple of times and should have relied on the great defense we were playing.”
“Offensively the ball has to drop at some point,” continued Kirkpatrick. “We have great scoring potential and need to be confident in our ability to do just that. They did a good job of keeping us off the offensive glass. I could tell they were prepared for our offensive rebounding. We will continue to get better.”
Radford outrebounded the Bulldogs 41-31, and limited Asheville to just six second-chance points. White ended with a game-high eight rebounds for the Highlanders. KJ Weaver led the Blue & White in rebounding with six, with Gwyn's chipping in five from her guard position.
On the defensive end of the floor, Asheville forced RU to turn the ball over 19 times, including 11 in the first half, but were only able to convert nine points off of the Highlander turnovers. The Bulldogs finished the game with 11 steals including a game-high four steals by Gwyn.
After Tianna Knuckles connected from downtown to give Asheville a 35-28 lead with 11:56 left to play, Radford went on a 7-0 run to tie the score at 35. Over the final ten minutes of the game, the Highland scored 11 of their 17 points from the free throw line close out the ball game. The biggest margin over that final span with five points in favor of RU.
Jones' drive and finish down the baseline cut the Asheville deficit to 46-44 with 1:36 to play. After Foy went 1-of-2 at the foul line to increase the margin to 47-44 had a pair of chances to cut further into the lead, however, neither Gwyn nor Knuckles were able to connected on baseline shots which allowed Radford to increase the lead to five.
Knuckles gave the Bulldogs a glimmer of hope after she connected on three free throws with 3.0 seconds left to play, but the Blue & White were unable to come up with a steal at the end to give themselves one last opportunity.
Asheville will head back out on the road on Saturday for the season-finale at Coastal Carolina. The game is set for a 2:00 p.m. start and will be the first of back-to-back meetings between the Bulldogs and the Chanticleers. Though full seeding has yet to be decided, the two teams will meet again on Tuesday, March 3 in the first round of the Big South Championships.
