University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Asheville Women Play Host to Charleston Southern in Blue Out Tuesday
01.30.2017 | Women's Basketball
Asheville-Charleston Southern Game Notes (PDF)
THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (10-9, 4-4 Big South Conference)
Charleston Southern (11-8, 5-3 Big South Conference)
Location:Â Asheville, N.C. / Kimmel Arena
When:Â Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 / 7 p.m.
Video:Â Big South Network
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
BLUE OUT: Tuesday night, the UNC Asheville women's basketball team will break out their all-blue uniforms and invite all fans to wear their best Asheville blue to the game. The Bulldogs are calling for a Blue Out against Charleston Southern in a 7 p.m. tipoff inside Kimmel Arena.
FACULTY APPRECIATION: Tuesday night will be the second-annual Faculty Appreciation Game for the Bulldog women. All faculty will be admitted free of charge to the game and there will be a reception in the Mountain View for all faculty and their guests.
RESIDENT HALL COMPETITION: Tuesday night's game against Charleston Southern will feature the first-ever Residence Hall Challenge. All on-campus students of UNC Asheville are invited to come to the game for a friendly competition that will earn one residence hall a pizza party hosted by women's basketball during the men's game against Charleston Southern on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The residence hall that has the highest percentage of students in attendance will be announced during the fourth quarter of the women's game Tuesday.
SERIES WITH CHARLESTON SOUTHERN: Tuesday's game will be the 65th meeting between the Bulldogs and Buccaneers. Asheville holds a 34-30 advantage over Charleston Southern after sweeping both meetings last year. The Bulldogs have won five of the last six meetings.
SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS: Charleston Southern boasts the third-best scoring defense in the conference, allowing 61.7 points per contest to their opponents. On the other end of the court, the Buccaneers are scoring 63.0 points per outing for a +1.3 scoring margin. Charleston Southern is currently tied for third in the Big South Conference standings with Liberty as both hold a 5-3 league record heading into the week. The Bucs have won their last three games. Charleston Southern is led by sophomore guard Ke'Asia Jackson's 15.3 points per contest and 44.6 percent shooting percentage from the field.
HOME SWEET HOME: Dating back to last year, Asheville is 21-5 at home. This season, the Bulldogs are 5-3 at home and last year Asheville went 16-2 in Asheville.
LAST TIME OUT: The UNC Asheville women's basketball team fought valiantly all game and almost pulled off an upset Saturday afternoon, but Radford was able to hold on in the final seconds of overtime to claim a 64-62 Big South Conference win inside Kimmel Arena. For much of the second half, the Highlanders were able to hold on to a four to six point lead, but in the final 3:30 of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs chipped away at that lead thanks to eight points, six in the paint, from senior KJ Weaver and a crucial block with five seconds left in regulation. The blocked shot by Weaver, which was the third of the afternoon for Weaver, gave the Bulldogs new life and sent the game into overtime in front of a raucous crowd. Weaver then opened overtime by hitting two free throws to give the Bulldogs a two-point, 59-57 lead. However, the Highlanders closed out the game on a 7-2 run to seal the win and remain in a tie for first place atop the conference standings with Campbell.
BLOCK PARTY: Saturday afternoon was the third time this season that KJ Weaver has recorded at least three blocks in a game. She has had multiple blocks in 10 games this season, including a season-high five earlier this season against Tennessee Tech. She currently has 139 blocks for her career, a mark that has her in the top-five of program history.
MOVING ON UP: Senior KJ Weaver finished Saturday's game with eight rebounds, giving her 630 over her illustrious career. That mark has her now sixth in Asheville's NCAA Division I era and eighth all-time.
THREE FOR THREE: Senior guard Chatori Major tied the program single-game record last Tuesday night with seven three-pointers on the road at Presbyterian. The Camp Lejune, N.C., native was lethal from beyond the arc as she connected on 70 percent (7-of-10) of her attempts. She tied a mark set originally by Grace Blaylock on Jan. 14, 2012, at Winthrop. Shonese Jones also hit seven treys on Feb. 17, 2015 at High Point.
