University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Women's Hoops Falls to Top-Seeded Liberty, 59-51
03.05.2015 | Women's Basketball
CONWAY, S.C. – Top-seeded Liberty used a stifling defense down the stretch to hold off eight-seeded UNC Asheville, 59-51 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament at the HTC Center Friday afternoon.
The Bulldogs were led by a game-high 22 points from Shonese Jones. KJ Weaver had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Liberty (24-6) was led by Ashley Rininger with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Emily Frazier and Karly Buer chipped in 11 points each.
“First of all, I want to recognize my five seniors. It's unusual in a coaching career to have a group of people as special on-and-off the court as they are. I love those kids, and I want to recognize them first for all the hard work they've done in laying the foundation for what we are trying to do at UNC Asheville with our women's basketball program,” stated Bulldog coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick.
“Secondly, hats off to Liberty. They are a great program. We knew we would have our hands full, in particular, on the glass and in [Liberty's] expectation to win. I think that's something most programs in the Big South admire, and I certainly do believe our program is close to being there in terms of our expectation [to win]," added Kirkpatrick.
The Bulldogs were within 44-43 at the 6:41 mark before Liberty went on a 8-1 run over the next six minutes to build a 52-44 lead.
Asheville crept to 53-49 on Jones jumper at the 30-second mark. But the Flames scored on a lay-up and knocked down their last four free throws to seal the victory.
Liberty limited the Bulldogs to just 27 percent (8-of-29) shooting from the field in the second half. Asheville hurt itself at the free throw line by going just 4-of-10 in the second half and 47 percent (7-of-15) for the game.
The Flames' dominated the backboards with a 49-38 advantage and had 22 offensive rebounds. LU had an 18-6 advantage in second-chance points.
The Bulldogs had 10 turnovers to just six for Liberty but the Flames made Asheville pay for those turnovers with a 17-3 scoring advantage.
“We fought hard today and competed, but we didn't keep Liberty off the boards,” commented Kirkpatrick. “And you have to hit your free throws. We had some opportunities but when you play a great team like Liberty, you have to minimize your mistakes.”
The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the game and never trailed in the first 20 minutes. Asheville led 28-17 on a Tianna Knuckles lay-up with 5:00 to go in the half.
Liberty's Emily Frazier has eight points to keep Liberty close. The Flames finished the half on 10-2 run.
Asheville shot 48 percent (12-of-25) from the field in the first half, while Liberty shot just 29 percent (10-of-35).
Brittany Gwyn had six assists for the Blue & White, while Tiffany Wilson collected seven rebounds.
Jones finishes her career with 1,429 points and in sixth place on the school's career scoring list.