MAJOR SCORING: Reigning Big South Conference Player of the Year Chatori Major had a career night against the Blue Hose on Tuesday, Jan. 24, scoring 31 points off 9-for-19 shooting. Tuesday night marked the first time since the 2011-12 season that a Bulldog women's basketball player has scored at least 30 points in a single game. That year, Shonese Jones accomplished the feat twice. On Dec. 19, 2011, she scored 30 against SC State and on Jan. 30, 2012, she scored 30 against Radford.
MAKING THEM COUNT: Chatori Major wasn't just efficient from beyond the three-point arc against Presbyterian. In that game, the senior guard converted all six of her free throw attempts against the Blue Hose. It is the fifth time this season she has been perfect at the charity stripe and it is the second time this season she has converted six free throws.
SEEING DOUBLE: When centers KJ Weaver and Bronaza Fitzgerald each recorded a double-double in the Bulldogs' 68-53 win over Winthrop on Tuesday, Jan. 10, it was the first time the feat had been accomplished by two UNC Asheville women's basketball players since the 2010-11 season. That year, Lindsay Montgomery scored 20 points and brought down 10 boards while Kelli Riles chipped in 11 points and added 10 rebounds in a loss to Charleston Southern on Feb. 9, 2011. In fact, the duo of Montgomery and Riles accomplished the feat four times that season.
AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN: After scoring 80 points in a game at Longwood on Saturday, Jan. 7, UNC Asheville is 6-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points. The Bulldogs are also 3-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
IT'S AN HONOR: Prior to the win over Wofford (Dec. 15), Tianna Knuckles was honored for joining the prestigious 1,000-point club at UNC Asheville. One of only 105 in Big South Women's Basketball history to surpass 1,000 points, Knuckles passed the 1,000-point mark in the Bulldog win over Western Carolina on Friday, Nov. 18, at Kimmel Arena. The senior guard out of Wendell, N.C. now has 1,129 career points.
GET ON BOARD: UNC Asheville senior center KJ Weaver became the 108th player in Big South Conference women's basketball history to eclipse the 500 rebound plateau in the Bulldogs' win over Western Carolina on Nov. 18. She has since joined an even more elite group, becoming the 74th player in Big South history to eclipse the 600 rebound mark. She presently has 630 rebounds in her career.
BIG SOUTH UNVEILS NEW BRAND IDENTITY (Per the Big South Conference): "The Big South Conference introduced its new brand identity on Saturday, Jan. 14, that epitomizes the league's strong commitment to its student-athletes and re-establishes the Conference's vitality, personality and longstanding success in NCAA Division I collegiate athletics under a new mantra – 'Where Winners Are Made.'"  Full Release: Visit BigSouthSports.com
UP NEXT: Following Tuesday's Blue Out against Charleston Southern, the Bulldogs will play three of their next four games on the road, beginning Saturday, Feb. 4, at High Point. Saturday's game against the Panthers will air on ESPN3 and will tip off at 2 p.m.
QUOTABLES
On the game Tuesday:
"Tuesday's game is going to be another battle in league as CSU is playing with a lot of confidence coming into the match-up. We need to work on our transition defense and taking care of the ball in our preparation for certain. We are hosting Charleston Southern in a Blue Out game that will welcome all of our on-campus students in a residence hall challenge that our team is sponsoring. We encourage all students to wear their Bulldog blue and our team will be wearing our blue uniforms as well." – Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick
On Residence Hall Challenge and Faculty Appreciation Night:
"We are excited to host our first-ever residence hall challenge and our second-annual faculty appreciation night on Tuesday. The residence hall that has the most residents present will win free pizza donated by our women's basketball team. We are also honoring and recognizing our dedicated faculty who have such an incredible impact on each of our students here at UNC Asheville. We will be providing tickets, a happy hour, as well as a pizza party before the game for all faculty who have RSVP'd. As a reminder, next Tuesday (Feb 7th) we will be hosting the UNC Asheville staff and anyone of our staff members who present a University One Card will get in for free." – Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick
